Day 20 - bivy at 16K ridge

It was snowing and we were in a whiteout. There was no wind, so we packed up and left 17K camp. We were going home! As always, the packs felt the heaviest. The footpath was partially gone, so by the time we reached the top of the fixed lines, I was concerned that the approach would be covered by snow and that we might wander into a crevasse. So we decided to bivouac, exactly where the Mongolians had their tent ruined by a snow block hurled by the wind. The platform was already there, so setting up the tent was not a problem. That's what we thought, only to discover that a tent pole had broken - the piece that connects to the poles was stuck inside one of the poles. Luckily, it was calm on the ridge, so after a few tries, we were able to splinter it with one section of a ski pole. You can see a more detailed report by Vera here.