Day 11.. More contact

In case you haven't figured it out by now, these men are amazing. Pushing their bodies to the limits, yet listening ever so closely to the internal whispers and staying safe and healthy.

We are at 14,200 and Feelin' Fine!.. but wait,, let me back up and make sure we are all on the same glacier here.... (get it.. glacier. snow humor!..ok, ok I miss my husband and I'm starting to get a little goofy!)

So, to recap a little, you'll remember that on Saturday they were at 11,000, going up to 13,500 to cache their gear (basically bury their stuff in the snow), and then heading back down to 11,000. They did this and felt great and had very good weather!  On the Lords day,, they rested! How perfect!

Monday they were feeling great, got up super early, packed up camp and headed out before 6am! They made excellent time up to 14,200 and got into camp by 1pm. Normally, they would have come directly up to this camp and then head back down the next day to grab their cache, but they were feeling good and wanted to make up the lost snow day, so they just picked it up along the way and brought it up with them. Talk about a workout!! They spent several hours setting their new camp as they knew this was home for the next few days and storms were pending so they took extra care to get it just the way they wanted.

Today, they rested again at 14,200 and they are all feeling good. No Altitude sickness at all, which is fantastic news!

So what's next? Im glad you asked... tomorrow they will go from 14,200 up to 16,200 and cache that gear again and then head back down... is anyone getting the mental picture of squirrels in the fall, grabbing acorns and burying them only to run off to look for more?  I doubt it's nearly that chaotic or comical to watch. It sounds exhausting.

Now the nagging question on the weather, well, snowy and cold with wind. Pretty much every day. The higher the elevation the more vicious the winds get and thus the lower the wind chills. We are looking at 58 below zero on saturday up at 18,000.  Once again I will be thankful for super expensive gear and it's ability to keep them safe and warm.

So no update to the map as they are still at 14,200, but will get a new one up tomorrow. In the meantime,,
here is another group of climbers heading up to 14,200.. just to give you an idea of what our guys might look like..those tiny holes in the snow in the center of the photo,, that's a camp with the tents buried, which helps block the wind and actually keeps them warmer.