Last week our WhatsApp climbing group was packed with messages as I woke up. I checked the group to learn that Abdul, whom we had climbed Denali in Alaska, had just died on Everest. Reading from the news, Abdul summited Mount Everest, raised the flag that he was carrying and died on the way down. […]

A very nice picture taken by Kai Girard on our final descent after attempting a summit push on the same morning. We were embarking on a 5-6 hours down-climbing day. About 1-hour in Kai stopped briefly on the ridge and took a shot of us down-climbing. I was leading our rope for this part of […]

Snow city cafe is our place of choice for breakfast each morning for the next 3 days. Large portions of hash browns, home-made biscuits, 20 ounce coffees. Our expedition stomachs can swallow it all! We do our final shopping at REI and AMH, the specialised mountaineering & climbing store. We climb Flattop mountain, a beautiful […]

Maybe it seems as if one should be able to re-adapt immediately when coming back from an expedition. It is not the case for Xav and I. It is a huge change to be surrounded by people, cars, noise, green nature, having running water, being warm at all times. It is overwhelming for our senses. […]

8am we wake up and start packing, its a beautiful day out. Kai and the group from Dustin’s expedition have slept outside. Sunny and blue sky. The storm is not coming today. The flights start at 9am and there is no queue so we should be flying in no time. It’s sad to be leaving […]

Down 2,500 meters to base camp in 1 day. We are waiting for Dustin’s expedition to take their final decision on whether they are moving up or down. His expedition is a group of 3, one of them, Ben, is a wounded war veteran in his thirties – he has his shin fused to his […]

It is today or never, the weather is nice when Kai wakes up, then turns to snow, then good again with some blue sky at times, then not good again. We pack our bags for a summit attempt anyway. 1 sleeping bag for the team, 1 sleeping pad, emergency kit, heavy expedition mittens, all our […]

We have been constantly listening to the weather, trying to find the right window for a final summit push. It is a game between relying on the forecast – which has proven wrong almost every day since we arrived – and looking at the sky and relying on Kai’s instinct in terms of window. A […]

Morning cleaning up camp. Chelsea and Eric are going down to base camp with Marc and flying out. Before they head down, Kai, Marc, Xav and I make a little trip to the Edge of the World, a scenic point about 20 minutes walk from our camp. This scenic point feels like it overlooks the […]

Today one more rest day, recovering from the carry to the 5000m cache on the ridge up the fix lines. We have been wondering for a few days how our expedition would carry on. Marc has been sick and has been struggling to recover at altitude. After going back and forth on the logistics, the decision […]