May 14^th – Day 8 – Move from 11k to 14k 

 We have officially been on the mountain for over a week.    Today we moved from 11k to 14k camp.  It was hard.  Even though we essentially made the trip yesterday to make the cashe at 13.5k, the extra bit to 14k camp wore on all of us.  I felt good through Windy Corner, however when the winds picked up at Windy Corner, Pete threw down a little harder to get us out of the wind.  I lost my breath and couldn’t get it back.  I’ve never been in an anaerobic state for so long.

We took a rest break at our cache spot and Steve was feeling pretty bad.  He can’t get a deep breath and is hacking up fluid with every cough.  Joel & Pete’s rope teams took off and Mike’s team (Rob, Steve, Dianna) took off later and at a slower pace.   Although the trail from cache to camp had little vertical gain (700ft) it was hard.  Andrea and I had to ask for a few pauses in travel just to catch our breaths.  The hills kept rolling and I kept hoping that camp would be over the next rise.   By the time we rolled into camp we were exhausted.  The day’s climb took us up 3000ft which was the largest vertical gain of the trip so far.

building walls

Of course, once we pulled into camp we began the arduous task of building walls.  We cut many, many blocks but it seemed like Joel cut all of them in half in order to make them square and fit them into the wall.  I understand the need to build a solid wall, but it seemed his perfection wasn’t yielding results.  The sun was sinking fast behind the West Buttress and I was concerned that we weren’t going to have walls built before nightfall.

We built camp before dark but didn’t have time to set up the cook tent.  Rob and I crawled in the tent rested while the guides cooked a Dinty Moore meal and delivered to us.  It was great – beef stew and chocolate chip cookies.  Great ending to a tough day.

May 15^th – Day 9 – Back carry to 13k cache   Today was a pretty laid back day since we only descended 700ft to pick up our cache and return to camp.  We slept in and started pretty late.  Steve has become very sick with HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) and has to go down.  We suited up to travel down to our cache when the guides told us to sit tight while they decided who would descend with Steve.  While they were talking  an NPS official told the guides that they would fly Steve out on a scheduled helicopter flight tomorrow.  In the mean time, Steve would hang out in the medical tent and breathe Os.

Since Steve is descending, he added his extra lunch foods to the group food.  Within minutes, all of his Pringles were gone – no surprise there!   We had another good meal – chili.  Breakfast was grits…also good.

May 16^th – Day 10 – Rest Day   Today was our first official (non weather induced) rest day.   We woke up late and had a breakfast of a granola bar and mini-wheats.  I even had a little coffee.

Edge of the World

This afternoon we took a side trip to a lookout dubbed “Edge of the World” which was pretty awesome.  The view reached from Hunter to Foraker and down the big Kahiltna Glacier.  You could even faintly make out the trail and one of the lower camps below.

After the trip, we came back and started planning for tomorrow’s cache.  We are taking 4 or 5 days of food and whatever clothes we don’t think we’ll need until 17k camp.  I have planned for trail mix, granola bars, and chocolate up high.  I saved some of my best food for that camp. 

Today’s weather was beautiful at 5 degrees and even warmer in the tent.  The skies are clear and there was no wind.  It’s amazing how such cold temps can be so warm in the sun.    Mike said a ranger came by and mentioned that the temps dropped to -37 degrees last night.  It really didn’t seem that cold.

May 17^th – Day 11 –  Cache at 16k  We had good weather today so we made a carry to 16.4k.  A new altitude record for me as well was most of the group.  We woke up before the sun had completely crested the ridge so it was a little chilly.  Joe said it was -5 in the tent at 7am.  Temperatures are just numbers at altitude though and it’s the sun and wind that make all the difference.   I packed up my items for the cache, which consisted of trail mix, chocolate, Perryville sausage sticks, wheat thins, overmitts, my last pair of clean underwear, and extra socks. 

This morning, as we got ready to carry, the guides pointed out which rope teams we would be on – it was the first time they didn’t let us decide.  I was on the back end of a team with Rob and Pete.  We did alright until the base of the fixed lines when Rob struggled with the ascender.  The bottom of the lines featured a bergschrund that requires one or two little technical moves to get over.   Rob struggled to get over the ‘schrung.  He flailed and Pete and Joel yelled at him to keep moving.  Rob kept saying, “I can’t make it” and all Joel would yell back is “Rob, you have to keep climbing and get over this.”  Rob yelled back, “I know that Joel but you yelling at me won’t help me do it.”  Finally, I walked up to Rob and pointed out where he should put his feet.  Once he frontpointed those spots, he was able to clear the bulge.   We continued up the fixed lines  and made it to 17k ridge toward Washburn’s Thumb.  I had a slight headache at the top of the ridge, but attributed it more to dehydration than altitude.  We were on the fixed lines for 2 hrs without a break and the sun was beating down on us.  I was in my baselayers and still sweating.

Descending the fixed lines

After we settled into bed, we heard the team of Navy Seals walk past our tent.  They left 14k at 7am to make a summit bid (usually summit bids are made from 17k camp).  Around 10p we heard them walk by and Rob yelled, “did you make it?” they responded, “yes.”   We cheered from inside our tent and Rob said, “Glad they are on our side!”  What an awesome display of strength.  They were really cool guys too – friendly and fun to talk to. 

May 18^th – Day 12 – Rest day at 14k  Today we chill out.  We slept late and made our way into the cook tent for some cream of wheat and coffee.  Ahhh…

We did a lot of hanging out today.  Rob, Pete, Andrea, and I played a game of hearts.  It was pretty fun and easy to learn.  Even though I normally hate to learn new cards games, it wasn’t too bad since I didn’t have anything else to do at 14,000ft.  Andrea won, Pete lost, I was in the middle…. Which was good because the main reason I hate to learn new games is because I’m not good at them and I hate to lose. 

Basin camp was bustling with activity today.   A camp near us was playing baseball with snowballs and tossing around a snow football.  Another camp built a table out of snow that includes a small trench around the edges that they poured their trail mix.  It looked like a very nice poker table. 

Andrea and I have developed some really nice dreads.  I usually sleep with a winter hat on and this morning I couldn’t tell if it was on or off since my hair is permanently matted down in the same of the hat.   Andrea’s hair has titled off to the side and given her a sort of “side ponytail” look.  Mike has nicknamed her “Rollergirl.”  The look must have worked for her because after talking to the Navy Seals, she scored some extra Miso soups and energy drinks from them!

May 19^th – Day 13 – another weather day at 14k   We’re still trying to keep ourselves busy and sane at 14 camp.  We’ve been here 5 days and starting to run out of things to do.  Joe and I spent most of the day in the tent licking our wounds. 

We’re starting to do the math – we cached 5 days of food at 16.4k and 2 days at 11k.  We are on day 13 of 21 days of food, which means we are almost out of food at 14k camp.  I think two of the guides will probably head back to 11k to retrieve the cache if we don’t move up to 17k tomorrow.