We made the move today up to our high camp at 19,600 feet called Pedras Blancas, which took us about 4 and a half hours. We woke up this morning to sunshine but very cold weather. The winds were calm but the temperatures were the coldest we've experienced to date. We are looking forward to the sun cresting over the cliff to our East.
We made the move with relatively lighter packs than the carry day. We arrived at Pedras Blancas and the site was set up for us thanks to a guide who ran ahead and got the site ready. After taking a small break, we got the tents up, and as we were getting the tents organized, a thunder cloud came towards us and we had the most bizarre weather for the next couple of hours. Since that time, we hunkered down in our tents and approximately 3 to 4 inches of snow has fallen and lighting and thunder is all around us. We stayed away from the cliff walls around us and remained in our tents on our Therm-a-Rest sleeping pads so we don't conduct. After about an hour and a half, the thunder storm passed and we had bright sunshine which melted a good amount of snow. It was aching hot in the tents for about half an hour. Then the thunder storms returned. Around 6pm, there were clouds above us and below us in the valley (at around the 15,000 foot level).
It's been an interesting day. Most importantly we are preparing for our summit attempt tomorrow morning. Subject to weather conditions, we are planning to leave camp sometime after 430am in the morning and as late as 7am depending on the cold and the wind (which will determine our departure time).
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