Altitude: 6500m
Atmospheric Pressure: 480mbar
Trek: 0kms
A very still but cold night disturbed by the noise of the
first group setting off to base camp.
I can’t sleep very well from 6am
on and after tossing and turning till 7am,
I finally decide to switch on the radio to see how the first group is getting
on.
The first comment I hear is from Monica saying “anybody
involve with the rescue, please switch frequency to 148.00”!!!
What is going on?!?! This must be the worst time to join a
radio communication!
Adrian and Brian are at Camp 1, talking to Russell and
Monica to organise an helicopter rescue. They also talk about a person
vomiting.
The heli arrives very quickly to Camp 1, picks up the
rescued person and heads off to Kathmandu.
At breakfast, the guides explain that one of our sherpa, 45
years old, suffered from a stroke just above Camp 1, and fell down a slope, but
luckily was clipped into the fixed rope.
Adrian was on
site and started to diagnose the health of the sherpa, helped by Monica.
The rescue was all organized, and the sherpa evacuated
within 1hr30, but the news at lunch time was that all his right side was paralised.
Yet again, a reminder that the human body is stretched at
this altitude, but also that the Himex crew are the king of rescues.
As the sun raises, I look up at the Lhotsee face, to find
that the 50 or more climbers that I had seen the previous days were replaced by
just a couple. What a contrast!!
Perhaps the injured sherpa from yesterday (from a small
company) had finally got the message across that the current route up to Camp 3
was not safe.
For us, and the other big commercial expedition, the route
had been banned a few days back for that reason. Thanks Russell for putting our
safety first!!
The atmosphere today is quite happy, as we know we’re off in
the morning.
On one hand, there is the luxury of base camp awaiting us,
but in order to get there, we will have to cross the mighty ice fall, although
this time in day light, so we might get a chance to see what’s coming at us!!!
We also need to decide what we’re taking down and what kit
we’re leaving here, the next time we’re at Camp 2 will be on our summit push,
so down suit, sleeping mat, food and other high altitude kit are all staying
here, which gives us a light pack to go down. The predicted time to get back to
base camp is less than 3 hours, just in time for breakfast.
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