18 sep 2021 – Yesterday we climbed to C1 and slept there. This morning at 6 h we woke up and prepared for our climb to C2, about 700 m up. We have arrived an hour ago and it was very hard, I’m totally exhausted: everything was dead-steep: steep snow slopes, steep ice couloirs, really hard work, especially at this altitude. Gina and Dawa climbed in front of us and gave Pemba extra work. In a steep ice couloir Dawa simply could not get up. I was a meter below him and covered in a stream of ice falling down, luckily I was wearing a helmet. After 20 minutes or so, Pemba took his backpack and without it and with a lot effort Dawa cleared the couloir and then it was great trouble to haul his backpack. An hour later, Gina fell into a crevasse, not very deep, but Pemba rushed to get her out. Altogether it was a very heavy and exhausting day. Glad the tent is set up and we can lie down, cook dinner and sleep.
