Immediately out of the camp, the climbers first ascend for a mile up Motorcycle Hill. Topping out here, they are at the base of another hill known as Squirrel Hill, with dramatic views of the Peters Glacier dropping down to their left. They climb up Squirrel Hill and find themselves in an up-sloping basin of the glacier known as the Polo Field. Here the granite wall that is the West Buttress rises dramatically on their left. Eventually the route climbs almost directly below a large corner of this granite monolith, the shape of this feature often accelerating winds, earning the name Windy Corner. It is just past this point that teams with chip into the wind buffed snow a one meter deep cache for their supplies, at 13,200′ (4023m). They are 1,000′ below Camp 3. Turning around here, they will retrace their steps back to Camp 2 to spend the night. Today they will be packing up camp and moving to Camp 3 at 14,200′ (4328m).
A 2021 team rounding windy corner:
Here’s Max!
