Summit day starts at Camp 3, a few hundred feet below the Northeast Ridge. Climbers generally spend a short restless night on oxygen, arising between 2 and 3 in the morning to start the climb. The goal is to summit before noon leaving enough time to descend back to Camp 3, or preferably lower, by dark. Climbers start out in the dark, well spaced on fixed ropes so as not to stress the rope anchors. They traverse a steep generally snow covered slope to a narrow ledge at the base of a poorly defined ramp which leads to the ridge crest. It takes a couple of hours to gain the ridge from Camp 3. It is cold and much of the trip is in the predawn dark. A marker is placed where the ridge is gained so climbers know where to drop off the ridge should they return in the dark or in whiteout conditions.
