Wednesday 13th May
We were woken up with a cup of coca tea at 5.30am, and trying to get up and ready in the dark was the first challenge of the day. It was a fairly good night's sleep, although we were woken by rain at one point which was quite worrying! After breakfast we set off as early as possible as we knew it was a long day ahead. At the front of the pack we were beginning to form a lead pack, and the terrain was really difficult from the off. It took a good 3.5 hours to reach the spot for lunchbreak and the whole journey was quite steep. We continued at our own pace, stopping for a few minutes as and when we needed to. Teri started getting mild headaches at lunchtime as we had already reached 3650m. We'd walked through a really different type of scenery from the day before, and it was quite jungly in parts. |
Steep steps on the trail
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At lunchtime, looking up at the mountain still to climb
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After lunch we started on the steepest part of the trail. In the front group we reached the 4215m summit in about 1.5 hours and it was really, really tough. The steps continued to get steeper and harder and the altitude was doing funny things to our emotions! A couple of times on the way up Teri felt like she would burst into tears at any second for no reason!
Matt suffered from breathlessness because of the altitude near the top of the mountain, and had to pause after every few steps. At the top one of the guides, Chris, pulled out a recorder-style instrument and started playing beautiful songs that echoed around the valley. It was a truly poignant moment, and it seemed to help draw up the energy in everyone to get to the top! |
Andy was really struggling today and looked like a zombie at times but he was adamant to keep going. We all shed a small tear when he got to the top, and Lynda burst into tears as she climbed the final few steps. It was so emotional thinking about how much money people had raised, efforts they'd put into training and their general reasons for being there and completing such a demanding challenge. We then waited for Jane who was also suffering badly from altitude sickness - Eamon and Jane had formed a strong bond and he'd been walking with her all the way. It was the same with Simon and Andy. |
Matt and Teri at the 4215m summit
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The views from the top of the mountain were well worth the efforts, and were a great reward when we reached the summit. It was absolutely phenomenol.
The next hour was all downhill, but again the steps were quite steep so it was putting a lot of pressure on heels, ankles and knees - Teri could not have been happier that we bought the 'magic sticks' the day before! We also wanted to make it back to camp before dark at around 5.30pm.
The campsite was quite nice and actually had toilets (but without seats!). Lynda collapsed close to camp and was helped back the last bit of the way. Dinner seemed to take a while and the guide, Brian, gave us a briefing about the next day.
The stars were amazing again, and we stood for a while watching sheet lightening over the mountains and shooting stars and satellites in the sky.