Everest 2006: ANDALUCIA EVEREST EXPEDITION: RETREAT IN RONGBUK

Andalucía Base Camp: The spirit of the team is a little down after confirming yesterday that the Sherpas went ahead.  It was hard to know that there is now way they can leave until next Tuesday 25.  By the morning, the liaison officer ratified that no ascent can be made because of organization problems and the progress of several yaks caravans.  Today they saw a neighboring French team leave after carefully weighing the load.  Josu Feijoo's Basque team will do it tomorrow.  There are other expeditions on the waiting list and the worst is that yesterday as well as today, they have been unbeatable sunny days for marching. 

Each yak can carry no more than 40 kilos.  In principle the Andalucian expedition hired 20 of these animals, although you can imagine that they will have to pay an extra fee to be able to transport 500 kilos of loads, tents, kitchen and all the other stuff... 

With things like this, the decision was to go down to rest a little more comfortably in a lodge in Rongbuk, next to the Buddhist monastery where the group was the day before.  Staying here to withstand three nights in freezing temperatures and the discomfort of the plastic chairs in the mess tent can mine the spirits and unnecessarily wear down the body.  They quickly prepared the backpacks with the elemental things and they went to look for some shelter from the cold in a lodge, a point of comfort and above all some electricity.

No hot showers, that would be too much to ask, one of the portables is not working, but optimism has to be renewed.  All the shipment was left in base camp under the care of the Sherpas.  The Andalucians will try to rest as much as possible for the next few days to then go back to base camp to spent the night and, if there are no inconveniences, to ascent as soon as possible to the intermediate camp and then continue with the attack of this giant that, for the moment, has been showing a nice face for two days in a row.

Blacks, whites and grays

During the afternoon, after having rice for lunch and checking in their rooms, the day is still clear.  To the east, the mountain keeps on offering their great blacks, whites and grays.  The climbers of the group can't stop looking at them, searching for its secrets, looking for the magical lines of the routes, commenting on the visible parts of the trail with their lit eyes.  Pedro has spent the whole afternoon looking at it.  He seems to be asking for permission while trying to hide his fear.  Huisa has too many problems in his head, he thinks for everybody and has to take decisions.  Sometimes he wonders how it would be like to be up there, but he hasn't realized how close he is of his most important step as a climber.

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Dispatches

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