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Friday, September 26th, 1997
A night sleeping out at almost 20.000 ft. (Jan Elleby).
Today it was my turn to take a load up to Camp 1. Nice and slow, I headed up
towards the rock step that Per Bager and Michael had been talking about. Having
climbed the cliff, I started to move slower. Feeling the effect of the altitude,
I had to take a short break every 30-40 steps. But with satisfaction I noticed
that I slowly was approaching the red flag marking the top of the rise to Camp
1. True it was late afternoon, but I knew there would arrive there in time. At
last I reached the apparant top of the rise, only to see an even higher rise
ahead, and I felt the situation becoming a little critical. The time was 4 p.m.
and I had daylight for another two hours more, so I just had to keep on
climbing. One hour later it was radiotime, five o'clock. I had climbed two
thirds up the second rise and could just about see a third rise looming behind
the apparant top. I estimated I would be able to reach the top of that third
rise just before it would be too dark, but still I didn't know how much distance
remained to Camp 1. Luckily I knew that I carried a sleeping bag as well as two
foam mattresses, so I called ABC to tell that I didn't expect to reach Camp 1
today and planned to bivvy out. Twenty minutes later, I reached a small rock
shelf, and after cleaning off most of the loose rock, I found the place quite
allright for a bivvy. At six o'clock I lay comfortably in my warm sleeping bag
and radioed ABC to tell them all well. Twelve hours later I awoke to a
fantastic sunrise over the Barun valley, with Baruntse glowing like a pointed
flame over the still dim valley. Just imagine such a view when opening your eyes
at home! My sleeping bag was covered by a thick coating of ice, so I waited with
a clear conscience until the sun reached my rock shelf to thaw out my sleeping
bag. When at last I broke the bivvy and continued my way up to Camp 1, I
discovered the camp to lie just behind the third rise, only 40 minutes
away........
