Friday May 05, 2006

May 5, 2006 North Col

Hi everyone,
We've been at the ABC for five days now. This morning we had a puja at our camp to bless all the climbers before we head higher on the mountain. Some of us were going to make a carry up to the camp at the North Col which sits another 2,000ft above ABC 23,000ft. By the time the Puja finished it was 11am and the weather looked like it would snow. So two of our strong climbers decided to make the trip, we have just heard from them on the radio to say their on the way down. It's snowing quite hard right now so it was a good decision for the remainder of the team to make the trip tomorrow with an earlier start after breakfast. The trip up the North Col involves climbing up the first of the fixed ropes. The last time I made this trip it took 5 hours. I am hoping that this time around with better acclimatization and general nutrition I am feeling stronger for the trip up. We will drop some of our gear and come back down again, have a rest day and then move the next day up to the North Col camp and spend a couple of nights.

Will touch base after the North Col carry.

Anne at ABC