Nanga Parbat 2005: Everest Summiter IVAN VALLEJO RICAURTE THE FORECASTS FAIL AND WE ARE SOAKED WET

Base Camp in Nanga Parbat Wednesday, July 13, 2005

That's right dear friends, the forecasts fail, or worse, they are never right.  Here we are back again in BC soaked wet with snow on our shoulders.

As I said in the last report I wrote on Sunday, July 10, on Tuesday 12 in the early morning, along with my colleagues form Aragon, we left from BC to chase our respective teammates who were in the high altitude camps, to join and continue from there with the summit attack.  The plan has been done according to a weather forecast that promised good days, at least from Tuesday to Friday.

But, surprise!  In the early morning of Tuesday, just on the way to C1, water appeared unexpectedly to faithfully guard us during the first two hours of our journey.  We talked by radio with our teammates in C2 and it was snowing up there.  What a forecasts we've received.  In that moment all involved huddled up and the only immediate conclusion was to abort the summit attack.

Back to BC the rainfall was harder and the rest of the day was like that, under the fog and rain.  My teammates who were above in C2, after their frustrated attempt to reach C2 to stock up, had to remain inside their tents hanging from the edge of the ridge, watching how slowly the hours went by and how the snowflakes fell.

Today, Wednesday, the panorama has changed at least a little, instead of having rain early in the morning, it started at noon.

If you ask me how my spirit is, well, very well, my dear friends.  I don't lose hope, not even a little, I know that this bad weather is going away sooner or later, that the conditions of Nanga Parbat will improve and it will surely give us the chance we've been waiting for.  Until then I use my time in diverse activities: during the morning I go jogging on the prairie that is 200 m below our BC.

I write with illusion the few chapters left from my book which will see the light on the first week of October.

-          You will buy it, will you?  Because it is really good.

As for reading, I almost finish a very interesting novel by Gioconda Belli (Nicaraguan author): La mujer habitada (The inhabited woman).

During the afternoon there is good chat with Sebastian (Alvaro) who has good conversation and who is directing the orchestra, or we watch a flick from the wide selection who the same Sebastian brought or my "little sister" Edurne.  Today we watched Master and Commander, which I enjoyed a lot admiring our Galapagos Islands, and feeling proud about that jewel of ours.

For today there is nothing left but to listen what our heart will tell (as in the old times), because the truth is that, with much respect, I don't know how the heck the weathermen who send us their reports make their living.  Because as for Nanga Parbat they haven't hit the spot, not even by far.

With my great love, from this rainy afternoon at the bottom of Nanga

IVAN VALLEJO RICAURTE

Expeditioneer

Translated from Spanish by Jorge Rivera

Updates

Millet One Sport Everest Boot  has made some minor changes by adding more Kevlar. USES Expeditions / High altitude / Mountaineering in extremely cold conditions / Isothermal to -75°F Gore-Tex® Top dry / Evazote Reinforcements with aramid threads. Avg. Weight: 5 lbs 13 oz Sizes: 5 - 14 DESCRIPTION Boot with semi-rigid shell and built-in Gore-Tex® gaiter reinforced by aramid threads, and removable inner slipper Automatic crampon attachment Non-compressive fastening Double zip, so easier to put on Microcellular midsole to increase insulation Removable inner slipper in aluminized alveolate Fiberglass and carbon footbed Cordura + Evazote upper Elasticated collar. Expedition footwear for mountaineering in conditions of extreme cold.  NOTE US SIZES LISTED. See more here.

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