A whole lotta catching up

Back to basecamp. The trip up to moraine camp was hard, but doable. Going from moraine to col camp was probably the hardest physical work I've ever done. 50 lb pack, over glacier terraine and 2 pitches of ice climbing. We decided to wait one day to allow the massive German team to clear out before trying our summit bid. The weather turned kinda bad and we waited until 11 am when there was a little clearing to make our bid.

Alpamayo



As has been the case, Josh was massively strong again today. I was sucking wind by the time we got to the first pitch--not even sure if I could climb. Thankfully, I was able to ice climb more efficiently than I travel on glaciers. Spindrifts, horizontal snow and bad visibility were the general tenor, but we summitted around 5:30 pm.

Rappeling down, we had to deal the darkness for the last two pitches. To add to the fun, the trail was completely covered so we did a bit of exploring for our route home. Finally got back to camp at 10 pm.

Quitaraju


I knew I was out for Quitaraju. It would be in 2 days and after the summit, we'd have to pack 50 lb packs back to basecamp. I knew I couldn't do it. Josh and Adrian left around 1 am. I saw them almost back to camp at 12:30 pm, but then they turned around. Turns out a Peruvian guide had fallen 60 M when an anchor pulled out. Adrian returned to the base of the mountain to see what he could do from there. They finally rolled in around 2:30 pm and looked beat.

Team Alpenglow on the return


Twas great to get back to basecamp, easy breathing and real food.