Next morning, the weather was fine and the sky was clear. Everyone was in a good mood and the morale was high. They left the base camp and began to climb. The snow on the mountain strongly reflected the sunlight and the reflected light pierced into Lucrezia’s eye with a sharp blade. Lucrezia did not mind a bit, was to concentrate on climbing. They set up Camp I at around 1000m from sea level. They loaded some of their food, drinks and medicine in the camp. Apart from the team members, some local people were also hired to carry the things. As they climbed higher and higher, the local people left and they had to carry all the equipments and food on their own. After one day, they reached the site for Camp II. Tents were set up and this time, telecommunication systems were set up. Team members were busy unpacking the things and pack them into lighter items that were easier to carry. After helping to set up the camp, Lucrezia had nothing to do. She went out and enjoyed the view. The air was getting thinner and she needed time to adjust. Also, the temperature was low, it was 12oC below the temperature at sea level. These were all normal and expected. Something, however, she noticed was a little bit unexpected. The reflected light was less strong, Lucrezia looked up and saw clouds in the sky. The wind blew harder than before and sometimes the wind blew in gust. Lucrezia shivered and thought about her father. She smiled, she surely had confidence in her father. He was a skilled, calm and strong mountaineer. He had accidents before, but he always managed to come home safely. “It’s dinner time, Lucrezia.” her father shouted. “I’m coming.” Lucrezia gladly shouted back.
Next morning, Lucrezia woke up early and prepared breakfast for everybody. She had to make sure she could see the climbing team’s departure. At six o’clock in the morning, the whole team split. The ten climbing team members departed and headed for the summit; the five backup team members had to stay behind in Camp II. The backup team was responsible for providing information to the mountaineers. Francesco hugged Lucrezia warmly, gave her a quick kiss and said, “Be a good girl.” her father said. “Please be careful, papa.” Lucrezia answered back. The climbing team departed, they began to climb up and soon they were lost in sight. Lucrezia had no time to think about other things, she had to take up responsibility. She was responsible for the radio receiving the information of the weather.
Another ten days has passed, Camp VI was set up. The climbing team was approximately at 5900m from sea level. Every day, they reported back to Camp II at five o’clock in the evening. Francesco only talked little, but he promised Lucrezia to bring her beautiful pictures. The weather was fluctuating and the climbing team had experienced some storms. All the team members were in good conditions. That night, there were violet storms hitting Camp II, the backup team members stayed up all night, none of them slept. After the storm stopped in the morning, they immediately contacted the climbing team, only to find they passed a peaceful night up there. They were ready to climb up to 7000m from sea level.
In the afternoon, the Observatory sent a message to the backup team, telling that a storm was formed near Karakoram Range. Everybody was nervous: the climbing team was at 6000m to 7000m from sea level, which was a vulnerable place for storms. They immediately sent a signal to the climbing team, but this time, the climbing team was not responding. They kept contacting them. The weather outside was getting worse. The clouds covered the sun completely. It was dim everywhere. The temperature dropped further by a few degrees Celsius. The wind speed reached around 70km/h. Various data continuously fed into the system. The weather forecast was not promising. A storm grew stronger in the past several hours and there was another storm forming. Winds were roaring outside, snow continuously snapped down on the tent. They had to shout to each other in order to let everybody to hear their words. The attempt of trying to contact the climbing team failed. They received no information from their friends. The leader of the backup team concluded, “The good news is that they should have enough food, drinks and warm clothing.” Although Lucrezia was worried, she appeared to be calm. She did not want to be the burden of the team. She devoted fully to her work and worked in shifts to keep an eye on the weather report.
Next morning, they received calls from the climbing team. The storm has gone and the weather seemed fine. The leader of the climbing team said that they wanted to set up Camp VIII at around 7500m. The leader of the backup team warned that there was another storm forming. After a brief discussion, they decided they should start the climbing immediately and set up Camp VIII before the storm came. The backup team agreed but they insisted the climbing team should contact them at noon. Everyone was nervous, and the tension was great inside Camp II. No one talked except when there was a need to exchange information. The sound of the wind and radio filled the silence inside the tent. Everyone was anxious to wait for the call from the climbing team. They waited and waited, but there were no calls coming or any response form the climbing team. Weather report showed that the storm had developed into a very strong storm. The storm would last for about a whole day. Everyone was worried and continuously tried to contact the climbing team. Suddenly, a thundering sound roared. It was not the sound of the wind. The land rocked. “Was it an avalanche?” Lucrezia quickly thought. She crawled on the ground. Outside, the wind was blowing so hard that it was impossible for them to get out of the tent. They were still trying to contact the climbing team. The shaking was finally over and the thundering sound stopped. The backup team crawled out of the tent. Lucrezia saw the signs of avalanche and she quickly looked up. “Papa is still up there. Has he hurt?” she thought. She quickly searched the mountains: there was no sign of human up there. Maybe her father has escaped or the avalanche did not happened near the climbing team. The backup team leader called Lucrezia back to work again. She took a last look at the peak and went into the tent.
For the next two days, they could not reach the climbing team. Everyone was striving to keep the spirit high. Lucrezia was deeply worried, but she appeared to be calm and normal. This was the only thing she could do. She did not eat less. She slept according to the schedule and she did all the cooking to let everyone concentrate on the work. On the third day after the avalanche, at half past three in the afternoon, Lucrezia was responsible for the radio. Lucrezia heard a broken message. “Papa, is that you?” she yelled. The leader quickly grasped the earphone and yelled, “This is the backup team in Camp II. Can you read?” Lucrezia turned on the speaker, so that everyone could listen. From the speaker, they could only hear the roaring of the wind in the high altitude. No one responded. Then a voice appeared, “We…are…” Silent again “7100m…from sea level. Severe storms…five…” It was Francesco ‘s voice. His voice was trembling. The conversation ended with the unfinished sentence. “Five what?” everyone puzzled Everybody’s heart was heavy. Accidents may have happened already. The leader just simply told everyone to keep an eye on the data they received. The voice of Francesco echoed inside the head of Lucrezia. “Has he hurt? Did he have enough clothing and food to survive through the storm?” she tried hard to put away these thoughts. She needed to be concentrate on her work.
At night, they had a serious discussion. They agreed that they would try to climb up to search for them. Lucrezia had to stay behind and be responsible for the radio and data. Everything was settled; they went to sleep and prepared for the rescue.
