We woke up at 7am and got ready to carry a load to Camp 1. Today was the day we had to switch to triple boots, which was extremely painful given the state of my feet. The hike was pretty hard because it was a lot of elevation and it would alternate between rocks for a section and then ice spikes called penitentes which were difficult to maneuver through. It was also windy the whole time, but the last section was really steep and extremely windy. It was icy snow so we had crampons on and our guide had us on a short rope. The winds were crazy - I had never experienced anything like it. It required so much more energy in the wind. We had lunch at camp to acclimatize and then went back down to base camp for the night. The way down was really fun because the first section was all scree that we could just slide down. It ended up being 5.5 hours up and 3 hours down. Rest day tomorrow due to high winds. Over dinner, our guide told us that the weather does not look good for the next week, with continued high winds. It is unclear if there will be a window to get up to Camp 3 or to summit. I am trying to stay positive. December 2 we moved up to Camp 1, after getting checked out by the base camp doctor. She told me I need to be drinking more, but I don’t know how anyone can drink more than 4 liters per day! My SPO2 was in the low 80’s which is weird because I feel great. We repeated the ascent from the load carry day in 4.5 hours, and then rested and had dinner. December 3 I had a bad headache. After dinner, our guide said the weather is looking really bad Dec 7-9, which is our only window to summit. He walked us through a bunch of options, but none seem very good. I am feeling very worried. I sat in the dining tent until I drank 5 liters of water. If we can’t summit this mountain, it is only going to be because of hte weather or things that we cannot control. I am going to do everything I possibly can to summit.
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