Our guys up at Camp 1 have been thwarted by the weather today. They had a very uncomfortable night up on the ridge, buffeted by extremely strong winds which continued into today. This did not prevent them from fixing the initial part of the ridge before they went to bed last night.

The rest of us got up at Base Camp at 6 this morning and despite the bad weather, we all did a load carry to Camp 1. Our aim is to get sufficient food, gas and climbing kit in to equip Camp 2 on the South East Col at the earliest opportunity. Interestingly, a Hip helicopter landed in the valley basin at about 0730 and dropped some stores close to a small tented settlement that seems to be growing. It struggled to get off the ground again due to the thin air. We assume that the tented camp will be for trekking parties who will be visiting Makalu Base Camp, as this is one of the classic Himalayan treks.

We were down from our load carry at about 2 this afternoon and Colin, the expedition leader did a live broadcast to BFBS. The weather has not yet show any sign of improvement!

Dave Tait