Dan's Diary
Day 33 - Monday 30th July 2001
see also Andy's Diary for today
photo © 2001 dan
Tagne seen from Camp 1 |
I had really been looking forward to climbing Tagne as I knew that afterwards it would be all downhill to the relative luxury of Base Camp. However just before I nodded off the previous evening it had started to snow, the frozen water droplets pinging against the side of the tent. It had snowed for most of the night. I was glad when my 3am alarm went off for I had had a poor night's sleep. Apart from the noise of the snow hitting the side of the tent, I kept waking up to find I was lying on a sharp pointed rock. There was no need to even open the tent zip. A layer of snow on the sides and roof of the sagging tent could be made out and snow could be heard to be still falling. I said "No way, not today" to Jon and he seemed quite happy to stay in bed. We soon drifted back to sleep.
photo © 2001 dan
Camp 1 after snow |
When I next woke I found myself staring at my watch dangling from the side of the tent. The face displayed the numbers 7:30 and 523. Was it 7:30am and the pressure was 523 Mbar or was it 5:23am on the 30th of July? I lay there pondering which was correct, but I fell asleep before I came to an answer. I woke to find 7:30 still on the display, which I assumed to be the date as it hadn't changed and thus the time was 6:44am. It had stopped snowing and nature called so I put on my down jacket and slipped my boots on. I had a major struggle to keep the snow from falling into the tent as I undid the zip. A white land greeted me. Pure white virgin snows covered all the dirty brown screes. I got out and looked around at the picturesque landscape. I started to walk making the first footprints in the untouched snow. The glacier below us that had been a dirty grey colour now looked as though someone had given in a fresh coat of paint or polished it endlessly as it shone in the morning light. We had woken up in a different world - a white world. The snow lay four to five inches deep and was deeper where it had drifted. The bladder had to wait to be emptied as I reached for my camera and snapped away at the spectacular new landscape. I walked, just for the sake of making a fresh footprint in the snow.
photo © 2001 dan
Jon partially obscures the view East |
Jon came out and we walked to the top of a mound admiring how much more beautiful the scenery looked when it was covered in snow. It was a chilly morning and my extremities soon got cold. I relieved myself before returning to the tent. Jon was already inside. I brushed the snow and ice off the outside as best I could and then clambered back inside. I drank some hot tea from my flask but the milk had curdled and I could still taste mint from my hot chocolate. I climbed into my sleeping bag and pulled all the elastic cords to see what they did. By the time I'd finished I was so out of breath and hot that all I wanted to do was get out of the sleeping bag to cool down. But I found myself trapped in a cocoon wearing what felt like a shower cap unable to move. The ends of elastic lay across my face and round my neck. I wondered what would get me first - death by strangulation or irritation. My hands were trapped somewhere in the mass of down unable to come to the rescue. I did the rollover test, and for once both the sleeping bag and liner came with me, instead of the usual fight against each other resulting in strangling my midriff and giving the feeling of being squeezed into an hourglass. I lay there listening to my pulse reverberating between my ears and the sides of my sleeping bag, thinking of the prospect of spending a whole day cramped inside the tent. Only twelve hours until we could return to sleep I told myself. I read my book for an hour or two and then drifted off to sleep.
photo © 2001 dan
Whiling away the time |
12:15pm was toilet time. I put on clothes and boots and braced my self against the inrush of cold air as I opened the tent zip. My head was spinning. I wondered whether it was because of a lack of food or a lack of water or because of poor ventilation in the tent. I concluded it was probably a combination of all three. I staggered back into the tent. Jon talked of going back to Base Camp that afternoon but I wanted to at least to see if Tagne was climbable and give it our best shot. The weather had started to close in again and more snow was falling. We reorganised the tent so we had our rucksacks at one end and cooked at the other. Jon boiled the water to make milk as I lay still, my dizzy head hurting painfully every time it moved. We ate muesli with the hot milk and lots of sugar. Afterwards I read some more of my book and snoozed while Jon sewed the inscription "Tagne 2001" onto a red flag using some black thread.
photo © 2001 dan
Jon makes dinner |
At 5pm we decided to cook tea. I wasn't feeling much better. Jon went and got some water from the stream. It was frozen. He managed to break the ice and find a trickle underneath. Jon boiled the water while I sat on a rock and tried to get rid of my throbbing head. It had stopped snowing an hour or so ago and the sun was back out. My thermometer had read 30 degrees in the tent. It was like a sauna when the sun came out. It was barely 1 degree outside and I don't think my head could cope with the sudden temperature changes. I joined Jon and we ate beef oxo flavoured instant mash with peperami and cheese. The meal was better than ever and I couldn't get enough of it. We washed the pots in the icy stream. It had already frozen over so we had to break the three-quarter of an inch thick ice again. We filled up our water bottles before returning inside the tent. I read some of my book but soon got cold. One last visit to the darkening outside world saw me empty my bladder before I snuggled up inside the warmth of my sleeping bag at 7:30pm.
|
