Reached K2 Basecamp today wend 8th july

Arriving into a still and quite K2 basecamp this morning at 7.30am. Camp is set along the head of the glacier where all the teams claim territory with the cooking and eating tent centre and with the climbers individual tents surrounding. Our early arrival spooked a few tents and it wasn’t long until curious heads popped out followed with a friendly wave and handshake. Marking out our now home for the next five weeks involved breaking out our snow shovels and clearing flat ground for a comfortable ground sheet to sleep on. Up until now I’ve been packing and unpacking our kit daily as we moved up the trek, it’s great now to have a base where we each have our own tents and layer out is all the high altitude clothing foods & technical equipment personally required to carry out the climb. Our next door neighbours are Russell Bruce’s team, next is Maddison and then a Swiss team and a Pakistani team.this seams to make up the big four team yet there’s still small solo teams in amongst camp. Our own team has struggled in the last few days with two suffering altitude sickness which will pass the rest are enjoying good health and are extremely motivated and focused on the success of the expedition. Noodle soup for lunch “what else”. Plenty of water required so breaking of glacier ice and boiling is nearly a full time job from here on in to keep the body hydrated at altitude which is crucial as the body requires four times the average water intake required at sea level. My tent perches itself just at the base ” yet save from Avalanche” of this beast of a mountain and proudly the Irish flag flys from the tents guide line. The suns up and temperatures are above normal which is very welcoming and when that sun goes down the temperatures plummet to freezing. A lunch meeting today unfolded the plan which tomorrow we are slowly climbing up to advance basecamp at 5700mt giving the body a chance to adapt in atmosphere. There after im hoping to move up to camp one the following day Friday ” depending on how i feel” and return to basecamp to recover. The weather which the Nepali team leaders get from Switzerland yet my own climb partner at home the always dependable Pat mc Dermott is relaying that weather as stable today Wednesday and tomorrow Thursday no winds, Friday night snow dump 16cm no winds and snow to continue until Monday. On a more serious note I would like to pass on my sincere condolences to the family and friends of a wonderful carractor and down right great man from my home town who wished me the best of luck few weeks back as we spoke on letterkennys main street. Neilie “croakier” Doherty may your head lay softly tonight my friend… You will be missed. Rip… Jason