Snow bivvy at dawn, North Nuamkuan Glacier Plateau

We dug our tent into the snow and built a protective wall of snowblocks around ... not that we really had big problem with winds, but simply we had a long afternoon to waste. The previous day we fetched a slab of salt-and-garlick salo fatback from our Cherek Valley food cache, something I as the Mess Chief claimed we really didn't need. Since some crew members bailed at Bezengi a few days earlier, we already ran an surplus of food. But over my objections, the fatback went to this 4,000 m camp ... and promptly disappeared. So to those who claim that excess of fat foods is no good at high elevations, I retort from the height of this experience. I think the cold and the snow make the fat burn perfectly well even when oxygen is in short supply. August 1987