After two nights at Base Camp, the climbing teams left for their second acclimatization hike to Camp 2. Again, it was an early 4:00 AM start. The trip through the Ice Fall went a bit quicker this time as the men knew what to expect having traveled through it already, but there were variations here and there where the glacier had spread and closed up fissures and crevasses over the last two days.
They reached the Western Cwm around 11:00 AM and started for Camp 2 under a deep blue cloudless dome. An hour after they had passed Camp 1, the temps skyrocketed from the streaming sunbeams bouncing off the walls of snow and ice onto the powdered surface. The valley was becoming a huge solar oven.
Frank came to a halt and peeled off his fleece. Rolling it up, he added it to the down jacket he’d a
