Thursday, April 29, 2010

Makalu April 29 update - on to Makalu La at 7400m!

from stu in the usa office
April 29, 2010

I had a great chat with Fabrizio today and he was thoroughly enjoying a full day of rest at BC! Between visiting all the other teams there and sharing a cup of tea each time it is clear that our team is well hydrated. Lots of old friends from home, other expeditions abound for our team and we may have to work hard to get them to come home!

After a great push up to C2 last time on the hill our team is ready for a bigger challenge ahead this weekend as they will try to reach to Makalu La at 7400m. At this time the route is in to just below the La and between our team moving up and a few other teams on the hill we'll hope to have the route established all the way to the La before the end of the weekend. On Sunday they will plan to push as high as possible and then return all the way to BC.

They had a snowy day on the 28th but the 29th has been quite nice in the morning and made their rest day that much more enjoyable. The weather looks to be windy but clear over the next few days, a bit snowy on Monday and then calmer and sunnier by Tuesday. Hopefully this will be a good omen for a period of generally stable weather!

Fabrizio commented that they will still need at least one more round of acclimatizing after this, with a night at C3, before considering a summit bid. Weather will begin to play a very important part for our team from here on in and we are thankful to Meteotest for their updates!

Listen in below to Fabrzio's audio dispatch from BC!



hear all the Field Touring Alpine Audio Dispatches at Gabcast


ps
On a side note there is a climber from another team utilizing a toe warming system from Human Edge Tech and loving it. Fabrizio is so impressed that we'll be ordering one for our summer climb on K2! Nothing like warm toes to help you make good decisions!!

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