Yesterday the team donned their crampons and pulled out their ice axes. They started first up the mile long hill rising directly out of Camp 2 known as Motorcycle Hill. Topping out here they climbed up Squirrel Hill (known for the family of squirrels that resides here…. just kidding). Above Squirrel Hill is a larger expanse of the glacier known as the Polo Field, it slopes gently upwards towards Windy Corner. At Windy Corner (13,200′ 4023m), climbers find themselves directly below the towering granite buttress which is the namesake of the route they climb, the West Buttress. The route wraps around and below the edge of this granite wall, who’s makeup frequently speeds up wind as it blows past thus the moniker Windy Corner. Just past this point is the cache site, which can be very wind buffed and requires some chipping to get a hole dug. With their supplies stashed, the team descended back to Camp 2 (11,200′ 3413m).

A 2021 team rounding Windy Corner

Here’s Peter with the update:

recording