8th – Back to Base Camp

We had originally planned to summit the 6^th or the 7^th due to the calm window in the otherwise windy weather. This was felt early last night where the wind started picking up again. Throughout the night it was hard to get some decent sleep due to the noise of the wind and it hammering the tents.

In the morning it was blowing relentlessly making it colder than yesterday, so when we with only few packed the tents and the rest of the camp we started the descent all the way back down to Base Camp. Only having a slight headache now after waking up it was relatively easy going. The painkillers from last night and early morning probably didn’t hurt, either.

The descent was swift and app. 2:40 after departure we arrived back at our slightly larger than necessary dining tent. Soon after lunch was served (I have rarely seen chicken burgers be devoured at such a speed) and the rest of the day we did as little as possible but also repacked our bags, readying for the long walk back down to the busses tomorrow.

In the afternoon a guide from a different Danish tour group came by to say hi to Bo. They have common interests and goals so they were equals in the climbing business. This resulted in nearly an hour of entertaining anecdotes between the two.

Dinner was super; the usual soup, a nice piece of beef with fancy potatoes and for dessert an amazing piece of chocolate cake. Three bottles of wine was drunk and to our joy we were presented with 3 bottles of champagne for dessert. No complaints were heard.

A helicopter crossed over us at one point. The other Danish group (of only 7 members, too) had not had an acclimatization like we had had in Vallecitos, instead they had gone directly up to BC with only a small detour. That had apparently been too much for one of the tourists so he had to be evacuated back down. Pulmonary edema is not a fun thing – but he got to fly in a helicopter!

Fun was had, and we were allowed to sleep in the dining tent so we didn’t have to worry about pitching our own tents and taking them down tomorrow. Happy about that decision, we were all pretty worn out and the winds wouldn’t have made it any easier.