Acclimatisation at 5600 m and 5800 m 6/3/2022 10:52:41 AM

At the breakfast Mika had a cup of coffee and Timo chose something else, which was very wise. At 5 am we were on our way along the Kumbu icefall. The morning was magical; the sun rose at 5 am and it highlighted glacier’s deep blue colors. Our goal was to ascend and start return at 10 am at the latest. Climbing the icefall made us think about our camp’s location on the glacier. Several times in the night we hear glaciers movements as sharp snaps. The icefall is literally in continuous movement.  

Ascend was accompanied with heavy breathing and scruntching sounds of crampons. Getting used to half of sea level’s oxygen pressure takes time, but this a good start. Seracs got bigger and we did not feel taking it too slow, but tried to thread between them and keep up comfortable pace. It was exciting to cross crevasses along ladders, especially with crampons. Helmet camera video gave more interesting picture of the crossing. At times it would have been better to have eyes on something else that ladder attachments. Our journey continued until Mika enjoyed his lunch inversely at 5 600 m and he decided to return, because the same ascend is due on 20th April on our way to camp 1. Timo continued couple hundreds of meters upwards.  

Tomorrow we will get a mountain puja and after that we will bring next camp’s equipment up and stay there overnight.