Day 8: Italian base camp – Glacier base camp




Technical details of the day

Hiking duration: 4 h 35 min
Cumulative Ascend Value: 695 m
Cumulative Descend Value: 124 m

Map of the day

Curve of difference in heights

Curve of difference in heights of day 8 of the around Dhaulagiri trek: Italian base camp – Glacier base camp

Curve of difference in heights of day 8 of the around Dhaulagiri trek:Italian base camp – Glacier base camp

Details of the day

From this day our trek took place exclusively in the high mountains. We started very early in the morning for two reasons. First, the descent on the moraine seemed easier on frozen ground and therefore more stable. Secondly, during this stage, there is a risk of falling rocks. This risk increases when there is a thaw. An Israeli checked it. Thankfully for him the stone was small.

We began this day with the descent along the moraine that we observed the previous day. Then we ascended in front of it. We walked for an hour to reach the Japanese base camp. It was closed and appeared to be undergoing renovation. The passage marked as dangerous is not really. However, it can be tricky in bad weather. after that, we walked into a groove along a frozen river. The mountains that surrounded us were beautiful. Next, we began to walk on the glacier which is covered with stones and rubble. The path is very close to the mountains and we regularly heared rocks falling which was not very comforting. We climbed what could correspond to two “hills” formed by the rubble and then we arrived at the glacier base camp. It is on the left of the path and it is made up of locations surrounded by small stone walls. There are also baskets that serve as trash.

We stopped here for the night.

We felt the fatigue and the effects of altitude. The slightest effort exhausted us more than usual and adding few stones to build the small wall was not so easy as it could be normally.

For water, we found our supplies in a small waterhole close to the camp. But be careful do not get too down because it’s always risky to walk near cracks of the glacier.

During this day, we saw one of the both Israeli (who had a day in advance) turn back. Indeed, he said he had spent the night at Dhaulagiri base camp where he had lived the coldest night of his life. He had spent the night with all his clothes on him. He had even put his legs in his backpack. This trivial anecdote shows that we must not neglect the sleeping equipment in such an expedition. He had the intelligence to turn back because he would have had even colder at Hidden Valley base camp.

Pictures of the day

GPS data

28.692427683.43783453660
28.700682383.43801463747
28.715682883.43963883841
28.722899183.44384273883
28.731604483.4465624015

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