Early starts

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It was my turn to get up early and start the generators. Why the scientists want to be up and about at 6:00am is anyone?s guess, but it does mean that we have to have the ?gennies? started by 05:45!

It was bitterly cold again, as I struggled to get dressed in the tiny tent. One thing I?m looking forward to when I get home (after my sister-in-laws Sunday lunch that is), is to be able to get dressed while standing upright! There are two techniques that can be employed while in your tent, the lie on your back wriggling approach as you endeavour to put on your trousers, or the kneel upright, snow falling from the inner flysheet onto the back of the neck approach. Either is a pain!

With my t-shirt covered by two fleeces and then a large down jacket, I had just a single pair of trousers covering my legs. I unzipped the tent door and stepped outside. The sun was still a couple of hours away from bestowing heat onto my tent, but the sky was light and reflecting rays off the mountain peaks behind me.

Hobbling down the scree slope, tip-towing around other tents, I made my way to the large DRASH shelter where the workshop is situated. I undid the heavy-duty plastic buckles that secure the double layer door and pushed my way inside. We still didn?t have any lights up, having concentrated on getting the ?labs? ready first, so I rummaged around to find the work gloves we use to refuel the 12 Honda generators.

With gloves on, I made my way outside to the small shelter we constructed to keep the worst of the weather off the two rows of generators. The temperature must have been around -10 degrees as I struggled to start them. When it?s warm, it?s a case of just a couple of pulls of the starting cord, but with the engine oil inside being so thick with the cold, it?s a bit more of a struggle. Still, they have never let us down, even when you consider that we re running them on very low grade fuel.

Success. With two ?gennies? started, there would be enough power for the scientists, so I retreated into the warmth of the workshop. Time to catch up with writing my Blogs, which I hadn?t done for a while.

We spent the day fitting lights to both the medical tent and our workshop, which made a huge difference. Paul played around with the primary power system that will replace the current one for all the sensitive equipment.

The weather wasn?t getting any warmer and I was even forced to admit defeat and go and put on some extra layers. I was cold to the core. Shivering, I made my way back to my tent and crawled inside. For the first time since being issued them for our Cho Oyu II expedition, I had to take my synthetic down trousers out of their bag and put them on. It was that cold. I would hazard a guess and say that with the wind-chill effect, it must have been around -20 degrees, maybe even more.

I sat next to Jack, one of the Imax cameramen and clutched a bowl of hot soup between my hands. The wind outside was getting fiercer, the tent doors blowing about and the sound of avalanches were frequent. It was going to be a wild night.

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Blog by Mac Mackenney