2nd QUARTER 2003
EOG PEOPLE
B-3
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loads to Camp 1 at 12,000 feet and came back for the
rest of our equipment and supplies. Climb high, sleep
low, or so they say. I wondered who "they" were....All
around was a sea of white. No gray, no brown or black,
just white. Perhaps one tenth of one percent of the
surrounding ground was a steep outcrop where snow
didn't stick. It was just snow and ice, as far as you
could see, which was pretty far actually, maybe 75
miles south to Mt. St. Elias at the coast. We could see
east well into the Yukon, maybe across it to the Yukon
River itself I pondered.
June 3 (Day 2). We finished moving all our stuff to
Camp 1. I carried about 75 pounds in my pack, nearly
killed me, what with the snowshoes, all my gear on,
harnesses and ropes, and trying to also place wands
every rope-length or so. Wands are three-foot bamboo
garden stakes with a little orange flagging tied on the
top for visibility. If it snows, they are your ticket back
to the tents. No wands, no snuggly sleeping bag...
June 4 (Day 3). We had not carried enough up the
first day, leaving too much to carry this time. We made
another carry to Camp 2 at 14,200 feet, this time taking
up a lot of food and fuel and extra clothes and gear.
June 5-6 (Days 4-5). On Day 4, it snowed and blew
hard. Same thing Day 5. I piled up snow along the
windward wall, but it kept shaking the tent. I piled it
along the edge of my tent, so it wouldn't blow spindrift
between the tent and the fly, only to melt down through
the mesh vents.
June 7 (Day 6). When we got ready to move up to
Camp 2, I had to carefully excavate the tent from all
this, a one-hour process. At each camp, we had to dig
out a platform about 35 feet wide, and maybe 15 feet
out from the uphill slope. You can accomplish this by
digging 7-8 feet into the slope, and tossing that snow
out onto the downhill slope, thus cutting down and
building up at the same time. A little stomping about
by someone in snowshoes, and voila! You have a place
for three tents. The bathroom, per se, was generally
defined as "a little over, a little down." At Base Camp,
it was actually dug out, with small walls, in case we
were to ever get a female visitor. At Camp 1, it was the
remnants of the area where we had stashed food the
first trip up. At Camp 2, it was, well, over there. We
just ran out of energy to do it better.
The high camp was the highest I have ever slept.
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The crew sets up Base Camp at 10,500 feet, from where
they will begin their climb to the peak at 16,500 feet.
Above: The crew digs out Camp 2 at 14,200 feet, with a
scenic view of the peaks to the east. Below: The crew
levels out the platform for Camp 2. This will be their final
launching point for the final 2,000 feet of their climb.
