If you've been wondering how Ben Clark and friends are doing on their trek up Annapurna IV, then wait no longer. Here's the latest of the colorful dispatches from Ben Clark:
"Twisting wisps of wind dance along the solemn northwest ridgeline of
Annapurna IV. Playfully the dance has drawn us in forcing us to
question, will the jet stream push away these little snow devils and
surge the ridgeline with the power of a hurricane or will we enter a
window of opportunity? We will be there to see, we begin the ascent
tomorrow.
Basecamp is slowly drying day be day as summer's short season
approaches. Today, as the mountain emerged from its cloudy blanket,
the wind and snow dissipated while we racked our gear, dried our boots
and prepared our packs for the altitude above. We are going light, by
necessity, and are prepared for a single push effort to the summit that
will ideally take four days.
The route will go, if not directly then with some excursions around
300-foot long gaping crevasses-holes in the glacier. Three reconnaissance
trips to 17,000 feet and above have given us a valuable look into what the
complexity of the route will entail. If we go for the summit in the
next four days we will have a little ice climbing, some hard breathing and
the cherry on top – we can ski the usually technical pyramid of rock
via two chutes choked with snow. Sweet, huh?
It sounds great as a working theory of course: go up, ski down and go
home. Perhaps the mountain will be tamer now, but we are ready for
anything.
The style which the three of us utilize should entertain us and give
us a net of safety. We climb most routes from bottom to top,
onsight – meaning we've not been on it – and free. Free climbing this way
has been a real pleasure for Josh and myself and going from low
altitude to ridiculously high and fast has worked well for Tim and me.
The three of us are really lucky to be here together and of course...to
have such supportive wives children, families and friends. We will do
our best, the mountain is as alive as we are so if it moves us closer
to its top the next e-mail dispatch you'll get will be quite lengthy
but full of joy. Should we get knocked around by the potentially
approaching jet, we'll drop back down to here and give it another go
when the weather is good.
We are not ruling bad weather out, but we feel we can risk going higher
during this weather to capitalize on position if it is good. Stay
tuned via audio dispatches from the mountain. We will be carrying the
satellite phone with us and reporting our progress.
Cheers!
Ben Clark"
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