Mountain Madness Gasherbrum II 2005: Quite a spectacular place!

Dispatch: Dispatch #6 - July 1, 2005: We are back in base camp after spending three nights up at camp 1, which will become our advanced base camp for the climb. The camp is on the Gasherbrum glacier, surrounded by all the Gasherbrum peaks. Quite a spectacular place! The start of our climb on G2 is about 1/2 hour from camp. During our time up there, we acclimated, organized our gear and help establish the route to camp 2. Several other parties of climbers have made camp up there as well, and are cooperating in fixing ropes up the steep face and ridge leading to the next camp. The weather, until today, has been warm and clear. This morning we awoke at 3 am (our usual wakeup time) to a snowstorm. After some consideration, we packed up and headed back down to base camp. The forecast calls for about 4-5 more days of unsettled weather. We will relax at base camp for a couple of days, and then decide the next course of action. Joe, Nick and Megan remain healthy and are acclimating well. We hope to sleep at camp 2 on our next trip up the hill.  Cheers, Charlie

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