Day 14, 7/18: C1 (18200 ft) - C2 (20300 ft)

There’s a saying that when you climb Muztagh Ata, you’re essentially climbing three 5000m mountains, two 6000m mountains, and one 7000m mountain. Today would be the second time up to C2, just a little over 20000 ft.

I was excited for the beautiful glacier views, but the weather today was not great at all. Throughout the trip, we haven’t been in harsh weather conditions besides some forceful winds and the hail during the trek from 204 to Basecamp.

This time, we were entirely surrounded by fog and snow. When I was walking, I could only see two people on the rope in front of me, and we were relying entirely on flags placed during 2AC to guide our path.

I actually liked the weather now more than the baking sun we encountered during 2AC. In fact, because I could not see what was ahead of us, time passed by very quickly because I was not constantly reminded of the fact that we’re still hours away from our destination.

Can't you see how happy I was.

The team that came one day after us faced worse conditions. They were hit with a thunderstorm midway, and the thunder came really close. Some of them were even crying because they thought “that was it.”

Tip: this is the wrong way to avoid lightning. You need to crouch instead of lying down on the ground.

When we reached C2, my gloves were completely wet, so was my back. Even though it was cold, I was still sweaty. When the sun came out, I had to “strip” again to let the moisture out from my softshell jacket.

The clouds after the storm are very pretty.

Since I was bored, I went to take some photos without myself covering my face (won’t get much opportunities up higher because it was going to be too cold).

Thinking about changing my hairstyle to this.

It was already too cold for me to take my hat and buff off. It hurted for the wind to strike across my face.