Day 22 - Going home

Left 14K camp at 2:00 p.m.

Encountered hard, good snow and used crampons throughout the 16km, 2,200m descent. The weather was good and the walk was relatively easy and enjoyable, except for Heartbreak Hill, where it was a bit slow. We enjoyed traveling at night because there was no brutal sun on the lower glacier.

Retrieved our second sled, which we had cached at 11K camp.

We arrived at Base Camp the next day at 5:00 a.m. Vera retrieved our cache with jerky and other snacks, which tasted fantastic. Then, she set up the tent while I rested for a bit. Vera started melting snow and packing our stuff for air. At 9:30 a.m., we left Base Camp in Talkeetna Air Taxi.

After 22 days of only snow, ice, and rock, the green foliage produced a previously unknown, very deep, sharp, and distinct impression. We were not sure how to describe it.

We both entered a mental state of absolute inner peace and harmony and remained in it for the next few days. We experienced unreal pleasure from any food, sleep, and shower.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's do it!

Image
262 days to Day 1 (1st attempt) California Climber's Salute. Two of us on the summit of DaFeng (四姑娘山大丰), in China. Elevation 5,025 m. This peak had been on my mind for more than ten years! After it's over, what's next? We wanted to climb something higher, and as always, without guides and porters. Naturally, there was yet another peak, equally desired by me and equally hard to even think it was possible to climb: Denali (6,190m), the highest mountain in North America. Now, it made perfect sense to attempt. Since that day, Denali would be mentioned by two of us every single day.
Read more

Testing expedition tent in a snowstorm

Image
128 days to Day 1 Camped two nights at Dinkey Peak . We wanted to check our tent under heavy static stress and we got lucky. It was pretty big (for local standards) dump of wet snow overnight and our expedition tent passed the test. Had to get out at night and check the structure - the tent stood, with thick layer of wet snow on top and sides. Lesson leaned : watch tent poles. If accidentally dropped, they can travel over and then under the snow quite a distance. Although I knew this, I still managed to drop one and it was gone down the steep slope in less than one second. It was already dark, so we pitched the tent without it. Next morning, Vera spotted it sticking out 10 meters below us. So I lowered her on belay and she retrieved it: after being airbiorn like an bow arrow, it pierced hard layer of crust and stopped, only 20cm of it still sticking out. One pole is gone...and odds of finding it next morning being <1%. Vera's attitude in such situations (not first time!
Read more