DISPATCHES

Keller

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All night, the same response of, "It's still bad," or something similar, sometimes uttered with expletives. The weather was too bad to climb.

Finally, at 11am, we departed up the East Face which leads to the summit. The climbing began as a plod through heavy snow, but soon the angle increased to steep snow climbing and finally some ice climbing, lead by Jon Otto, at about 7200 meters.

The maximum angle of the ice was 60 degrees, if even only for a move or two. A pretty nice lead at that altitude with a full pack. After Jon's lead, we headed for a campsite on the steep serac-laden terrain. It was 7pm, and as the sun was setting, it was getting very cold.

We located a crevasse, dug half into it on the steep, 40-degree slope and made a nice little campsite which hopefully is protected by the serac above from avalanche danger and is fairly roomy, all things considered. We jumped into the tent, all having cold feet, and tried to warm ourselves with lukewarm drinks. Due to a fuel shortage we have started drinking all drinks and eating all food lukewarm. It is not really so bad except for an occasion such as tonight where we were all really cold.

The weather all day was typified by high winds, cold temperatures and mostly clear skies. I wore every piece of clothing I have with me and still was often chilled despite continually moving. It was a good day and we are poised very close to the summit, hoping for good weather tomorrow. We are all well and hope everyone wishes us luck.

— Walter Keller, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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