0300hr reveille
0400hr depart
First light (0500ish) gearing up at the glacier snout
2 x rope teams of 4
About 1 hour climbing in shadow (cold!) before reaching sunshine
Moved left and climbed zigzags up steeper ice
Pitched final section to exit right of cornice
Unroped on the ridge and let the TLs (Trainee Leaders) take the lead and route find through some scrambling terrain (Grade 1) along the ridge, over a series of knolls to the summit
From summit Andy (TL) and I recced 15 mins forward around the cirque to see if the traverse was on. Looked good so called the others on.
In dead ground, one oblig. 10m section of hard ice. Tom C and I coached folk down (crampons back on). Set up an anchor and belayed the final pair on an Italian. Everyone did brilliantly.
Crossed the col at approx 5700m, found an amazing skull and horns and carried it up to the next summit (5900m) where we had late lunch, enjoyed huge views and then headed down on rock
At the glacier Rory, Callum and I took GPS readings of the glacier outline (to add to 2014 data) while the others headed back to break camp
Got back to camp around 1545 and were heading back out down the valley shortly after 1600, under an unpleasantly heavy pack. Reached BC just before dark (1900hrs)
Epic final tour
