Aconcagua--January 27--Carry to Camp II (17,100')

Happy 21st Birthday, Lindsay. Hope you had a better day than I had.

Woke to lovely clear blue skies again. Always hard to tell how many hours I've slept because I feel like I'm awake all night, but I also have vivid (and very weird) dreams. Plus, we're usually in our tents for about 12 hours. I suggested to Liz that we count the little squares in the tent fabric, but she seriously questioned my sanity.

We, or I should say Liz and I, loaded up very heavy packs. Our theory was that a heavier pack on the first carry would make for a lighter pack on the second carry. I managed to balance my pack on my knee, put one arm through a strap, tried to swing it onto my back, and promptly fell on my butt, thankfully landing on the one spot of sand amid the jagged rocks. Would have made for a great video. Pathetic, actually.

We started up a steep scree slope and then entered the penitentes--the spires of hard snow and ice. Following Dan's lead, our steps were so small that they always overlapped. Rest step, rest step, rest step, pressure breath. Repeat. Add extra pressure breaths as needed.

The sun was scorching. After negotiating some giant steps while winding up through the penitentes, we had to climb up more loose sand and scree next to a stream. Every time I placed my foot in the sand, the ground collapsed. I landed on my forearm once and thought I would never make it up that pitch. Ritesh was behind me and offered, "Julie, I've got your backside." Watch out, Ritesh. I may take you down with me.

It was slow going. Carrying 45 lbs. (~38% of my body weight) at 16,000' and gaining 1800' vertical was exponentially harder than carrying that weight on any hike at home. Stuart stayed with me, encouraging me. Liz and I were both in tears a couple of times today. I can't carry that heavy a pack again. I will ask for help from a porter. If I hadn't trained so hard, I might feel differently, but I completed 62 training hikes, a climb of Mt. Baker in July, and endless hours of strength training, Tabata intervals, and speed hikes, and I still found this to be very difficult. No one carries their own gear in the Himalayas, so I'm over my hurdle of feeling guilty about using a porter to help with group gear.

Cached our gear and descended back to Camp I to sleep. Got to rest before Lhakpa's delicious dinner of dal, rice, potatoes, and carrots. I'm completely overstuffed at the moment but hope it will be good fuel to get me to Camp II again tomorrow.

This mountain is already starting to eat me up. More thunderstorms and snow now, and the big winds are due in on Friday. Just 5 more big uphill climbs. Hope I can do it.