We’ve been stuck at the base camp for a couple of days. After an acclimatization climb up to C1 at 5,100 m (about 16,700 ft), we descended back to the base camp on Tuesday. Then the weather changed.
Before the ascent, Karl Gabl, our meteorologist from Innsbruck, had recommended that we return to the base camp by Tuesday evening because snow and wind would be coming not long after. He had emphasized this. On Tuesday afternoon, Simone and David descended from C1 in good weather. I had descended on the previous evening. None of us said anything, but we all wondered if Karl might have been wrong. The sky was blue and clear above us. We went to bed under the stars; it was pretty cold, between -15°C and -20°C (5°F and -4°F). At about 2 a.m., I woke up hearing snowflakes gliding over the tent’s flysheet, and it wasn’t so cold anymore outside the sleeping bag. The sky had obviously grown overcast. Karl was right. When we got up in the morning, there were about 10 cm (4″) of snow.
On Tuesday evening, we invited the guys from the Polish expedition to dinner. It was a pleasant evening, and we didn’t just talk about mountains and Nanga. Our conversation ranged from intercontinental motorcycle trips and broken-down engines in the middle of the desert, to flights from roadblocks in Russia and drones(the Polish guys have got a drone) to vodka and wine. Oddly enough, we didn’t talk about women, maybe because there were too many of us; there were three of us and six Poles, too many people for intimate conversation. On Wednesday, we spent the whole day at the base camp. In the morning we took a shower—a remarkable event here—and in the afternoon we all worked on our notebooks in the 2-Meter Dome. Simone is currently working on his book, David has organized his files and recharged the batteries of the cameras, and I’ve finally completed the installation of programs on the new notebook that was delivered to me at the base camp.
Maybe not everyone knows: once we arrived at the base camp, my Mac decided to stop working. I remembered that there was an Apple shop in front of our hotel in Islamabad, and we phoned our agency about the details of the shop and the notebook model and specifications. Four days later, a porter—who faced the six-hour hike up here to deliver it—emerged from behind the moraine. Amazing. They also gave me a complimentary briefcase. I’ve already backed up all our videos and finally started writing the reports using a real keyboard rather than a phone’s screen.
On Friday, if the weather improves—as predicted by Karl—we’ll climb up to C1 and sleep one night there to become acclimated; then, on Saturday, we’ll descend back to base camp in the morning, straight after breakfast. On Sunday, we expect more snow, and maybe wind; then, on the 15th, a new improvement—the sun will be back. That’s what Karl says, and his word is law for us.
Credits:
The North Face/david_göttler/
The North Face/emilioprevitali.com
The North Face/simone_moro