After we arrived at base camp on June 25th, Alexey and I sorted gear for a day or two, then immediately headed up the glacier to Camp 1. The route to Camp 1 seems more straightforward this year, and tackles the top of the icefall directly - which is a shorter journey than last year's more circuitous route, and requires careful negotiation of some seriously gaping crevasses.

After setting up our tent at Camp 1 (5925 meters) we then rested a second day, lounging around in the sun and acclimatizing. My familiarity with the area did not even slightly diminish the magnitude of the surrounding peaks. In awe, I snapped a few pictures at sundown as the clouds swirled around GIV and GV.

After the second night at Camp 1 we awoke to snowfall, fog, and extremely poor visibility- but the boredom of another day in the tent overtook us, and we packed up our tent and gear, roped up, and headed off into the fog toward GI. We were the first this year to make tracks away from the regular GII camp, and neither I nor Alexey had ever been in the cwm between GI and GII. We borrowed a few bamboo poles from the Brazilian/South American team camped nearby (a very friendly group - they are also on G1) and I fired up my GPS to mark our tracks.

We had little idea where we were headed in the fog, but we knew the general direction, and after an hour or so reached the bottom of the icefall without incident. We slowly made our way up through the huge seracs of the icefall, climbing right-to-left on a broad, sweeping slope (disconcertingly loaded with fresh snow) until finally stopped by a huge, open crevasse which could not be avoided. We were now at around 6300 meters. The winds and blowing snow had increased significantly, and the temps dropped well below freezing. Looking for some shelter from the elements, Alexey climbed down a narrow ramp onto a massive snow bridge over the huge crevasse. There, under a teetering serac we set up camp. With a huge crevasse under our sleeping bags, a few tons of overhanging ice perched above, and snow and wind battering the tent walls, I now felt officially welcomed back to the Karakorum - and, I forgot to bring my Wiley Coyote umbrella again.

The next day the weather had not improved, but despite the storm conditions we were able to find a way up through the serac band above to about 6400 meters - but eventually the wind, cold, and blowing snow fought us back down to the tent. We would not reach Camp 2 on GI on this trip, and even if we were close, we certainly couldn't see it.

The next morning we realized that the Fruit Loops and Salt & Vinegar Pringles were all gone. So, before the wheels fell completely off the wagon, we packed up the tent and gear into a depot, broke trail down the icefall ramp onto the glacier, and walked through 20 to 30cm of fresh snow back to Camp 1. There we left a bag of gear and headed back down to base camp for showers, hot food, and a little R&R.

Not a bad way to spend our first week here.