Overcast morning, the mountain is sheathed in cloud and you can't see much above C1. Last night the mountain was looking beautiful, the summit was just visible, as the wind was blowing a massive plume from the whole South side of the hill. It looked like a towering inferno, and was as impressive as it was daunting to behold.
Today has been a pretty chilled day - nice to have a full rest day after the past few days up high. It's easy to forget how shattering each and every trip up can be, and it is so important to get sufficient R&R in between pushes. Trying to go back up the hill before the body is fully recovered and back at 100% is suicide... Some of you may think that all this time spent in BC between climbs is laziness and a waste of time, but on the contrary, it is a vital aspect of this type of climbing and expedition. As Fabrizio said today, 'It's a marathon not a sprint, and it is all about pacing yourself to maximise your chances'.
Basecamp is changing day by day. By this I don't mean teams arriving or leaving, but physically. I have a small crevasse opening up worryingly close to my tent, as the ice underneath the rocks melts and warps in the sun. I hope that it doesn't get much bigger, or I may be forced to move house, which will be a terrible inconvenience!
This morning we were 'buzzed' by some very low flying helos, which had come in to extricate the Swiss team from just down the glacier. They've been on Broad Peak, and although we're not sure if they were successful (we think that it is unlikely), they were supposed to be coming over to K2 when they'd finished on BP. Obviously one 8000m perk has been enough for them this season, and they've called it quits. I'm not surprised, although there are a number of people here trying 'double headers', it takes a tremendous amount of strength, stamina and just pure motivation to be able to even contemplate trying two 8000m peaks back to back. I must admit that personally, I think that the amount of focus required for just one large peak is so great, that I don't think I'd be able to then refocus on another immediately after. Sometimes it is best just to keep things simple and in perspective...

It's nearly 9pm as I write this dispatch now - 'Why are you up so late past your bedtime?' I hear you say? Well, being the social monkeys that we are, we've just come back from a BC party! It is the birthday of one of the climbers on another team, and 5 of us nipped up to sing an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday to him. We were like some bedraggled down-clad team of slightly out-of-tune carol singers, with each of us singing in our very own key! Before we knew it, we were then dragged in to a number of rounds of local folk songs, with us accompanying the various BC staff (who were chanting and banging barrels and plastic cartons), by providing our own percussion - armed with tea spoons and tin cups! It was all a lot of fun, and the cold encouraged us to keep dancing. A very bizarre situation, and I hope that we'll have many more like that.

Looking up at the mountain tonight, there are very high winds from about 7000m upwards. Apparently according to one of our weather sources, the winds up at 8000m will be gusting at around 100kmph on Monday. Now where did I pack my kite...