Down and Safe

On May 15th we (Matt Fioretti, David Frisk, Carter Nelson, Peter Carey, and assistant guide John Miller) had a leasurely morning waking at camp I. We just had to move from camp I to a camp II on a high cole at 17800 ft just about 3 hours away. We departed camp I at 9:30 am dumping any weight we could.

The approach up until now was difficult terrain. There is no trail to Kyajo Ri. The approach is loose scree, large rolling- moving bolders, and crap that is hard to relax on. It is a very taxing approach. A friend of mine "Mingma Sherpa who is has summitted Everest 3 times said to me in Namche "Matt, I climb Everest many times but Kyajo Ri harder than Everest". He definately is refering to the approach where one momentary lapse in concentration on the bolder field will end with a sprained ankle or broken leg.

This approach was taxing on everyone of us. Everybody remained very possitive and in great spirits as we approached the cole which would leave us roughly 1800 feet to the summit.

One hour from the col, I could see that David was slowing and sensed that he was nearing his end. A conversation confirmed his status with few words "I am tired, dont think I can make the col. I decided to take David down and give John and gang a shot at the summit. There are few climbers like David who dont let their egos get in the way and I appreciated his truthfulness. Very selfless of him as if he continued, the possibility of putting the group in a dangerous situation may have befallen us.

John and Carter continued on the morning of the 16th and reached a high point just 150 meters below the summit before Carter let John know that he was out of gas. What a great try! Peter stayed at the col with a crampon problem and showed us all an awesome response to his crampon, now broken in two parts. "Well Ill just stay at the col and take photos of these guys". Most of us would have been swearing at the mountain Gods for the shitty crampon and bad luck, possibly throw our gear in a crevace and stomp down the mountain making hand gestures.

Thank You John Miller for taking up the slack and leading every pitch. This is not easy work at altitude. AI 3 becomes very sharp at altitude. John lead every pitch in cool style.

Over all it was a great trip and great team. All easy going. Photos and more with in the next day. Next post : The Lukla toilet