Day 7, 7/11: BC (14500 ft) - C1 (18200 ft)

Today we begin our second acclimation climb (call it 2AC from now on), which would take 3 days to complete. We move from BC to C1 today and stay there for the night, then C1 to C2 tomorrow and stay at C2 for a night, finally back down to BC the day after.

Basecamp afar.

The 2AC is basically a ticket to the summit bid, which is why it is the most crucial part of the entire trip. By staying at C1 (18200 ft) and C2 (20300 ft) for one night each, we would be much better acclimatized to those altitudes when the summit bid begins.

A pile of rock is usually a symbol of good luck.

Before we left, I was not conditioned at all. My stomach was not feeling well from all the spicy, somewhat uncooked barbecue lamb I ate yesterday. Moreover, I didn’t sleep well in the tents of basecamp because I kept debating whether I should get up and go to the bathroom or not. Luckily, we got to have noodles for lunch before we left.

Such a nice bowl of noodles.

The trip up to C1 was all the same: tedious and never ending, though we did not need to carry our snowshoes and climbing boots anymore. This time, however, we need to bring out sleeping bags and down suits for C1 and above. On the way up, one person got a disk herniation and went back down. He couldn't return and ended his trip.

The snow from last time have melted a bit due to the excruciating sun.

Learning from my previous, terrible experience, I tried not to breathe through my mouth to avoid lung pain. However, this caused another problem—oxygen deprivation, especially when we needed to wear UV buff over our face to shield us from the sun. Even though our guide cut a few “nose” and “mouth” holes in my buff, it still hindered our ability to breath. Therefore, my way up C1 this time was a lot more exhausting.

C1 is so tiny from here.

This paragraph is kind of gross so skip it if you don’t want to read. Since all the air entered from my nostrils, my throat became quickly dry and I must swallow my own saliva to hydrate it, since I had to conserve water and my water bottle was not always instantly accessible. It became so dry to the point that I could not swallow and almost choked myself to death.

Everyone was kind of tired.

When we reached C1 at around 7, I had my first thought of giving up. I was so tired and sleepy, yet again, we could not sleep until 11, and it didn’t get dark until 11. My phone died, my clothes are wet, and I had to change into my down suit immediately. So in the next four hours, I basically just sat on my backpack in the blinding sunlight, which made me more dizzy. Every time someone tried to get into the tent, our guides would get really mad and shout at him/her.

C1 looking down.

We will be climbing through this icefall tomorrow.

Changed into down suit, bathing in the sun.

Fortunately, when the sun set, the scenery was majestic. The clouds really looked like they were burning, and the whole mountain turned red. And we had 蛋炒饭 (egg-fried-rice) for dinner, which was such a luxury.

Unfortunately, because the views were so stunning, I became too excited. Coupled with a burning headache from the altitude (it was our first time sleeping at C1), I barely got any sleep.