9 Nov (part 1) - short walk to camp 3, pressure mounting

On this early morning, the clouds float at around 5000 meters. They are far under us at 6000 meter camp 2 and it makes for a beautiful scenery. From our tent (proper altitude tent this time), we can see perfectly Manasulu scrapping the sky at more than 8000 meters as well as Annapurna, made famous by Maurice Herzog's first ever 8000m conquest during the last century. It takes me a few minutes to get back to reality as my mind is climbing Manasulu. At over 6000 meters, the brain focuses differently and it take more efforts to do anything and find the will to get out of your sleeping bag, get the day going, turn snow into water and the likes.

Today is a big day, we are moving to camp 2 and there is no turning back. Camp 2 is being dismantled by the Sherpas to use the tents at camp 3. The departure is delayed by all the extra dismantling work but by 930 or 10 we are on the way roped in with Chris this time. It's a short way to camp 3, the furthest point on the mountain where a camp can be established.

For our summit bid, we have agreed to set up the camp 3 even if the short distance between camp 2 could justify skipping it and trying for the summit straight from camp 2. It seems to be done by some expedition. But setting up 1 more camp has many benefits. First, it's a short distance from camp 2 so we will arrive very soon and can rest the entire day, a huge plus before summit attempt day. Then, it's more time to acclimatise as camp 3 lies at 6200 meters. It's also 2 hours closer to the summit than camp 2 and any little bit will help. And finally, we have by yet been to camp 3 so it's worth staying there 1 night and preparing for summit.

We are just in between camp 2 and 3 when we see that the path in the snow has been totally erased by a locomotive-sized blue ice boulder fallen from the hanging glacier to our left. It is beautiful, magnificent and frightening at the same time. The thought of being literally flattened by another similar one crosses all our minds. Chris turns around and asks us to unscrew the safety of our carabiners so we can unclip, un-rope and run for our life if another ice chunk were to fall. The thought of un-clipping from safety, throwing aside a 15kg backpack and running with crampons for dear life at 6100m altitude is somewhat hard to grasp. At this altitude, my mind seems to treat this thought as too random to waste energy focusing on. Once we have unscrewed our carabiners safety pin, we hastily proceed to crossing this doomed section.

Arrived at camp 3. We rest and prep for summit bid.