Day 8, 7/12: C1 (18200 ft) - C2 (20300 ft)

Today we finally get to explore new heights. When we woke up at 8:30 in the morning, we learned that one member had a severe cough and needed to descend to a lower altitude, therefore ending his climb. (It is strongly discouraged to make a summit push if a climber cannot “survive” the second acclimatization climb).

Forgot if this was sunset or sunrise

For breakfast, we cooked some “porridge” (粥) although the rice was pretty uncooked (Water boils at lower temperature due to the lower pressure at high altitude, according to the gas laws. Thank you Ms. Avadhani for teaching me chemistry!) Although my stomach still have not recovered from the spicy lambs I ate two days ago, I needed to keep myself energized., since it was going to be another long day.

Putting a harness on a fat suit was exhausting.

Many past climbers have described the route from C1 to C2 as the most beautiful section on Muztagh Ata, because the landscape is very “complex.” Since we’ll be walking through a heavily crevassed icefall, we must be roped up in teams of 6-8. If one person slips into a crevasse, the others would have enough weight to prevent the fall.

Leaving camp.

Every step from here on would involve traveling in snow, which doubled the strenuous level as compared to walking on dirt or rocks. Moreover, the weight of the down suit greatly hindered our ability to move. Although the way from C1 to C2 was only 5 miles, it felt endless from a very early stage.

Despite passing through the amazing view, we were not really able to enjoy it because of the baking sun. Yes, weather can also be a problem when it Is too great. Because it was plain whiteness everywhere around us, sunlight’s reflection came from all direction. Basically, we were being roasted while wearing a down suit that withstands temperature below -40 degrees (fun fact: Celsius = Fahrenheit at -40 degrees).

Sometimes we strip to keep cool.

Group breaks are always fun.

When people stare at sunlight-reflected snow for a prolonged period of time, they can be snow blinded. Therefore, we all wore protective glacier glasses or ski goggles. Even then, it was still very uncomfortable to look down on it, so I wore two layers of protective goggles. The problem was that my ski goggle were too small, so my glacier glasses were basically compressed into my eyes, which was equally uncomfortable.

After seven hours since 11 a.m., we finally reached C2. Honestly, the view at camp was basically the same as it was from C1. I was kind of disappointed that I still could not see the summit from C2. In case I couldn’t summit, it’ll be nice to take a picture with it.