News: Back to 1924 Camp 6
Eric Simonson - Basecamp
Wed, May 23, 2001 2:30AM

Today was a very successful day that combined two objectives. First, we wanted to get our Final Four summit team in position for the final push tonight. Second, we wanted to search again (and videotape) the 1924 Camp 6 and the climb of the classic North Ridge. I'm happy to say we were able to do both.

Yesterday Dave and Tap were able to climb from the North Col to Camp 5 in four and a half hours... great time (about as fast as Noel Odell in 1924!). After enjoying an hour of rest, I asked Dave to push on up to Camp 6 (using O2) to double check our camp. Yesterday, and the day before, there were a number of groups that "went for the summit" including several that didn't even have tents at Camp 6. They just planned on using those belonging to other teams! Several of our tents were used by these other parties. Since we had food, fuel, oxygen, stoves, sleeping bags, etc, in our tents, we were a little worried about whether everything was going to be OK. So... Dave went up to check it out.

This morning Tap and Andy left Camp 5 and started up the classic North Ridge. This was the same way Jake and Brent had gone in April, and was only the second time since 1938 (when it was done by Bill Tilman and Peter Lloyd) that this route had been climbed. Jason and Phu Nuru and Phu Dorge went up to Camp 6 via the standard route, to start cleaning up the mess left by the other parties, and melting water for our team. Dave left our Camp 6 and traversed over to the North Ridge and was able to video Tap and Andy on their way up the North Ridge. Andy (who also had a video camera) was able to shoot as well. Then Dave was able to climb down the cliff band (amazingly steep to think these guys were doing this in 1924!) to the '24 site. This time the team had a metal detector, shovel, and other gear, and were able to do a more thourough exploration of the site. We don't know exactly what they found. Then, in mid-afternoon, after a solid day of work, they climbed back up to Camp 6 for some rest and rehydration.

The plan is for the team to leave very in the morning for the summit. I hope the weather tomorrow cooperates!

Eric Simonson, Expedition Leader

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