The very beginning of the week was cloudy and snowy at Base Camp, which is located at 17,000 feet/5,200 meters on the Khumbu Glacier. We were told that a good period of weather was arriving soon. Over the course of three days we climbed to an area known as the South Col to put ourselves in position to climb to the summit on the next windless night.
The only animals capable of visiting the South Col of Mount Everest are crow-like birds known as chuffs. They have yellow-ish beaks and are all black. Because of the altitude in the Death Zone there is very little oxygen in the air.
I witnessed a large avalanche of snow and ice crashing down the slopes of a nearby mountain called Nuptse, which means West Peak. We were fortunately far away from the ice and snow, and therefore no one was hurt.
