Image Courtesy of Brad Clement

From: Brad Clement
Nepal, October 9, 2008

Annapurna IV Summary PART 1 of 3

Hi. We are just off the mountain and wanted to send a summary of our time on the high slopes. We will be sending this 3 parts, and this is the 1st of 3...

PART I - Base Camp to Camp 1

Base Camp is located at 15,500 feet above sea level, and our trip to Camp 1 at 17,200 feet involved crossing a huge, dry glacial moraine until we reached a ridge of rock and snow at approximately 16,200 feet. We climbed this rock and snow all the way to Camp 1. The rock is very brittle and breaks easily, and the snow is slippery and deep. To help secure the way, we hammered metal spikes called pitons into the rock, and connected rope to the pitons through metal loops called carabiners. We used this rope to both climb up and rappel down the route. We placed over 1,200 feet of rope on the rock ridge leading to Camp 1.

It took about 7 hours to climb from Base Camp to Camp 1 and on this climb we carried backpacks full of climbing gear. Our packs often weighed between 45 and 65 pounds! Camp 1 is located on a snowy ridge - and we followed this ridge all the way to Camp 3 at 21,500 feet.

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Postcards from the Field: Annapurna

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