Breakthrough - True Summit - page 64

I had great difficulty in concentrating and I couldn't get up an interest in anything. Conver-
sation languished. With great effort, and only because we urged each other on, we managed
to make some tea on the stove. . . . It was impossible to swallow any food down at all.
In the night, the wind rose, driving gusts of new snow across the barren slope.
Lachenal's diary recorded the sleepless vigil:
The night was very bad. Violent storm. The rear of the tent collapsed on top of us under the
weight of the snow. I passed the night holding on to the tent poles to keep them from fall-
ing. We were completely covered with new snow.
For Herzog, the ordeal in the dark at 24,600 feet was worse than “our very worst
Alpine bivouacs.” In the first light of dawn, as the wind died down and a metallic cold
ruled their world, the two men felt “worn out and utterly weary.” It would have been
tempting to take a rest day, but there was neither time nor food to waste. After two
months of failure and frustration, the French team had finally put itself in position to
reach the top of Annapurna, less than 2,000 feet above, across easy-looking ground.
At 6:00 A.M. on June 3, Lachenal and Herzog closed their tent and started climbing
toward the sky.