Day 6 - Caching at Windy Corner

May 17, 2019

Weiwei wrote:

On May 17th, on Day 6, when the temperature was -15C, the plan was to "Cache with the sled and go as far as we could." The sled was heavy, so I loaded my backpack as much as possible to ease the burden on the Doctor. We managed to make it up to the top of Motorcycle Hill, where I accidentally dropped into a crevasse, but it wasn't too deep. Then we climbed Squirrel Hill, which was icy. We reached the base of Windy Corner and, upon looking up, saw that the sky was clear blue. However, halfway up the mountain, a sudden gust of wind and a drop in temperature occurred. We quickly put on our ski goggles to protect ourselves from the harsh conditions. Even with two layers of gloves, I was still cold. The ice grew thicker, and the snow became thin as we climbed higher up Motorcycle Hill (later determined that the wind was too strong for the snow to stay in place). With determination, we trudged on, but the wind grew stronger and soon we found ourselves in a whiteout. Just then, I heard the most welcoming sound - the Doctor suggested that we cache here, due to the conditions getting dangerous.

We are currently at Windy Corner, also known as the lower crux of the West Buttress. The west side is slightly flat with loose rocks, making it impossible to dig a snow cave to cache supplies. Under normal conditions, we would cache supplies on the other side, but we cannot see the path to get there and it is currently not passable.

I placed my backpack on the ground and pulled out my Gore-Tex jacket, which made an immediate difference in my comfort. I then put on my homemade, large woolen gloves and no longer felt cold. We packed as much as we could into a tarp and scraped some snow from the side of the rocks to cover it. We then placed a few rocks on top and inserted a marker bamboo wand. We left the team label under the rocks, as it was too cold for it to stick on the wand. Finally, the cache was complete.

It was challenging to descend back to 11K camp because the snow was shallow and icy. The terrain was uneven, making it difficult to maintain balance with the ice axes and the sled pulling me downward. I had to ask the Doctor to stop several times so I could catch up.

In the evening, we discussed in the tent whether we should use backpacks or a sled the next day as we were moving camp. The tent, sleeping bags, and other equipment are quite heavy, but I felt that using a sled would not be safe and would also be difficult. The final decision was to bring the sled and head to Windy Corner and then to 14K camp.