Ed Viesturs and his team are in Camp 3 at 23,000 feet, waiting for howling winds to die down so they can storm the summit in the next day or two. You can read about how they got there here. The most interesting part, though, is Lindsay Yaw’s account of all the running around photographer Jimmy Chin does to take his photos:
Ed and Veikka were quiet, focused on their day’s objective, making each step deliberate so as not to falter on the rocky terrain. Do I fire a question and break the silence? I asked myself. After all, I am a journalist, I am here to do just that: Ask questions. I waited a bit for the steep trail to slack off, but couldn’t get enough air to ask anything interesting, and was afraid to break their meditative state, anyway.
Jimmy, on the other hand, was doing wind sprints, constantly jogging ahead then waiting, breathing overtime as Veikka and Ed strode past quietly in their logo-clad clothing. Jimmy does this all day, as I’ve seen it on other assignments we’ve done together. He runs ahead, lingers in a spot with the perfect backdrop, lighting or composition, then shoots stills, film, and sometimes both before running ahead again, always expending triple the energy to “get the shot.” I can barely spit out questions between gasps as I try to stay glued to Ed and Veikka’s heels—and Jimmy’s doing laps around us.
Chin is a great photographer (go here for a good profile), and now you know why. So when will the push come? Here’s an update of what’s going on at Camp 3, on Explorer’s Web.
Annapurna Dawn: “Jimmy? Jimmy! Wake up…!”
The Earthist Chronicles 