The 45 bis 60 degree steep Lhotse face consists mostly of pure ice.
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Thomas returned to the basecamp on Tuesday and started to climb camp this morning. He will test his health state and has not a fixed plan yet. If his condition is stable he will climb camp 3 at least two times without returning to the base camp in between. At the moment, the weather here is not the best and all attempts for the summit are delayed this year. So Thomas has still enough time for acclimatization.
Our attempt to set camp 4 at the South Col was only partly successful. There were strong wind all the time. Already at night from Monday to Tuesday, we could not sleep because the wind was so noisy. Despite this, we decided to ascend at five a.m.. Lakpa and me (Olaf) took along our sleeping bag and insulation mat in order to spend the night at camp 3 on the way back. Despite the storm, we advanced fast in the beginning.
When arriving at camp 3, there was the first shock because the tent was completely under snow. Therefore, we had to dig it out at first and lost a lot of time. Because of the strong wind and the danger of getting frostbite, we decided not to climb further. I already had a light frostbite at my face. Dawa, Nuri and Kami continued to the South Col meanwhile, but Kami gave up soon because of the strong wind. Dawa and Nuri made it to the South Col, a nearly heroic performance.
The 45 bis 60 degree steep Lhotse face consists mostly of pure ice. |