Jun 19, 2012 | Written by Patricia Murphy

Day 11: Lava Tower to Arrow Glacier Camp

Do you mind if I put a lot of pics in this post? Because the day’s hike was super short and steep and I think for that reason I stopped a lot to take pics. The views were so beautiful and the angles were stunning, too, since we were so often perched on sheer cliffs.

Anyhow, there aren’t many stories to tell, except that we had French Toast for breakfast, and we got to camp and unpacked, and then we hiked 1/4th of the way up the Western Breach to get acclimatized and to see where we would be the next day, or “D-Day” as Kapanya called it. And Manase made empanadas! You remember how much I love empanadas, right?! So here goes. Click on an image to start the Gallery.

Here are our porters hiking out of camp.

Hiking out with Lava Tower in the background.

Heading towards Arrow Glacier with a great view of the Western Breach.

Trish with the Mountain.

Porters on the trail with cliffs in background.

It’s cold up there.

Cindy and her tent.

Arriving to Arrow Glacier Camp.

Unpacking.

Acclimatization hike up the first quarter of the Western Breach.

John and Trish at our turn around on the acclimatization hike 16,500 feet.

Here’s a view of the clouds below as the sun started to set.

Stanley and Vincent serving us dinner in the mess tent.

Manase made emapanadas!! OMG!!

I also took some video at this camp so you can get a feel for it. Here’s our cook Manase talking with Larry and Cindy, and then a view of camp, and then Stanley at the end. Remember I told you that Stanley always spoke to me in falsetto? It was super cute. Oh, and one fun fact. Manase and Stanley are brothers!

Here are the specs we started with:

Day 5 of the Hike
Lava Tower to Arrow Gacier Camp
1 Miles
1 to 2 Hours
Start 15,092 Finish 16,103
Gain of 1011

Here’s what my GPS said:
.74 Miles
1:14 Hours
Start 15,205 Finish 15,924
Gain of 702

All in all, it was an easy day, another indication that our whole trek was well staged, because we knew the next day would be tough. We ate a light dinner and went to bed early, anticipating our 4:00 am wake-up call.