Tales of Rotation. Getting high then running back to EBC

An early start to day four (30th) saw us beating the heat to the base of the Lhotse face and start to climb to camp 3. Fixed ropes all the way meant that we cramponed and used Jumars to ascend the ropes anchored to the hard blue polished ice. This is a very efficient method when your technique is perfected. While I am competent I am certainly not pretty. Instead of a poised and balanced ice dancer I resemble a fish being reeled in. Even so my position and the surrounding grandeur was not lost on this fish. After 2 hours of listening to the ice crackle and pop under the intrusion of our crampon points, punctuated by the zip of our Jumars siding up the rope we reached camp 3 which consists multiple flat sections on the Lhotse face beginning at approx 7200 meters. We were the only ones enjoying this vantage point, having a packed snack, looking out across the vast Cwm, then upwards towards Lhotse, the South Col and Mt Everest’s summit with the prevailing jet stream blasting a plume of ice into the distance. At our elevation the breeze picked up signaling time to rappel back down. Before hooking my rappel device into the rope “it’s about the journey, recognize and celebrate along the way” swam to the forefront of my consciousness and today, with the help of Lama Tenjee, I did.

Early morning on May 1st. Completely spent but time to rise and get down the ice fall before the sun does. This last day of rotation is a speed marathon from camp 2 back to EBC. Out of the tent, bowl of porridge, last check - GO! Out on to the glacier around the crevasses, down, up, down and around again. Through camp 1 with the sun starting to show over the rim of the Cwm. Through the crevasse field at the top of the ice fall, ladders span gaping cracks in the ice. One step at a time, don’t sway, keep balanced, jump the last bit. Unceasingly the sun rises higher, keep going. Entering the lower sections you can relax a little, give thanks for a safe return and contemplate the next time. Grinding up the glacial moraine to base camp the decisions to be made are complex and critical. Will it be one coffee or two and will I have a shower straight away or later?