First of all, I would like to thank everyone for following along. Sorry for the inconsistent postings, technology issues have been rampant throughout the last couple weeks.
On our first attempt, the 23rd, Constantine and I made a bit of a miscalculation going to Camp 4. The day ended up taking me almost 10 hours to get from C3 to C4 making it nearly impossible to leave on the 22nd for the summit. So, instead we decided to stay at C4 or 7850m for 2 nights, which nearly no one does without oxygen. Nonetheless, I felt reasonable throughout the time, which I have to at least partially associate with my very long acclimatization process involving the hypoxic training.On the 23rd I started off about 25 minutes ahead of Constantine and was immediately struggling through knee deep snow. The fixed lines were buried and so at each anchor I had to dig to find the next rope to the next anchor. This is incredible work at sea level but above 26000 ft is absolutely abhorrent. I managed to climb for about 3 hours before the cold became too much and I decided to turn around. For those that are not aware, supplementary oxygen not only makes it easier to move but it improves your circulation ultimately keeping you much warmer. At the time I was very disappointed to have turned around but from a much lower elevation I know it was the correct decision. In order to climb an 8000 m peak without O’s everything has to be going your way, and that simply was not the case on that trip.
I retreated back to C4 and slept for about an hour before deciding I would try again in a few days. This was not the case for Constantine who was very tired and was not interested in trying with oxygen. It’s also very rare for someone to try two summit attempts especially so close together. In order to get as much rest as possible, I immediately descended to C2 which took me about 3 hours.
For the next two days I just relaxed before returning to C4 directly from C2 on the morning of the 25th. I arrived around 12 and had the day to relax. Unfortunately, the majority of the rest of the Lhotse climbers were climbing that day and so I knew there was a very good chance I would be breaking trail again. Just before dark a female soloist did show up, which I think will prove to be very important later on. I left a little later on my second attempt, around 1:30 am, and immediately began moving very quickly. I decided to just use one bottle of oxygen to cut down on weight, and this turned out to be more than enough. Amazingly, I passed my previous highpoint in less than an hour, which shows just how much faster you move on Oxygen. The climb was a very enjoyable Gully between two rock bands. At times it was just a perfect snow chute with rocks on both sides so close that you could touch. The snow was once again deep and at times up to my waist but at other times consolidated enough to not sink through. In the end I summited at 7:15 am and stayed on top for about 20 minutes shooting photos and what not. It was an enormous relief to have reached the summit because over the past few weeks I did not feel things had been going my way with weather, the Chinese, or my timing. I descended to C4 very quickly and packed the Camp before continuing on. At some point that morning, I made a terrible mistake and did not attach a layering top to my pack. In this shirt, I keep my IPod, Camera, and other important things. I have to unfortunately say that the majority of my photos were lost that day and can only hope that someone acts on my reward. It’s an incredible disappointment to say the least.
I managed to continue descending all the way to BC that day and now find myself 25 miles further down the trail and towards home. I will be leaving Namchee this morning for Lukla and will hopefully be catching my flight to KTM tomorrow morning. Then, I believe I will be on my international flight 12 hours later, cutting it a bit close to say the least.
I appreciate everyone following along and hopefully with some serious luck will be posting photos soon.
