Muztagh Ata Climbing

We brought full crevasse rescue gear to China. On our first carry to camp II we roped up, unaware of the conditions on the glacier higher on the mountain. This day ended up being by far the most brutal as we climbed from 17,500 - 21,00' with moderately heavy packs. When we got to the site of Camp II, our unacclimated bodies -- tired after 8 hours of skinning -- were barely able to hack a platform for our tent. In the process our shovel broke, leaving us doggie-paddling to dig out the snow and make a suitable camp. We finished cutting the platform at 7:00 PM, with around an hour and 1/2 left of daylight to ski back down.