We are slowly moving through the day, at times it is snowing at times the sun appears. We are working hard to recharge all batteries for cameras, iPad and satellite phone. The weather forecast are forcing us to move quick and the very high cold is forcing us to use a lot of the fuel for cooking and producing water. We are under a lot of physixal and mental pressure.

The decision is taken. Dapo, Sam and Ruffo will head to camp 5 tomorrow morning (friday) with only the strict necessary on the backbacks, try to summit between saturday and sunday and quickly ski down to base camp. Volo has decided to return to base camp with some fellow italian climbers met at the medical camp. Davide thinks that the climb to camp 5 is within his technical limits, however the environmental conditions suggest him to keep some safety margin which is not enough at this point. The climb has stopped for him, but the adventure continues with the heart close to his fellows.

Descending to base camp will be fantastic within this glaciar.

We have only scarse news, however we are heart-broken thinking of the people suffering for the hearthquake which has hit once again our area. Please forgive the pictures with the smiles, but we are close with our hearths and minds to those who are suffering for this tragedy.

We are all at camp 14,000 aka medical camp. This is the camp we will use to wait for a window in the weather to head for the summit !  The slopes of the Culoir Messner and of the Orient Express remind us of the Scilla and Cariddi legend, inviting us as being calm but with hard and dangerous ice below the thin layer of snow (note from Volo, who is translating this post written by Dapo. I’m doing my best at 4500 m asl without Internet and with a relatively limited, unfortunately, classical knowledge. If the Scilla and Cariddi stuff is not the correct one, try to be in my shoes. Would you do much better???? Kidding of course).

Last night it was really cold and Dapo and Volo were woken up by a storm at Windy Corner. We are still wondering if camping there was the best of the ideas, do you think it was named after some reason?!) but we joined Sam and Ruffo who meanwhile started bealding the shelter at camp 4!

Here we are at Camp 3. We preferred to go directly up to 3500 m. because the forecast for Sunday night (as we write) is very poor, and in fact, the last 200 meters gave us thick snow and zero visibility!

Now we are inside our tents chatting. Good night !

a pictures of Camp 1

We are at camp 1 and now we are getting ready to move to camp 2 hopefully under good weather and not too low temps.

Yesterday we left Talkeetna at 2 pm, landed at base camp at 3 after a short flight between the peaks. After  the briefing from the staff, which includes detailed instructions of where the “toilets” are, we headed for camp 1 where we arrived at 7 pm. We have gained one day and we will start, after the sun has come out to increase the temperature, for camp 2 or 3 maybe?!

In the end we have left Anchorage, a city surrounded by the sea and the mountains, which lays on a flat area where Nature is obviously imposing and it allows mankind to rule over things. Groups of native Americans are dressed like other westerners and have experienced the dark side of capitalism (given there is a better one), but find themselves deprived of their dignity and of the proud look which astonished me when as a kid i looked at pictures in my school textbooks!

In the photo section you can find some pictures taken in the last days.