Days 27 & 28: Getting ready for Second Rotation to Camp 3

Amazing view of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, the Khumbu Glacier and Base Camp.

Today was our last rest day here at Base Camp. The exciting news is we will be departing very early tomorrow morning on our second rotation all the way up to Camp 3 at the altitude of 7200 meters (23,600ft). This is higher than any mountain in the world outside of Asia. The rotation will be for 5 or 6 days going from Base Camp to crossing the very dangerous Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1, spend a night or two at Camp 1, then to Camp 2 for another two nights, and finally to Camp 3 before heading back down to Camp 2 and all the way back down to EBC.

This is part of the acclimatization process to get our body used to the very high altitude and allow it to create as many red blood cells as possible. Red blood cells are critical as they store additional oxygen in the body and help feed it to the brain and muscles when your current oxygen intake is the third of what it is as Sea level.

After a couple of nights at Camp 2, we will head up the tough Lhotse Face and we’re hearing it is a much tougher climb than last year. Due to many large crevasses at the end of the route used last year, the Sherpas could only fix the lines on the straight up face. It will make for a very difficult day!

That’s our plan for this upcoming week and hopefully all goes well without any incidents. We also got some news today that approximately 35 climbers from various other teams have quit and on their way home having decided that climbing Everest is not for them or have been evacuated due to altitude sickness or injuries. That’s a pretty big number.

I will try to keep posting updates but I’m pretty sure I will run out of power and/or connectivity at some point as I’m not bringing up many additional batteries on this rotation to keep my backpack load as light as possible, so do not be concerned if you don’t hear from me for the next 5-7 days.