Today is the real deal. We wake up and start the morning routine of melting snow, preparing ‘breakfast in a bag’, eating, packing our huge down sleeping bags, stuffing our backpacks, dressing for the weather (sunny but cold).

We hit the slope for a 600m / 5 hours ascent. Ice axes are not required for now and stay on our backpacks. Crampons will be needed later and are hanging off the back of our packs. Xav and I walk in front with Chris, Glenn follows with junga. Florence hasn’t slept for the nth night and Chris tells her to either stay st camp 1 or descent to Favor recovery.

It’s time to put on the crampons to get on the hanging glacier that will take us to camp 2. The slopes are getting steep. The real deal is now officially starting. Out of breath from putting the crampons we step onto old dark ice roped in Chris, Xavier and myself. All 12 teeth of the crampons do an amazing job keeping us on the slope. It’s key to get as many teeth as possible in the ice and not only the front one. Cramponing is not rocket science but requires a little patience to get it right to guarantee safety.

We traverse some amazing scenery of hanging ice and snow, skip over crevasses too deep for the eye to see the bottom of them. It’s fascinating, tiring and getting cold on the glacier. We have to stop briefly and layer up before we are frozen to the bone. The wind blows and the altitude guarantees cold winds. The -29C gloves come out of the bag in a hurry, the fleece is thrown over our goretex pro jackets. We keep climbing roped in with Chris, out of breath, approaching the 6000m barrier our garmin watches telling us how high we are. Suddenly: Tents on the horizon surrounded by glaciers and the towering himlung himal summit at 7125m above us. We have reached camp 2!

Our tent is on the side of a steep slope with a view that cannot be described for its beauty knows no words.

Glenn is about an hour behind. There has been a snafu with crampons and he does not have his own pair and therefore impossible to fit them on. He exchanged with junga and it works! But soon after their climb is stopped by a radio call from Florence who decided against Chris’s advice to climb up for acclimatisation. She cannot cross the glacier without being roped in for safety and Glenn had to wait 45′ in the snow on the glacier while Junga turns around to pick up Florence.

I walk towards Glenn, Junga and Florence to film their arrival at camp 2 without knowing that Florence has to turn around immediately to go down with junga before dark as she has left all her sleeping equipment at camp 1. It’s a weird situation, Chris is concerned for safety, Florence upset by Chris’ reaction and Glenn eager to arrive to his tent and settle after a long day. It’s cold, windy and the water making routine starts over again. Xav and I eat and settle in for s cold -13C night in the tent. Poor Glenn spends one of the worst nights of his life freezing on the snow as his mattress is punctured and cannot insulate from the intense cold at 6100m.