On 18/07/2015 Jayford4321 wrote:
>Bivvying at top camp is fine - but if you pitch a tent up there you should
>be shot.
>
What bizzare idea is this? Given that there is nowhere to put a tent bar the rock slab that is top camp and you can't harm that pitching a tent on it, the tent is the least of concerns. You could only get about 2 of them to fit so it's also pleasantly self limiting.
>As long as you're not wasteful with the water in the tank staying up there
>is fine and quite an experience. The water hysteria is a beat up.
Let me demonstrate some simple maths for those disinclined to grasp the bigger picture. Say each person staying at top camp uses 5l a day in drinking, cooking, washing (and I suspect I'm underestimating most people's water usage). We have 7 people at top camp for a week that's 7x7x5. That's 245l of water. That tank is not big..I'll err on the generous side and say 500l. So if Ben's group had stayed the 2 weeks they intended, the tank would be empty.
Then there is everyone's favourite passtime - shit counting. Let say 7 people over 7 days pump out 49 of them. Top camp is in a small sloping section of scrubby scree in between the main cliff and the smaller cliffs you walk through on the way up. There's just not that much space to bury a lot of shit.
Stay at top camp if you want, but carry in water and carry out shit. Pretend it's a big wall in the Valley.