North Col - Sun and Snow

I woke up with the condensation from the inside of the tent dripping on my head. Confused, I checked my watch - 6:30am - and tried to get my bearings. I was inside a tent. In spite of what felt like Chinese water torture, I was warm.

The sun was bearing down outside. Dark black shadows on the roof indicated a thick layer of snow covered the tent. Ah yes, I was, I was at the North Col and had just spent a blissful nights sleep at 7000m.

Given the altitude, I was pleasantly surprised that I was awake, feeling fit and even had a bit of an appetite. I reached for the Twix chocolate bar left over from yesterdays lunch. Before long, Matt was also awake and we were boiling snow to prepare breakfast and a well-deserved coffee. Apparently I’d slept through a bitterly cold night with temperatures plummeting to -30. Matt and Pete were also awake and in good form going through a similar snow-boiling routine. We propped ourselves up in our sleeping bags on the many layers of down in the tent, opened the front door zipper and sipped our Starbucks instant coffee. A truly decadent way to start the day.

Outside was a winter wonderland (if you can still call it that at 7000m). Had we not been on top of the North Col we could literally have been anywhere in the Alps or even in the Canadian Rockies. The sky was bright blue and 2-3m of snow literally covered the tents. Everything was white. Two steep snow slopes that looked like they had the potential to avalanche provided a gorgeous back group. We were sheltered from what I suspected was a howling cold wind from a 30-fot ice serac  to the left of the tent.

Because of yesterdays and last nights’ heavy snowfall we were likely going to be confined to our tents for the day as the ropes up to 7500m would all be buried in the snow and would make for treacherous conditions. Apart from a few sherpas who milled about digging out tents the place was virtually deserted. It felt incredibly strange to have absolutely nothing to do for an entire day except to stay in or within a 5-metre radius of the tent. Time was passed boiling water, reading, preparing and dining on some boil-in-the bag cooking and making an attempt at shovelling the snow. In the tent the temperature was a comfortable 10 - 15 degrees but as soon as you stepped out of the tent, the radiation of the sun off of the snow would send temperatures soaring to a hot and humid 30 - 40 degrees. I’ve never experienced anything like it. Combined with the lack of oxygen, it was enough to make you pass out.

In spite of having nothing to do except ‘chilling out’ (literally) it was an incredibly relaxing and enjoyable day. I drifted off to sleep after a wonderful boil-in-the-bag meal of spaghetti bolognaise and Everest sunset at around 9pm.