Moving up to high Camp 3 (6000m) - 17 Jan

As expected, the morning was freezing cold with a chilly wind blowing and whipping up the snow so everyone was wearing ski goggles and masks which made it impossible to recognize anyone. Packing up the camp under these conditions was an exhausting and time consuming job. The tents and rocks and ropes had become entombed in ice and each one had to be individually chopped out with an ice axe.

So we only got going at 11:30am. After a short while we realized that we needed to be wearing warmer gloves so most of us had to make an ad hoc stop to adjust our kit for the extra cold conditions.

The route to Camp 3 followed a steep slope which had been heavily covered in snow so it was now very slippery which Jayson described as dangerous and scenic. We could now see that we were higher than all the surrounding mountain peaks which gave us a proud feeling. It was a day of achievements. At one point we passed 5663m, the same height as Mt Elbrus (highest point in Europe). Then as we climbed higher we passed 5895m, the height of the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro (highest point in Africa). It was odd thinking that we would be sleeping two nights higher than Kili's summit. Jayson was getting mild symptoms of altitude sickness with nausea, stomach ache and headache. He collapsed and wanted to throw up but after lying down he was feeling a little better. I was also feeling very short of breath so I sat down next to Jay on the path. Several others like Frank, Mike and Phil also took the opportunity to take a break. Sibu came over to us and told us that we were doing it all wrong and that we must walk at our own pace and breath more frequently with each step forward. We tried this technique and found we could cope much better.

We were delighted to arrive in high camp at about 3:30pm. The altitude of camp 3 is about 6000m so this was the highest that Jay and I have climbed before. As we arrived in camp we passed the permanent refuge bay.

The rest of the team, except Phokwane, had already arrived in high camp about 10 minutes before us and had already set about erecting tents. The wind was very strong and it took four team members just to hold the tent down while others looked for large rocks to anchor the tent securely. It was good teamwork and we were relieved when all 7 tents had been erected in about an hour. Our next crucial task was to collect and melt adequate ice for drinking water for the summit attempt. It takes forever to melt ice and so we were busy until after 9pm. We both battled to eat as we were feeling a little nauseous so we only ate a small portion.

Sibu came to brief us that we will all leave for the summit attempt at 5:30am tomorrow.