Camp 2 on the Cesen Route

Hi all, this is Alix. Valerio's just called me from Camp Two at 6300m. They left around 1am last night and climbed through the night (it's safer to climb at night when the ice is packed solid and hard).

It's the biggest altitude jump he has ever done, 1400m in a single climb, and it took him about 7 and a half hours, which is much faster than he had hoped. So he is feeling good and strong.

He said it was the most intense climb in terms of gradient he has ever done and it is unrelenting, hands above the head climbing.

He can't send me photos so I've attached a couple I found elsewhere and will replace with his when he gets back down, of climbers on the route and of tents at Camp Two. Pretty precarious!

Also a note in our ecologically fragile time: the ropes are laid as they climb by the team and are taken down and removed by the team as they descend. This is a no- MOOP group. Leave No Trace.

Steep climbing on the way to Camp 2

Camp Two on the Cesen