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Team Makes Foray Towards Camp 1
Sleeping @ 19,000' after making a 4,000' jump is difficult at best. No one showed any ill effects, but it wasn't the most restful night for any of us. Robin had developed something of a toothache, but no big worry, and he was still good to go.
The plan fir today was to get our climbing boots, crampons, and axes up to camp 2 so we won't need to carry them on the final summit push (up to camp 2 we can climb in our approach boots ).
At about 8:30 we started towards camp 2 with our gear - all of us except Scott, that is. Scott said he wasn't sure he was coming back up for the summit push, so no reason to carry to camp 2.
We climbed about 600 - 700 vertical feet (and some mean traverses) to the base of the tower on which camp 2 sits. We met our sherpas there, and they hefted our gear up the last very difficult 100' to camp 2. It took us about 2 hours to get from camp 1 to that point.
Getting down was as tricky as it was going up.
We stopped @ camp 1 to pick up the gear we didn't need for the carry.
The descent from camp 1 was very long. We finally staggered into base camp at about 5:00 - except for Jeff and Scott who didn't make it in until 6:30 (after dark).
Robin's tooth was bothering him more. Our corps of doctors (including Carl, the dentist), put him on an antibiotic and gave him a non-narcotic pain killer. He felt much better quickly.
Had an excellent dinner of sushi and yak-kabobs.
Scott announced at dinner that he was leaving. A note from Scott appears below.
NOTE FROM SCOTT:
During my years in which mountaineering has been one of my passions, climbing a classic peak in the Himalaya has been a dream. Ama Dablam was that dream. I've decided not to continue with the climb because I feel my endurance and strength are not at the levels for a summit attempt which would directly affect the performance of the team.
Ama Dablam was going to be my last mountain climb because I'm always extremely homesick when on a trip. I know I should stop because while sitting on a rock ledge today at 19,300' deciding whether I could recover my strength, I asked myself would I rather regain my strength and experience the emotion of summiting Ama Dablam or be with my great wife, Christine, and Christopher, the best son God could bless a dad with. The answer was clear - so I'm getting the fastest yak train home. That ledge helped me see the meaning of life to myself - it's us, not me.
Finally, my prayers and best wishes go to the other members of the team. I congratulate each of them on their humility given their significant accomplishments, humor given the seriousness of this task, sense of community given only 2 weeks of being together, and a passion for the mountains that few people can understand .
God bless all of you.
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