Right after I topped out of the icefall, I found myself on a nice flat glacier and entered the Western Cwm. The word cwm had annoyed me for a long time. How the hell do you pronounce it, and what does it mean? It turns out that it’s a Welsh word pronounced “coom,” and a cwm is a glaciated valley surrounded on three sides.
Once you get on top of the icefall, you have Mt. Everest to your left, Lhotse straight ahead, and Nuptse to your right, forming the three walls of the valley. What a change from the Khumbu Icefall!
After reaching the top of the icefall, it only took about an hour to reach Camp I. The first time I arrived at Camp I, I was pretty tired. At around 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), this was the highest I had gone so far on this trip. The photo above shows my expedition’s tents lined up nicely in the middle of the valley.
Camp I isn’t in the safest of locations. There is avalanche risk here and lots of crevasses that can still open up. Almost every time I passed through this valley I saw an avalanche. One of the most dramatic ones I saw was when I was going home for the final time. I was alone in the Western Cwm and the avalanche was so huge that it swept down the Nuptse side of the mountain and blew a giant cloud of snow across the valley. I was so sure that I had it on video, but when I came home I was extremely disappointed to see I somehow hadn’t captured it on my GoPro!
This second photo shows Camp I from a distance after I was heading up toward Camp II. I spent two nights in Camp I the first time I arrived here. Since I was well acclimatized the next time I went through the icefall, I actually skipped Camp I and went directly to Camp II. On the way down, almost everyone goes directly from Camp II to Base Camp.
Immediately after leaving Camp I, you’ll have to cross several crevasses and even climb a few short but annoying walls. Above is a shot just after Camp I, and you can see some of the crevasses that have to be crossed. There are actually a lot of horizontal ladders to cross here. Below are two photos of a nasty crevasse I photographed right outside Camp I.
All of the walls I encountered in the Western Cwm were very short, like this one above. By the end of the season, so many people had kicked steps into the walls that you could just walk down them. Some others were easier and even fun to rappel down. The photo below shows me rappelling down a section in the Western Cwm as I headed back to Base Camp.
At Camp I, the summit of Mt. Everest still isn’t visible, and it wasn’t until I was farther into the Western Cwm that I finally thought to look up ahead. When I did, I took this shot above of the entire Western Cwm and the summit of Everest on the left!
As I got closer, the views only got better, and I later took the photo below. For the very first time in my life I had a very clear sight of the top of the world! It was incredibly exciting to finally see it. At my current elevation I was probably close to 21,000 feet (6,400 meters) and was now roughly 8,000 vertical feet (2,400 meters) from the summit of Everest.
Even though the most exciting and amazing views were ahead of me, it’s still important to turn around and not forget what’s behind you. This photo above shows one of the members of our expedition who I met up with in the Western Cwm. After the first part of the Western Cwm, you’ll eventually finish with most of the major crevasse crossings and then have a long snowy slope toward Camp II.
It wasn’t too hard to get to Camp II the first time. The real issue was finding our tents. Camp II is pretty spread out, and my expedition had set up at one of the highest areas. Once we arrived at the edge of Camp II, it took us another grueling 30 minutes up rocky terrain to find our tents.
We spent more time at Camp II than anywhere else on the mountain other than Base Camp, of course. For that reason, Camp II is often called Advanced Base Camp, or ABC. Located at roughly 21,300 feet (6,500 meters), it’s high enough to keep you close to the Lhotse Face while still serving as a relatively sheltered place to spend extended periods during an expedition.
Camp II is also an extremely high place to see a helicopter, like the one photographed above. Helicopters can operate at these elevations under the right conditions, but the thin air severely reduces their performance and carrying capacity. Flights this high on Everest are generally made only when necessary, particularly for rescues or expedition support.
My last photo is of my favorite part of the Western Cwm. There was a beautiful area just outside Camp II that changed from snow to this icy terrain. When the sun comes out, it’s so intense that sometimes there is even a little pool of meltwater here despite how high we were!
This is an area that many use as a crampon point before beginning their way up toward the Lhotse Face. It’s also a nice place to sit down, have some water, and take in the scenery. Below is a photo someone took of me after I threw my crampons on. With the sun so strong and all that snow and ice reflecting it, I made sure I was completely covered up!
