17th May

Fitful nights sleep, but up at 8:30 to a beautiful bright morning. There was ice on the inside of the tent, and I had been sleeping with my face buried in the sleeping bag so the bag was damp - won't be doing that again.The heat of the sun was enough to dry it once I'd laid it on top of the tent.
The usual rigmarole of boiling and melting, then off up ski hill with all of our food and fuel - except for 3 meals worth which we will leave here.

We'd been going for only 10 minutes when we had to jump a deep crevasse, but there were no mishaps, so just a long slog until we reached 9930 ft. where we depoted our stuff.
The wind was continuously blowing drift onto the trail, filling it with soft snow, into which we sank constantly - f*ck! f*ck! f*ck!

The clouds however were well below us so the view was fabulous - Talkeetna getting some rotten weather probably.
We reached the depot point at16:30 and the road back was 2 hours 15 minutes in pissy zero vis conditions and more soft drift.
Tony the sledge was being a bastard and constantly over-running so we stopped and carried the sledges in the rucksacks - a reversal of roles that irritated me not a little.
Back here to 7740 camp to find light snow falling.
More boiling and melting of ice then tea and food, and into the tranquil, green and slightly smelly tent.
Tomorrow we shift camp to the depot to acclimatize.

High altitude pooing