Pictures: Night time snow, The Big Avalanche, The Elixir of Life
This morning I wake in a dark, ice encrusted tent. This is not how it was meant to be; we had the snow storm and the bad weather yesterday. It was suppose to be all good from the moment we closed our eyes, right until the end of our trip. That's what we were telling ourselves anyway.
I wait for 8am, for the sun to warm the tent and for my cold body to feel able enough to exit. I unzip the door and force the fresh snow back. There is much more snow than the night before and there is even more than night before that. This isn't good.
Buddhi calls us for breakfast. "ooh, ooh". We all sit outside the BC tent in the bright warm sun, watching the snow melt. We enjoy our coffee, the sun dazzles. Buddhi calls "avalanche!" We scramble to our feet and stare. A massive airborne avalanche erupts down the 2500m face of A3, travelling at over 200mph, 1km wide, and 500m high, and who knows how deep. We watch, wait and wonder, is BC far enough away? Amazed by its beauty and power, this was truly the biggest avalanche any of us has ever seen. We were at a safe distance, about 1km away, but at the time we all had our doubts. All of this reminds us why we are not climbing now; this is why we are waiting. Its painful, we want to climb, but in these big mountains you can't push it out in marginal conditions, it's a waiting game, but it's a game you need to play, and play well.
After the morning's excitements, the three of us have been out getting some exercise, trying to stay fit, trying to stay healthy for when the time comes that the weather decides to give us a break. We do after all have the time, food, and loads of motivation to wait this bad weather out until our time comes.
Many thanks to everyone who has been sending us emails and text messages, it's nice to receive friendly mails and to hear what's happening in the big world outside of our tiny one.
Email us: britishannapurna3@googlemail.com
Matt
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