September 30, 2007

Yesterday our boys left base camp along with the Swiss group to see how they would fare getting to camp 1. There has been much snow this past week and the Swiss are leading the pack to break trail with the snowshoes they wisely brought along. If getting to camp 1 is manageable, they will continue on up to camp 2 and so on. If the weather co-operates and the snow isn't impossible to navigate through, they will try for the summit again. If that doesn't happen, they will retrieve what gear they can and come down from the mountain. Oct. 9 is the last possible day they have on Manaslu.

Here's what the boys have been doing this past week at base camp: digging their tents out of the snow once every hour (including night time), playing cards, drinking wine and whiskey, and completely adjusting their digestive systems to goat and yak meat. Also, putting base camp back together after it being blown apart by an avalanche blast. This is not the avalanche itself, but the air it pushes when it occurs. Imagine 100km/hr winds. Their camp was hit pretty hard, the kitchen received the worst of it, but they were lucky compared to the Swiss and German camps. Apparently the German base camp was completely destroyed, so they went down to Sama village to watch movies on the portable DVD players they brought with them. Liz says she can't imagine what that blast would have been like, but it must have really been something because Keith's voice was pumped and full of energy like I haven't heard since he's been on the mountain.