Moonrise/sunset

The jet stream continues its assault on the upper mountain while we continue to wait in ABC. The weather models indicate that we’ll see an appreciable drop in the winds on 5/17. Enough so, that we are planning our summit attempt for this brief reprieve as winds look like they’ll increase dramatically again on 5/18-19 with lots of precipitation (snow) arriving on its heals around 5/20. Now or never?!?

The team is ready and strong, so we ought to be able to make the most of this narrow window. Therefore, we have a couple of more days to pass in base camp before heading to Camp I on 5/15, Camp II on 5/16 and the summit on 5/17. After that, politics and circumstances well beyond our control have us wondering what will happen next. For now, we’ll continue to focus on the world’s 6th highest peak, Cho Oyu, and hope to stand atop the Turquoise Goddess briefly on 5/17.

Most/all 8,000m expeditions require waiting for the right weather window when we can climb as safely as possible into the “death zone” above 26,250′. At this phase of the expedition it is a mental grind and a test of one’s patience as one’s body continues to deteriorate while living on a glacier at 18,500′, eating the same foods day-after-day in limited portions, and the physical weight-loss mounts to 20 lbs and increases with each passing day.

Having been through this before helps, but the grind is on. Here’s a post I wrote from Everest base camp in mid-May 2012, which gives you an idea of what it’s like being here at this phase of the expedition:

The Waiting Is The Hardest Part – 5.19.2012

The jet stream has parked itself over Cho Oyu and the other high peaks in the region, which is typical for this time of year but is also frustrating. So, we wait. Typically, the forming monsoon in the Indian Ocean atmospherically pushes the jet stream to the north (and off these peaks) before its arrival, which is what creates the summit windows of mid-late May

In order to stay strong as we stretch the limits of our patience, we continue to do long pushes to remain fit and acclimatized. Today’s outing took us to Camp I at 20,500′ and back to ABC (18,200′) over many miles of rocky moraine and steep scree. We’re now doing this round-trip in a spritely 5 hours instead of the 7-8 hours it took us a week+ ago. Therefore, the team is acclimatized and ready to go as soon as the weather cooperates. Our best estimate at this point may entail a blustery summit attempt around the 15th. Here’s a picture from today’s outing looking toward Shishapangma (14th tallest peak in the world).

Cho Oyu at night on 5/7/2014

Above is a view of Cho Oyu at night under a 1/2 moon.  We continue to evaluate the weather models with mid-May looking most promising at this point.  Below is a night photo of Nangpa La Pass and Yak Horn Peak.

Nangpa La Pass and Yak Horn Peak at night

Due to heavy snow overnight here at ABC and winds increasing up high over the next several days, we have decided to push back our summit bid until conditions improve, so we’re still in advanced base camp. We’re hopeful a new summit window emerges around May 12th and are diligently reviewing all of the different weather models. A summit window for us would require a forecast at 8,000m (26,250′) of -25 Celsius temps (-13 Fahrenheit) or higher, winds of 30mph or less and minimal precipitation. We’ll certainly keep you posted.

Here is our amazing Sherpa team on Cho Oyu who are making our imminent summit push possible. An incredible and strong group. Left to right: Karchen Dawa Sherpa, Phurita Sherpa, Jim Walkley, Kami Tshering Sherpa, Nima Kanchha Sherpa (our phenomenal Sirdar – Sherpa climbing team leader), Willie Benegas (our exceptional expedition leader), Ang Furba Sherpa, and Pemba Tshering Sherpa.

Photo courtesy of Climb7.com

We were forced to cut our Camp II rotation short by one day due to weather and retreated back to Advanced Base Camp yesterday.  We climbed through the steeper than normal serac wall at ~22,000′ between Camp I and Camp II (pictured above:  mine is the next behind/butt – what’s left of it anyway – up the fixed line above our Matt Moniz in the foreground) and got a good feel for the most technical part of the route.

Despite not spending the night at Camp II (23,500′) as planned, our team is sufficiently acclimatized for our summit push.  The weather of late has been unstable with lots of afternoon snow showers and a stronger system pushed through today with a lot of snow, as forecasted.  The good news is that there appears to be a short but solid summit window opening up through May 8th.  Therefore, we are pulling together our resources to fix the upper mountain, get in position and go for it.

Mike & Matt Moniz descending to Camp I

We will depart the day after tomorrow (May 6th) for Camp I, move to Camp II on the 7th and depart for the summit (26,906′) at ~2am on the 8th.  This should put us on the summit, if all goes well, at ~7am on the 8th, so we can descend as far as possible (maybe even all the way back to Advanced Base Camp if we’re feeling strong enough) to get us off the upper mountain by the time the winds pick-up dramatically on the 9th of May.  Should the weather not cooperate or we cannot summit on May 8th as planned for any reason, the next weather window does not appear to open until the 20th of May due to jet stream winds on the summit.  So, let’s hope the forecast holds and we are able to briefly visit the summit of the world’s 6th highest peak – Cho Oyu (i.e. “Turquoise Goddess”).

Obviously, we are intently focused on the next several days, but many are wondering (as are we) what will be next now that the climbing season on the south side of Everest has come to an unfortunate conclusion.  We are looking at all options, but the Everest-to-Lhotse link-up is no longer possible due to us being unable to climb from the south side as we had originally planned.  Our preferred Option B has been thwarted thus far due to an inability to obtain the climbing permit we need, but we are pulling out all the stops and will not give up until time runs out on us.  We have Options C & D in our sights as well, but we will not pivot to those until we absolutely must.  Sorry to be so cryptic, but I will share our plans once we’ve completed our adventure on Cho Oyu and know with certainty what our next objective will be.  Stay tuned.

We had a great rotation to Camp I, acclimatized further by climbing up to the base of the serac wall at ~21,500′ and then descended back to base camp. We had a rest day yesterday and today, where we packed our gear for the upper mountain, practiced using our oxygen apparati and rested for the next push.

We’ll depart tomorrow AM for our Camp II acclimatization rotation, where we’ll climb to Camp I tomorrow, climb to Camp II at ~23,500′ the following day but return to sleep at Camp I again, climb back to Camp II the next day to sleep up there and then retreat all the way back to base camp the following morning. This rotation will complete our acclimatization process. After that, we’ll await a good weather window to summit and depart for the upper mountain accordingly. Recently, we have been experiencing a lot of afternoon snow showers so ideally we’d like to see that pattern change a bit before our summit attempt.

Thus far we’re feeling strong and looking forward to getting higher on the mountain and getting ready for a summit push around May 8th or so (weather depending). Here is one of the spectacular views we enjoy from Cho Oyu Advanced Base Camp.

Yak Horn peak overseeing Nangpa La Pass

We are settled into Camp I on Cho Oyu (20,500′) on schedule. Camp I is nestled 1/2 way up this picture (at the top of the rock and the base of the ice/seracs). The weather is fair/stable. One night here, climb higher tomorrow and then back to ABC for the conclusion of our first acclimatization rotation on the mountain. One bite at a time…

For those interested in the intricacies of what happened on the south side/Nepal side of Everest this season (and the implications for the future), this is a must-read:

http://keswick-bed-and-breakfast.blogspot.ca/2014/04/intimidation-lies-and-deceit-on-everest.html?m=1