Day 14 - 14K camp, bracing for the storm

Two weeks have already passed since we arrived on the mountain.

The morning was clear, and as we had planned the day before, we began packing to move our camp to 17K. However, a weak intuition prompted us to check the weather forecast one last time at the ranger station. The forecast warned of a snowstorm coming in the late afternoon and lasting for three days. Although the calm blue skies made it difficult to believe, we decided to play it safe and stay at 14K. Our decision was proved right as the storm was indeed real. By noon, the skies started to cloud over, and by 1pm, it was a complete whiteout.

I will never forget the sound of the wind on the ridge, it was like a modern passenger jet was landing nearby. Some people either didn't know about the forecast or ignored it. Zhula and her guide were among them. They decided to move to the 17K camp but didn't get far before they had to stop because of the wind. Their tent was promptly destroyed by a gust that blew off a block of snow from the wall and hit it. They descended the fixed lines in the storm and spent the night at the ranger's station. Zhula later told us, "The cold was okay, but the fear of dying was not."

The "Austrian Superman" and his wife also went up, attempting to reach the summit from 14K. He had accomplished this feat before in just eight hours, but this time, the mountain gods didn't allow it. On Denali Pass, he had to give up. He told us later that they encountered navigation problems on their return. They were on skis, and skiing down the Rescue Gully in a whiteout and wind was no small feat. The Superman indeed, it's hard to imagine what it takes to ski down an Autobahn in such conditions.