Yesterday the team put in their first cache of the expedition. Caching is indicative of an expedition style of climbing (verses “Alpine Style”). It allows teams to split up their loads of supplies and gear and carry less whenever they are moving up the mountain. In addition, it gives them a chance to acclimatize better. Like many others, we like to use the adage, “climb high, sleep low”. In a caching style climb, teams can spend the day acclimatizing to higher altitudes and then sleep at a lower altitude afterwards to let their body recover.

From Camp 1 at 7,800′ (2377m) the team first climbed Ski Hill which rises almost directly above Camp 1 for 1,200′ (365m). Once reaching the top of this hill, they experienced rolling terrain as they continued to gain 1,200′ to their cache site situated at 10,200′ (3108m). At the cache site, the team dug a one meter deep hole into the glacier where they tossed in selected gear and supplies that won’t be needed for a few days. They buried these supplies and stuck a 6 foot tall bamboo wand into their cache site with a tag atop it identifying whose cache it is. They also mark their cache with a GPS waypoint, just in case.

Afterwards the team descended back down to Camp 1, where they enjoyed a hot meal and spent the night.

A 2021 team leaving Camp 1

Here’s Jason:

recording