DISPATCHES

Mustagh Ata

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Despite the bitter cold, Jon reports that the weather is holding — conditions being much improved from the whiteout conditions only a few days ago. They'll be moving up to Camp III, hopefully, today, so that perhaps tomorrow they can make a summit attempt on this, the normal summit route, before they turn their attention to the East Ridge.

Daily life here at Base Camp continues as normal, saying the obligatory 'hello' to the yaks who graze near our makeshift stone toilet every morning, and eating steaming bowls of lamian, a spicy noodle dish with celery, peppers, tomatoes and noodles. Lamian is a traditional food of the Uigher people, who make the largest minority group here in Xinjiang province, China.

Our liaison officer, Mohammed Sadik, from the Kashgar Mountaineering Association, belongs to this Uigher group. We've been working together to keep up the communication with our team members on the mountain, although Sadik's arm is a little out of commission. Apparently a man in a bar in Kashgar made some rude comments about Walter "King of Style" Keller's glasses. Sadik, going above and beyond the call of liaison officer, put this offending bar patron in his place, thus injuring his fist. It seems to be healing though and should be up to par in a few days.

This is Anne Ramzy for MountainZone.com with the Mustagh Ata East Ridge First Ascent team.

— Anne Ramzy, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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