Cold and windy but has some stunning views of everest and the 400m ice climb up to the north col.
We stayed here for 5 nights with the hope to stay a night or 2 at theNorth Col.
The first day was a rest day, and rest we did, nothing was done, just reading books, conversations and eating.
The second day we went around visiting a few camps that Jamie knows. Phil for one who has always got a story to tell.
ABC nights are cold, we usually stay in the dining tent (which has a gas heater) after dinner til about 8pm, then go to bed, by this time, it is on average -17 degrees C. Makes it hard to get your gear off and into your sleeping bag. It doesn’t really get much colder than this during the night, maybe -19.5 although these temps are taken inside my tent. If I was out in the wind, it would be deadly.
The 3rd night at ABC, after resisting onAconcagua, and every other day this expedition so far, I finally converted my red 1l drink bottle to a pee bottle.
This makes it so much easier to pee at night, just kneel in my sleeping bag, do the business, screw it up, and leave it on the tent floor somewhere…. No heat lost at all.
Sure beats the alternative of going out in this cold in my underwear coming back and taking 30 mins to get comfortable again.
The 4th day of ABC we went for a walk up the hill to approximately 6550m to a place called Crampon Point. Which is a place marked out by expedition barrels (brought up by sherpas that hold everyones crampons (although we’re carrying ours ourselves). From here on it is ice, and you need crampons on your boots to stay upright.
From Crampon Point there is around a 500m walk to the base of the north col, and the fixed ropes start.
I was really struggling to walk to Crampon Point. All I can blame is lack of acclimatisation at this level and the high altitude. Unfortunately there was no one else around to compare myself to apart from Jamie, who at altitude seems to grow a second pair of lungs and isn’t effected like everyone else. (Sucks to be me around him, but also good to have him around if I get into trouble later on).