One of our guides, Kyle Horner, called in last night. The team was able to put in a cache at 10,200′ (3108m), a little over halfway to Camp 2. Caching is an expedition style of climbing that allows teams to lighten their packs as well as acclimatize to the altitude. The team choses food, fuel, and gear that they won’t need for a couple days and carries these lighter (lighter than the original 110 pounds of full gear) packs to a higher elevation usually positioned in between the camp they are currently at and the camp they will move to next. Once a team gets to a cache site, they will take turns digging a meter deep hole into the glacier, where they will stash selected items and burry it with a heaping mound of snow on top. Once this is done, the cache will be marked by GPS and a six foot tall wand with the teams identifying name on the wand. (Can you imagine losing your cache in a sea of white? Don’t do that). Burying the cache protects food from clever ravens who love to steal mountaineers’ snacks.
Caching is also a way for the team to “climb high and sleep low.” This is a great way to help the body to acclimate to higher altitudes, and recover at night at a lower elevation.
A 2021 team leaving Camp 1
Here’s Kyle:
Another recording here, Javier really like his birthday present! Nice!
