Set off around 2am following are rest day. The first icefall was superb, with some amazing ice/ crevasse sculptures. Then the problems started after walking after a few snow bridges it became apparent we had found ourselves on top of the ‘Hill of Cracks’ with people dropping into crevasses (6 in total). At one point the whole ground sunk with a sonic boom as the snow around dropped millimetres, an unnerving experience. In the end Chris and Dave probed our way for what seemed like 2 -3 kilometres of slow carefully movement, despite only being a client the mental effects are as much draining as the physical and I cannot begin to think how tired Dave and Chris our two guides must have felt. Into late afternoon and we were still well away from the end of the glacier but managed to scramble onto the side of moraine walls and scramble for a couple of kilometres down the side making up for lost time. On the way Dave’s pace made for difficult going and Ben ahead of me was cursing at times – a mixture of tiredness and frustration I guess but the risk of rockfall was high. We pressed on to the moraine but McGonagall’s pass still seemed a way off so at around 10pm we set up camp and ate, another fulfilling 20 hour day! The thought of civilisation and greenery was highly desired!
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