Monday 1 May
Restday in ABC
Even though it's my 2:nd restday I still feel a bit sore from climbing to 7300 metres and skiing down the day before yesterday. Recovery really is not fast at 6400 m. I eat, drink and relax all day except some easy going photo shoots with photographer Fredrik Schenholm.
Tuesday 2 May
Going from ABC to the north col
After a very slow morning l finally head off towards the north col at about half past three in the afternoon. I feel quite slow but end up climbing in three hours and fifteen minutes. It's a bit windy and cold so I get my down suit on before I start digging out space for 2 extra tents.
I work extremely slow so I am very happy to be joined by Tormod, Tshering and Lam Babo. The power of our 2 Sherpa helpers really kicks in and we are soo sitting in our tents melting snow.
The night is everything but perfect. Headache due to the altitude and snow fall inside the tent due to a hard wind that forces snow into the ventilation openings...
Wednesday 3 May
Skiing from 7500 metres
I wake up with a messed up stomach after a night with very little sleep. And it does not get better as I puke 4 times first thing as I zip open the tent. I fall back into the tent and lay motionless for about an hour before I slowly try to get back in business.
As the others head up the mountain I first get a zip of water down and then manage to eat some noodles. I start to feel a bit better and get my gear together and head up.
It's very windy and I'm happy that there are fixed ropes to clip into, the risk of beeing blown off the mountain feels very present!
I fight my way all the way up to 7500 m where I manage to hide behind a big rock to get my skis on. It's very tricky in the hard conditions and I am very close of loosing a glove in the process.
I move fast as I am in motion and it doesn't take many minutes as I ski more or less using climbers going up as gates to get back to the north col. Almost 500 vertical metres on hard and fast wind blown snow, and it feels great!
I then continue down towards ABC together with Tormod. The conditions are very varied; the steeps are sometimes in powder for joy and sometimes in ice to test our abilities. We are both very tired as we get back to ABC.
Thursday 4 May
Restday in ABC
I feel like as if I was brutally beaten up by a mean machine yesterday when I wake up. I take the entire dag to rest and recover as good as possible.
Friday 5 May
Going from ABC to the north col
Still very slow from going to 7500 on Wednesday but I get going towards north col around two o'clock in the afternoon. I move slower then before but get there in about three and a half hour.
One very disturbing thing is that my left foot start aching about half way up. I rip off my boot as soon as I get to my tent as it's getting really painful. I eat some anti inflammatory pills and pray that it will wear off during the night.
The night is not perfect but ten times better then my first night at the north col so I am happy of the progress.
Saturday 6 May
Skiing on the north face
We melt snow, eat breakfast and get our gear together and then at about 11.30 point our skis down the "wrong" side of the north col, towards the north face of Everest.
It starts with a quite tricky slope with a lot of rock and ice... We traverse far out on the north face but have to stop once we hit a ridge only consisting of blue ice. We traverse back a bit before finding a gully filled with a bit of lightly wind packed snow.
Finally some decent skiing on the north face of Everest! And the scenery is incredible. The spectacular south face of Changtse on the right, Pumori in front and the immense north face of Everest to the left.
We rip our little couloir apart as we head straight down into the enormous mid Rongbuk glacier bassin. We take great care in where we put our turns as there are huge ice fields both to our left and right.
The couloir ends with a massive bergschrund and we hesitate quite a bit before we find a snow bridge that we ski across with our fingers crossed. The run now turns into a very spectacular glacier descent.
We find our way through a vast maze of crevasses. I feel crazy butterflies in my stomach as I aim straight over a bottom less crevasse. We try to negotiate over way back to safety as quick as possible as we have the luring south face of Changtse just behind our backs. It's quite obvious that there is a potential risk for rock or ice coming banging down in our heads from the steep face filled up with steep glaciers and snow fields.
But the mountains seems to like us today so about an hour later we find ourselves slide into camp 1 of The Royal British Army expedition (www.armyoneverest.com) with big smiles on our faces!
We get some cups of hot the in our hands before we head on down the valley. No time to loose, we have a anniversary party waiting in BC, our photographer Fredrik Schenholm is turning 28 years!
We do about 20 kilometres of hiking to get back which is not really good for my left foot that keep aching all day, but then again we get chocolate cake as we arrive in BC at about 9 in the evening...
Sunday 7 May
From base camp to New Tingri
We are very worn out as we enter the jeep to go down the valley to rest for a couple of days. My left foot is really not in good shape from yesterday's endeavor.
Monday 8 May
Resting in New Tingri
I spend as much time as possible in the hotel bed resting my body, especially my left foot that still is very sore. Big electricity problems in New Tingri and Tormod gets a stomach problem and throws up all night...
Tuesday 9 May
Resting in New Tingri
A day very similar to yesterday accept that the electricity problems in New Tingri gets even bigger and Tormod goes from throwing up to diarea...
Most likely heading up to BC tomorrow. Regards, Tomas Olsson
I am very sad to report that Tomas Olsson has been found dead. His father reported the news. The world has lost a fantastic person and one of the greatest ski mountaineers. My thoughts are with all the ones close to him.
