The weather started clear and sunny. The sun rose at 6am and set at 6pm. Unfortunately, because we were camped in a valley with mountains to the East and West, we didn’t get any sunshine until ~ 9am and it disappeared again at 3pm. On a sunny day, it was possible to walk around camp in trousers and a long-sleeved top. At other times Down jackets were popular. It always froze over night. Our full 16 litre water containers would freeze completely solid. The weather soon became windy. The wind funnelled down the valley and caused dust to get everywhere. The tent zips all broke; they refused to do up. Safely pins and needle and thread were used to improve the situation. We had a few snow showers. This transformed the landscape beautifully and caused us few problems.
About the campsite
Routes All the routes that we climbed were one day long from our base camp. We were soon disappointed to discover that the metamorphic rock in our chosen location was very loose. Consequently, all our attempts at climbing the rock were very frightening. The snow and ice, however, was in excellent condition. As there had been little snow fall over the previous summer, the avalanche risk was minimal (Route 8 was the
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