The guides woke us up bright and early at 0030. Breakfast included tasty cheesy bagels and bacon, which would end up being one of my favorites on the trip. Josh split up all the group gear for the cache which included 4 gallons of fuel, 4 ice tools, 5 personal bags, 6 pickets, and 12 days of food. This would be the last time we would have the luxury of pulling a sled.
We departed camp around 0330 and set off for the first time into the Valley of Death. The maze of crevasses that lay ahead made me wonder how we could possibly navigate safely to our cache, but I had confidence in the guides. Sure enough, as we made our way deeper into the fork there was a small avalanche off to the right. We were in no danger of the snowfall, but the Valley filled with a cloud providing a gentle reminder why this was known as the Valley of Death. We arrived at safe camp around 0800, cached our gear, and were ready to roll by 0830. The team was safely back in camp by 1030.
When we arrived back at camp, there was a mass exodus of the other teams up Ski Hill to 11,200 camp on the West Buttress. Apparently, the storm forecast was looking pretty strong and teams wanted to bank some progress before it hit. We had a lunch/dinner of peanut butter pasta (pasta, peanut butter, raisins, brown sugar, and soy sauce) around 1530. The team chatted for a bit and went to bed early at 1830. There was no precipitation yet, but the guides would wake up around midnight, evaluate the conditions, and then let us know our plans.
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