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Well, here's a recap of the last 36 hours:
On Sunday, after looking over the weather charts, we
expected light snowfall Monday and Tuesday followed by a window of relatively
clear weather and little precipitation through mid Saturday. The climbers decided to leave Monday morning
for Camp 2 with the goal of summiting on Thursday (Friday as a back-up) and
returning safely before the window closes on Saturday. If you are on the east coast, 9 hours behind
us, that would have them forging minus 20 temps and 40 mph winds as you are barbecuing
wieners on July 4th. As it turned out,
the storm on Monday was more substantial than expected. Despite leaving at 3am,
the constant snowfall and, at one time 60 mph winds, had them arriving at C2 11
hours later. Over the last 24 hours it
has snowed about 2 feet, and a kind of snowy fog, limiting visibility, has
persisted. So they decided to stay put today, likely delaying the summit push
to Friday morning (Thursday afternoon east coast time).
Although a bit ornery for having to stay put our climbers do
seem to be ahead of the game if the current weather forecast plays out. Save the three Mr. Kims of the Korean team
who set out toward Camp One at noon, virtually all of the other teams on the
"strip" have stayed put over the last two days. In fact, on visits to and from surrounding
camps this afternoon, there was more than a palpable level of cabin fever. As
the temperatures began to warm, and the clouds atop the mountain peaks began to
dissipate, one thing became quite clear: tomorrow, July 4th, will be
a work day here.
Joel Shalowitz
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