Dispatch 29 – Climb from Lower Camp III (6950m/22,802ft) to Camp III (7040m/23,100ft)

the view from Camp III
the view from Camp III

Today, we woke up at 8:00am (late due to the high winds that kept us awake most of the night), ate a quick breakfast, broke camp, and climbed the short hour to Camp III (7040m/23,100ft). We again made a tent platform, set up camp, and began making water and drying our gear completely in preparation for a very cold, early summit day. Lina, Pilar, and Carlos plan to begin at 9:00pm, while I will most likely leave Camp III for the summit at 11:00pm, as I prefer to minimize the number of hours in darkness in order to reduce cold injury risk. Lina and I struggled to rest after dinner before beginning our summit bid, but found it nearly impossible, as radio chatter erupted from the neighboring Polish tent and climbers arrived back from their summit bid in the late hours.