Blume

High Camp on the South Col from past years (Click for bigger image)

Just an hour and a half after they left, Bjorn [a member of the Icelandic team in Base Camp] called to say that they had climbed about 200 meters vertical and found themselves in a whiteout (he didn't mention wind as being a problem, but we won't know this until tomorrow).

He said they reported less than 10 meters visibility, and they had no choice but to turn around. They had no problems finding their way back to Camp IV on the South Col. We are bummed, drained, but relieved. The weather here continues to be the strangest night to date at Base Camp. We have light snow, moonlight, can see the summit of Pumori (7,100M), and a strange cloud layer above (the barrier which Team Ice could not break).

The rest of our team is just now waking up to prepare for the climb to Camp II and their own summit attempt.

-- Frederick Blume, Team Scientist