We all agreed to start unroped and then rope up once we felt it necessary. Kelly started with two ice tools while Jason and I started with our trekking poles. We made relatively good time by headlight. As we progressed, we noticed there were two sets of lights below us. One was a group of two and the other was a group of three. The sun snuck around the side of the mountain to expose our challenge ahead. We all felt good on the bottom third of the glacier. We took a break on some small rocks just before the first shoot. At this point I racked up the trekking poles and pulled out the ice axe and ice tool. We also decided to rope up at this point. We then slowly traversed between the first rock band and the large crevasse. It was at this point that altitude and fatigue started to make itself apparent to Jason and myself while Kelly proceeded nicely. The snow was slightly deeper near the crevasse, and every small slip back felt really affected attitude and momentum. We made it though the first chute and rested again. We noticed that the other teams below us at the start were no longer on the glacier. If we were to make it to the summit, we would be the only ones that day via the glacier.
The next stretch was to approach the bottleneck. Altitude and fatigue were definitely slowing our progress. Our water was frozen and we didn't have much appetite. We would stop every five steps or so to rest for a few minutes. We were about eight hours in and about halfway between the first rock band and the bottleneck. As Kelly approached the bottleneck he was contemplating traversing around or going straight through. The solo swiss climber had made it straight through the day before unprotected. Since the snow was a bit deeper at this point, Kelly felt the risk and time it would require traversing around the bottleneck was not worth the effort. Kelly proceeded through, anchored himself in, and set up a belay for jason and I who were quite spent at this point. Jason was next though, but had troubles following Kelly's steps as the snow was deep and kept collapsing. He eventually got through with the help of some dry-tooling. I had a slightly easier time as my taller frame allowed me to brute force my way through. Jason recovered for a bit with Kelly.
Kelly thought it was best that I continue leading to the summit ridge, so I proceeded through. This was the point that the exhaustion truly kicked in for me. I think in my mind I was expecting to see the summit after passing through the bottleneck. When I realized I couldn't, it made the last pitch to the summit ridge more draining. I was kicking steps and following the Swiss' tracks. I was only able to manage a few steps and then a rest. Once I reached the top, I sat down in the snow awaiting others. They were shouting if we were close. I didn't answer because I could still see the remaining slog over the rollers. It was probably about 14:30 at this point. Once we regrouped and got out the trekking poles, we proceeded to the top. I would try to count between 15-25 very slow steps before resting. As if I didn't want to get to the top fast enough, we approached the summit plateau my tummy told me it was time to make some room. That's right, Kelly and Jason continued up, while I made my way throught he maze of clothing layers and squatted down at nearly 23,000 ft for what would be the highest altitude poop in my life. I did the deed and made my way to the top. When I reached the top, Jason and Kelly were already sitting there taking it all in. The view was unlike any I had experienced and I was overcome with emotion. This having been my first expedition, was the culmination of enduring and overcoming the unknown like nothing I had ever experienced. We probably spent about an hour at the top of the Western Hemisphere. We called our parents and Kelly called his family. It was almost 16:00 when we reached the top, and we started the descent around 17:00 hours.
I rode the summit high on my descent for the first 30 minutes when fatigue, dehydration, and lack of food started to kick in. At the time, it felt like I was struggling to descend more than I struggled to summit. Kelly soon was well ahead of us, but he managed to stay just far enough to maintain visual contact. The scree slopes made it difficult because I was in no mood to deal with the uneven slipping and sliding. I was the slowest one in the group on this part of the descent. We eventually reached Independencia hut and I had to take a break. Jason then pushed on as I said I'd follow. Instead I closed my eyes and actually dozed off for a few minutes, only to awake with that feeling that I had just slept in for work. I jumped up and made my way down. After a while, we reached Camp 3. It was at this point the fatigue kicked in for Jason and I got my second wind. Walking behind him, I didn't know how he continued to move as his legs looked like they would buckle under every step. His Denali pack was swinging back and forth on his back like there was a kid inside trying to get out with every step. He continued with such exhaustion like few I know could have.
By the time we saw Camp 2, several of the parties were out watching us struggle down the last portion of the traverse route. The best source of water for us was near the main tent sites. Since our camp was farther away towards the foot of the glacier, I decided to get the water and Jason continued back to the site. I rolled into camp around 20:30 and was welcomed by the other teams. I chatted with Kelly and congratulated the others that had summitted that day via the Traverse. CJ, one of the "Rocket Scientists" was a total rockstar and actually went up to help Jason get back to camp. He even returned and carried my pack back to our site. I got the stove started and then told Jason I needed to lay down. I didn't wake up until the next morning. Simply put, summit day was the hardest, most fulfilling day of my life.
A special thanks to Kelly for all of his help on the summit. His experience proved invaluable. This mountain definitely brought out the best in everyone.
Time, Location (Altitude), SPO2, HR
16:30, Summit (22,841 ft), SPO2 53%
No comments:
Post a Comment