Slept okay: about ten hours' much needed sleep. Still tired - a combination of lack of sleep, being ill and altitude. Felt really lacksidasical this morning, but eventually got going enough to go and try and climb something. Sophie and I picked our way across the glacier - stones and dirt and ice to get to an obvious brown slab of rock; glacier crossing was interesting: a bit of a route finding challenge. Important to leave little cairns to mark the way back. We attempted a line up a big crack system in the slab; backed off - I was put off by the scale of the thing and the flaky rock: climbed up about ten metres or so, placed a peg and climbed back down! Eventually climbed a short scrappy pitch to the left - about 18 metres, up a slab / ramp; moves left, reasonable rising right hand crack. Good job I had the pegs - abseiled off two hammered in at the top. 
A completely rubbish route. Tried to find something else to climb but the rock was either really flaky or really glaciated and unclimbable at least by us!It's now 5 pm. Light drizzle, I am in my tent. Geoff and Carolyn have apparently found some route up the valley - sounds promising and I will investigate tomorrow. It's fun being here, but I find the shear scale of the mountains big. I like the noises the glacier makes: meltwater and the occasional falling boulders - big and small, a few really big ones. These generally don't go very far - just shift a few tens of metres down the glacier. I guess eventually they'd reach the end of it. The glacier is a dynamic beast - but not fast moving.
8:49 pm. 16 degrees in the tent - have had some supper - rice and vegetables, soya and fruit salad; stomach feels okay - but suffering from a severe lack of energy. It's difficult walking uphill - get aching muscles and breathe heavily. Just need to take things slowly. By the way, the sketch is the south face of Diran Peak (7257m) as seen from my tent doorway camping at Ultar Meadows.
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