Hike to ABC (July 20th)

Today was an early start with breakfast at 6am. Fahrida and her team are managing to prepare some excellent fresh food, although some members have stomach upsets and are therefore steering clear of fresh produce or anything that has been washed with water. This has only hit a couple of members, so we are hoping that it is a confined infection limited to only a few.

We are departed from BC at 3605m soon after 0730hrs and started the long trek to ABC (C1) at 4300m. Today was important acclimatisation day and so we were soon all hiking at an appropriate rate, with those being sufficiently acclimatised going all the way to C1 and others only to a col at4100m.

We had however underestimated the distance needed to be covered. The overall distance to ABC was 13km!! Ascending over 1200m, though gaining only 700m, this soon identified the stronger of the overall team members.

With some basic equipment left at ABC (tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats etc), it become apparent that it would be near impossible to individually move the remainder of the gear to ABC so we will utilise local Kyrgyz porters for the transfer. The porters are on horseback to the halfway point, which is a river at the base of the main glacier and serac falls this leads up onto the glacier for a long and hot 8km’s to ABC. At this junction, the porters continue on foot up to ABC.

Logistics for this organisation will be fairly complicated as there is question about the cost per kg, although it does seem to be reducing day by day!!! Considering the terrain that the porters traverse on horseback from the col to the river, they deserve a risk factor payment as well, as one wrong footing would result in their long slide and fall down fine steep scree slopes to their inevitable end above the glacial outflow at the bottom: needless to say we are also very careful at this point.

Those who made the round trip to ABC (camp1) returned tired and boot sore after 10 to 11 hours on the trail and sat down to a well earned meal. Tomorrow will be a rest day, though we will be sorting and packing gear and making final adjustments to the schedule for ascending the mountain.

Whilst we are being challenged physically by the mountain conditions, we are also challenged from another source.

In Milan airport on the first day, we were all turned into cyborgs by wearing elasticated armbands with electronic data gathering devices attached. The aim of these units was to gather such physiological information as body temperature, calories burned, sleep time gained and a plethora of other interesting factors for the research side of the expedition. The team medical research doctors are also gathering high altitude diabetes management data, and we are having to keep detailed information through the Islet Diary (ID) logs on a daily basis, logging such data as altitude, blood glucose levels, insulin taken, amount of carbohydrates eaten, and any temporary basal rate reductions. Calculating our CHO intake is definitely a constant challenge as we are faced with new foods that we would not necessarily eat at home, so there is a time for “trial and error” in this situation as well.

So far, all the diabetic alpine climbers have adjusted well to the conditions and challenges faced.