Brigantes Everest Expedition Day 15
What a disappointment! Dowting was right. We went to sleep psyched up for another exhausting clamber up ice and woke up to a whiteout blizzard.
Not much to see today!
And it hasn’t relented – wind, snow and almost zero visibility all day. So the Western Cwm will have to wait at least until tomorrow. I’ve spent most of my day in the tent. Fortunately I smuggled my Kindle into my rucksack so have been happily reading the Brigantes Book Club’s latest recommendation – Ketih Foskett’s The Journey In Between about his 1000 mile pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It’s a good read, and it was much warmer there than it is here! However, I wasn’t allowed to enjoy myself all day. Dowting insisted we all get out into the blizzard and practice more with ice picks and crampons - he blackly joked that it might give us a few more minutes of life when we got to the Lhotse Face! Sometimes he can be just a tad negative, but he knows the mountain. Fingers crossed for a better tomorrow!
Luke N Brightside
Communications Officer
I do not believe it! They have no idea. It’s all a jolly little adventure to them. Here they are marooned at the foot of the Western Cwm on the most dangerous mountain in the world and they lie happily in their tents reading and listening to music and shouting jokes to each other. There was nearly a rebellion when I forced them out for crampon practice. But they need all the work-outs they can get. The Western Cwm is bad enough, but then the Lhotse Face is a near-vertical ice-rink! Lambs to the slaughter?
Sherpa Dowting
Head Porter
more Everest, but not as you know it !
more A summary of our virtual Everest trek
more Back At Base Camp, What A Relief !
more Despite everything our President has made it to the top of the world.
more Onward and upwards to the south col and camp four.
more About our friend in Nepal, Major Lil
more Held back again.
more Camp 3 rest day.
more Ever upwards !
more Here we are at Camp two.
more In the valley of silence.
more Climbing the Ice Fall
more A taste of the real thing.
more Settling into base camp
more Finally reaching base camp.
more On to Gorak Shep
more Getting up amongst the real Himalayas
more Our yaks on the trail.
more Onwards to Dingboche.
more Onwards and upwards
more Leaving Namche
more A rest day in Namche
more We move on towards Namche
more Arriving at Luckla Airport
back We are staging a virtual climb of Mount Everest to raise money for Wellspring, Carers Resource and Covid relief. All the previous daily blogs can be read here.