Distance: 3.1 miles
Time: 10 hours
Starting elevation: 19,931 ft
Ending elevation: 23,129 ft
Elevation gain: 3,198

Woke up later than planned feeling cold and miserable. There was a lot of noise around our tent, and one woman’s shrill voice cut through the air. I had been awake for a while but wasn’t eager to move so I did my best not to wake up my tent mates. Eventually we all got up and started to heat water and eat some breakfast. Breakfast up here usually consists of porridge or cereal with hot milk. It was still unclear if we were going up or down but after about an hour Mingma G decided our team should continue up.

I wasted a bunch of time looking for one of gloves, which had disappeared. By the time we finally got out of the tent, the other climbers had all mobilized and were heading up the mountain. I still needed to go to the bathroom, but with everyone outside of their tents, there was no chance for privacy. The designated restroom area involved holding onto a rope and dangling one’s bottom over a cliff. Lovely.

As we started up with the crowd, I saw my friend Te-San, who was, of course, friendly. He was moving fast, and I felt slow and annoyed at my pace. At some point, I pulled over to rest, and the Madison Mountaineering team passed me. I was happy to see my friend Kim and their guide Terray. It was sleeting, and I mentioned that it was colder than I had expected and that I was glad I was wearing my down suit. I got in line behind them and felt happy to listen to their banter. I was impressed by how kind Terray was with everyone, saying things like “no hurry, look at this line,” etc.

When we arrived at House’s Chimney, I was surprised at how straightforward the climbing was. I felt good using my left hand on the ladder and right hand on the rocks. I was a bit shocked at some of the clumsy footwork I observed and the potential for it to lead to rockfall.

Next, we arrived at lower C2, where there were approximately 8 orange/yellow tents from the Russian team. John had appropriated one, and I was hoping to do the same, but there weren’t any available. Thundu and I tried to take shelter behind a rock to drink some Coke, but it was FREEZING! As much as I wanted a break, I was too cold. Kim mentioned we were only 20 minutes away from C2, and I replied, “Not our team!” since I knew we were not planning to use the standard C2.

About an hour after leaving lower C2, we arrived at what David from our team referred to as “the dancing ladder.” I can only imagine he named it this since the ladder was only loosely attached and constantly “dancing around,” away from where you needed it to be. I wondered if this was the black pyramid, but I never got a clear answer. Climbing this section was more challenging than House’s Chimney, both due to the route itself and the increasing precipitation.
Finally, after nearly 10 hours of exhausting climbing, we arrived at our C2.5, also known as Japanese Camp. Upon arriving, I noticed that only one tent had been erected, and John and David were inside making water. Feeling borderline hypothermic, I quickly joined them in their tent. I was surprised at how cold, exhausted, and irritable I felt. Too tired to be of use, I waited inside their tent while Thundu and the other Sherpas made platforms and erected the remaining tents.

The tent was on rough, uneven ground, with the terrain falling away where our feet were. I was grateful for the shelter and immediately fell asleep, not really caring about eating or drinking.