Since I arrived in BC the weather has been very nice and stable, lots of
sunshine and not much wind. To climb an 8000-meter peak you need to spend
a lot of time getting used to the altitude, acclimating as it’s called.
When I had my tent, our toilet tent and all my gear sorted out I was ready
to check out the mountain and start acclimating.

The mountains here in Nepal are sacred and the Buddhist people believe
that the god’s live in the mountains. Therefore, before you begin climbing
you have to do a ceremony that is called Puja to show your respect to the
God’s. The Nepalese people here in BC built a Chorten (Buddhist monument)
out of rocks and attached to it was prayer flags in four directions. On
top of the Chorten was a photo of The Dalai Lama and offerings like rice,
cookies, chocolate bars etc. The ceremony was held by Buddhist monk who
was singing and saying prayers as we threw rice towards the Chorten. After
the Puja you have permission from the god’s to set your foot on their
mountain and you have their support during your climb.

Summer has been hard on Dhaulagiri. It’s very dry on the lower slopes and
the snow level is around 5500 meters. The first part of the climb is a
cracked up glacier that is called the icefall. The Serac’s (ice pillars)
in the icefall are regularly falling and making a brumming noise giving us
climbers something to fear. You don’t want to be anywhere near the Serac
falls therefore the climbing route goes on the right hand side of the ice
fall, on the lower parts of a big rock wall. Without snow on this part
it’s a mix of sand, rocks, and ice. Horrible, if you ask me. After that
you walk on a flat glacier for a bit until it gets steeper up to the
northeast pass of Dhaulagiri where you’ll find camp 1 (C1), at around 5700
meters. Apart from the sandbox in the beginning the terrain is fairly easy
with only a few hairy crevasses (cracks in the glacier) to cross. My first
time on the mountain was a long struggle to get up to C1, where I spent
the night. It took me six and a half hours to climb the 1000 vertical
meters up to camp and during the night I didn’t sleep much due to an evil
headache. That didn’t give me much confidence for the future. The next day
I went back down to base camp.

Everyday life in base camp is simple but comfortable. I have my own tent
where I sleep and keep my clothing and gear. In our kitchen tent chef
Budhi and his assistant Kansha are serving breakfast, lunch and dinner
every day. It’s like having my mom here in camp. All I have to do is to
show up to get an excellent meal. Other than that there is time to read
books, listen to music and cruise around visiting the other climbers.

The climbers that are here this year to climb Dhaulagiri are a big
Japanese team with about thirteen climbers, including six Climbing
Sherpa’s (Nepalese porters), a Dutch-Austrian team with four climbers and
one Korean climber with his two climbing Sherpa’s. In the last few days a
French team and a Polish team has arrived as well. It’s a good mix of
people and we‘re having a good time.

The Japanese team has hired Sherpa’s to fix ropes on the mountain making
the climbing safer and easier. The ropes are fixed along almost the whole
climbing route. I heard a figure of 2800 meters of rope only up to camp
1. Personally, I think it takes away some of the exploratory experience
you get from climbing a mountain. It has one positive thing though, if you
follow the ropes you will never get lost.

The second time on the mountain I slept one night in C1 before I climbed
up a gentle snow slope towards the northeast ridge. On the ridge it got
steeper and there were a few crevasses to cross on the way to C2 at 6500
meters. After having dinner with a view of an amazing sunset on the
Annapurna Mountains I tucked myself down in to my thick sleeping bag to
get some rest. My sleep that night was disrupted by yet another evil
headache. During the days I feel fine but during the nights the nasty
“high altitude man” is giving me a few punches in the head. To get the
most out of this acclimating trip I climbed up the ridge to about 6900
meters before turning around and heading back down to C2. I spent a second
night in C2 feeling a bit better and the next day I skied down to C1. It
started with cautious turns in powder on the steep ridge and went big
cruising turns in sugar snow on the slopes down towards C1. It was an
amazing experience to ski on the slopes of Dhaulagiri with mountains like
Annapurna and Nilgiri in the background. Felt good to finally get some
skiing after some weeks of transportation.

Now I’m back in base camp and I will stay here for three to four days to
rest before I go up again. I’m feeling well acclimated so next time I will
aim for the summit. If everything goes as planned, the weather is good and
I’m in good shape, I will summit Dhaulagiri at the end of the month.
Looking forward to more skiing.

For more info about Fredrik and the Dhaulagiri Expedition check out his
website www.fredrikericsson.com

Fredrik’s partners: Dynastar, Osprey, Adidas Eyewear.
Supporters: Grivel, Giro, Ortovox, Dynafit, Therm-Ic, Himaya, Duracell,
Loben Expeditions and Jämtport.