On the 17th, 4 days of great weather started and we took full advantage of it. Billy Dave and I, alternated leading and fixing 1150m of rope up the traversing 45-60 degree ice between C1 and C2. Finally on the 20th I led the last 300metres to the top of the couloir that leads to the serac that C2 sits on at 5500m. We finished at 5pm in a snow storm, which was the obvious end to the good weather.
For 2 Days of the good weather, a helicopter continuously circled between 4200m and 5000m.We wondered what was going on as we were aware that Musharaf had resigned as president. On the 20th the helicopter got close enough for us to see a cameraman hanging out the door filming us. When we arrived back at BC we learned that Messner himself was filming us for an upcoming film he is producing on Nanga Parbat. He landed in BC twice to interview us, but we were on the mountain. The rumour is he will be back
Billy, Dave and I are tired, but feeling good after 4 days of strong effort. It is crazy to think that we have climbed 2000m above BC, but still have so much more to go before being done with acclimatizing for the face.
We are hoping to be done with the Messner route by the 1-15th September, which will leave us 3 weeks for our planned route on the face.
More to come…
Wish us luck
