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SKIING THE ANTARCTIC PENINSULA PART 1
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GETTING INTO WINTER CLIMBING SHAPE WITH FA GUIDE CHAD PEELE
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CARSTENSZ PYRAMID THE HEROES PROJECT EXPEDITION IN THREE ACTS
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KYLE MILLER ON FIRST FILM PREMIERE AND TRANSITIONING FROM SKI BUM TO PRO ATHLETE
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BE FIRST RECIPIENT JON TURK RECAPS HIS EPIC, FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF ELLESMERE ISLAND
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TAHOE GUIDE MEETING DAY 2 THE GUIDE BUILT PROCESS
By Leif Whittaker:
It’s snowing. It’s cold. It’s 5:30 a.m. and I’m wondering if our attempt on the Lhotse Face will be postponed. Fresh powder—three to four inches have accumulated overnight—means a significant avalanche danger, and flakes are still falling while we huddle into the dining tent and wash rice porridge down our throats with lukewarm coffee. We dawdle intentionally, hoping that the snow will subside, but when it doesn’t, we decide to start walking anyway; we will turn around at the base of the face if conditions don’t improve. Why not give it a shot?
I’m feeling a bit apprehensive as we trudge out of ABC in our down suits. I know that this day, if we climb the face, will be the hardest, physically and mentally, of the trip. From reading my father’s journal, I know how hard it was for him:
Down from 24,000′ on the Lhotse Face and the most beat I have been for a long time…Went to Indian route, which wouldn’t go and then put in new route, which required 2 screw leads and they exhausted me. I no doubt worried Gompu below, who thought I would peel off and pull us both down…Had no lunch—not even drink of water—came down slowly…
We won’t be lead climbing or putting in a new route, but we will be ascending to 24,000 feet and that is over 1,000 feet higher than I have ever been. I’m not sure how my lungs and legs will respond, but as we hike towards the face and the sky begins to clear, I realize that I’m about to find out.
The first obstacle is an enormous bergshrund—a crevasse and ice wall that separates the platform-like Cwn from the sheer Lhotse Face. Rising winds arrive with the rising sun and the fresh snow is propelled into spindrift that seeks to penetrate any opening; it pesters me relentlessly as I clip my ascender into the fixed lines and begin climbing a 30-foot section of vertical ice. I focus on my breath and my feet, steadily kicking my front-points higher and higher into the wall, while I exhale and inhale at a rate that would normally be hyperventilation. Following the wall is a short traverse on sugary snow above an abyssal crevasse, a gaping maw awaiting any human tidbit that would be so careless as to fall.
Thankfully, I don’t fall, and the traverse deposits me at the top of the bergshrund where Dave is waiting, his crampons kicked sideways into the first few feet of the next 2,000 or so that we have to climb. Seth Waterfall is ahead of us and as Dave and I stop momentarily, catching our breath, we hear his voice float down from above.
“Snow coming!” he says, and there is a river of fresh powder mixed with his words; it’s sliding directly towards Dave and me. We dig our crampons deeply into the ice and brace for impact. The avalanche is small enough that it hardly shakes our stances, but it’s big enough to remind us that it could have been worse.
We begin moving cautiously uphill, trying to find a rhythm amongst the uneven patches of steep ice and pocketed snow. Due to the unstable weather, we are the only climbers on the route this morning, a phenomenon that is almost unheard of since the pioneering days, my father’s time. Slowly, enjoying the solitude of my own determination, I put one foot above and in front of the other. Slowly, I climb.
There is nothing easy about the Lhotse Face. It takes every bit of willpower I have to keep digging my crampons into the hill. I take five breaths for every step and it still feels like I’m trapped in a cave, suffocating. But the only option, at least in my mind, is to continue.
By the time I reach Camp III I’ve been climbing for six hours. My one-liter water bottle is almost dry. I’ve eaten only a shard of fuel since breakfast. I’m exhausted; my lungs hurt; and I feel an overwhelming sense of euphoria. There is no place I’d rather be than sitting in the snow at 24,000 feet, gazing into the sunburnt heart of the Western Cwm. I truly have an overwhelming sense of joy.
Our rest, and my reverie, doesn’t last long however. The need to descend intervenes. Soon we are tightening our laces and beginning downhill. Standing next to an anchor, I thread the rope through my rappel device and call to Dave, “On rappel!” My voice is batted by the wind and it ricochets off the mountains, petering out, like the ripples from a pebble thrown into the ocean. I lean into space, noticing my weight in the harness as I let the rope slide through my leather-gloved hand. There is no other feeling like the one of gliding backwards down the thousands of feet you have just climbed up. The suffering, the shortness of breath, the fatigue replays in my mind. And it all seems worth it, because I know that next time, no matter what, I’ll be so much stronger for it. I let the rope run faster and faster until it blurs and disappears, and we are walking again, our crampons biting the glacier with that good old crunch.
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Comments 
Great video. Some of the best footage of the Lhotse Face I’ve yet seen.
Just to throw it out there, you seem to be aspiring to the rare things that life seems to offer. But is it really worth risking your life to accomplish? Anything? What energy do you bring this moment to what you are doing? You can not find that on Everest, or in the deepest sea. Of course you already know this. But, what peace does it really bring? In PT, see your parents almost everyday,…connected somehow. But, this is a question of soulful pursuits, not of the physical pursuit of accomplishment. The beautiful physical body is a gift, use it up. But, really what peace does this bring? I suppose I am listening, watching, whatever. But, daily life poses a willpower to bring a soulful perspective that I find rare and beautiful and once accomplished, has a gorgeous view.
Hope this reaches you, and not just the company. Peace.
A
Great video! I am enjoying your writing as well. So much going on considering the task at hand (and foot)!
I read “Americans of Everest” ( I was fortunate to find a first edition in an antique shop) several years ago, and probably too many Everest accounts and history. I am not a climber, but truly appreciate the mystic and oh so much effort, mentally and physically, that are needed to climb.
I check your and Alan’s site daily. Anxious for your summit! Safe climbing and Peace of mind.
Eddie Bauer in Anchorage Alaska is cheering you guys on and on and on. Be safe, enjoy the journey!
I do wish I was there giving my try as well.
Leif– You’re a great climber (and a great writer!!). I’m enjoying your posts very much. Best of luck in your upcoming summit bid! My team and I at Eddie Bauer in Bozeman, MT is cheering you on!
Great job Leif. Keep being safe and bring back some authentic everest camp meal ideas.
Sure is good to see your progress up the Mountain. Love the video up Lotse face–great camera work by the way. Waterfront pizza and a cool one on me when you return. Be safe and well. Hazli and Ann
lucky man!!!!!!!!!!! ive always wanted to climb close to everest but never on. ive came so close in the past,but a nasty ex would always always made sure that it didn,t happen!!!! its a shame .but now that my oldest daughter is climbing i guess it is not so bad. so now i see what its like from a neighboring summit in the himals. i should of followed my passions as a younger person i would of became a guide easily!!!!!!!!!!! but the sacrifice brought me to beautifull young ladies my daughters!!!!!!! so maybe it saved my life in the past to for go the proffession of guiding,and sharing it with my oldest.to see her face when she summits a climb in california she lights up i see the passion in her eyes like an eagle soaring free with no end in sight of life. so its been worth it to the fullist extent ,but if i had the chance to guide at the age of 49 yrs old i would still do it to set an example to always follow your passions, and persue the things that make us people at peace that is how i see mountaineering as a tool in life the never ending pursuite of making your self a better person through giving the ultimate experience to other people first!!!!!!!!!!! so always remember to expres yourself in an artistic,poetic way in life and the positive will always follow!!!!!!(the people at peace that is)!!!!!!!!!!! love you all please contact me at:kljohnson6118@yahoo.com united states california long beach 562-425 6657 would lov a chance to meet other real people in the area if your are out there
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