Ben Clark
Mountaineer
Favorite Packs: Atmos 65 JOIN BEN ON HIS LATEST ADVENTURE - ANNNAPURNA IV, 2008 SKI EXPEDITION
Read dispatches here and on http://annapurnaiv.com/....
We spent most of the day today dodging thunderstorms and Austrians. Both are omnipresent and change the nature of base camp. It was a classic rest day in a secluded Himalyan locale.
Upon our arrival yesterday, we found a toilet tent smack dab in the middle of the trail and 8 tents in camp for 4 people. Since only 2 were here, they requested we keep our camp separate. I explained that in America, we share. This did not go over so well when their expedition leader arrived today. They are members of a commercial expedition that was denied access to Tibet 3 weeks ago and instead wound up here.
We set our three tents for the 5 of us on the only available dry spots left in what is an acre and a half. Smuggly we eyed their shower tent and today had it moved. Needless to say, they are not communicating with us. Kind of a bummer, we just thought it was unneccessary to pitch our tents in a 4" deep puddle...go figure. I'd be upset too though if I thought I was heading to Tibet and instead ended up here with three rowdy americans.
Camp is still really sweet, I mean c'mon secluded Himalayan locale right?. We spent most of the day walking up and down the spines of the morraine eyeing our line on the mountain and awaiting our chance to climb higher. It looks sooooo good up there. During bouts of thunder and snow, we retreated to our cook tent and sorted gear for the ascent in a few days.
Some photos of the approach have been posted to the website and I encourage you all to take a look. More photos of basecamp and the route will follow, I spent a little time working out some tech issues today too so please if the descriptions aren't enough we'll be giving you what we can.
Cheers!
For detailed information and photos of the mountain and route please visit:
www.annapurniv.com
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