Day 59 - Summit Day

Unfortunately it seems that pretty much every other group had decided to set off quite a bit earlier than us and by the time we get out of the tents there is a huge line of lights leading up the hill - all of which are moving very slowly. The bad start doesn't end there - my crampons (which have been excellent on all my expeditions so far) chose this time to snap, so it is leatherman and some rope to the rescue and then a few minutes later Sas decides that she is not in the right shape to start for the summit and so heads back to the tent.

We set off and within 5mins hit the back of the line and come to a complete halt. The next four hours are incredibly frustrating as for every 5 seconds of movement we rest for about 20 meaning that we get to the ridge after 4hrs rather than the normal 2! From there it is a long, slow trudge along the ridge, over the three steps and then up the final pyramid to the summit. Along the ridge my breathing becomes increasingly laboured with both my chest and throat tightening - I am not quite sure what is going on but just hope I can last the day!

The sun rises as we approach Mushroom Rock and we can start to take in our surroundings on the roof of the world!

Sun rising over the Himalaya

Sorting out our oxygen at Mushroom Rock

Sun rising over the Himalaya

The second step is my big concern - this is a bit of a scramble up some big rocks and there is some pretty nasty exposure there; ie a several thousand metre drop off the side of a less than 1m square platform half way up this cliff. This is the point where my summit bid could fall apart if my vertigo kicks in badly so I have spent a lot of time thinking about and trying to visualise it.

Second Step

Looking down the Second Step

In fact, and really quite bizarrely, my reaction is limited to looking over the edge thinking that the ground is really quite a long way away and then turning round to carry on up the step - is this mind over matter or me being hypoxic to really register what is going on? Anyhow, from there it is a flat easy path along to the third step but it is amazing how even this is very difficult at this altitude and takes a remarkably long time.

Long traverse to the Third Step

Approaching the Third Step



Bottleneck developing at the Third Step

View back down whilst waiting at the Third Step

Unfortunately, the third step is developing into a bit of a bottleneck both above and below it. The very earliest summiteers are now coming back down and a group or Russians seem to have come to a stop below it. Waiting for the climbers to come down takes about 45mins which is pretty annoying but luckily no more than that and it pretty luckily gives me a chance to jump ahead of the Russians. From there it is up the steep slope onto the summit pyramid, the final tricky, rocky traverse, up the rocks and a final stagger along the summit ridge to the top - sounds easy but it takes a long, long time and unfortunately in this time (since waiting at the base of the third step) the weather has come in and there is now pretty much complete cloud cover and the wind has started to pick up. The final ridge is fairly short with only a few small inclines but my breathing difficulties mean that even this is a real struggle and takes a ridiculously long time - imagine three steps forward and then 10 seconds rest.

Anyway, by the time I get to the summit I am feeling so wretched and combined with be lack of any view, that I feel very little about being on top of the world and having got to the end of my challenge. There is also the dread that I now have to make the long journey back down without being able to breathe. I feel oddly numb and none of the sense of elation that I have had on prior summits - perhaps it is the realisation that now I have come to an end, it is back to reality and a finding a job....

Exhausted, out of breath and with no view - but the highest person in the world!!!

As I had no view whatsoever by the time I summited, the following photos were taken by others when they summited at a time of excellent conditions.

View I think down the South side

View back down the North Ridge

View down the West side - following the Rongbok glacier

Possibly the East side of Everest

Anyway; there is a bit of a wait for my turn on the summit but then I am up there on top of the world amongst the clouds. With no view there is not much point staying for long - it is also cold an windy and starting to snow so we do some photos, change onto a new bottle of oxygen (my last) and set off down the mountain. I was hoping that the ease of descending would put much less pressure on my breathing but my chest, lungs and throat have been deteriorating and tightening over the past 10 hours and even this is a struggle as I need to stop every now and then to catch my breath. Whilst this slows my speed below what I was hoping for, I am oddly  still moving faster than most others heading down which is a real source of comfort!

Unfortunately my oxygen seems to be depleting really rather rapidly and finally runs out on the ridge at 8,500 just above high camp which is 200m further down. This is fairly unbelievable as I have only been on it for 4 hours and it should have lasted for 5.5 at a minimum - I have been turning the flow rate down for the past hour to try and eek it out until I got back to camp but for some reason there has just not been enough. This would normally be very challenging but with my chest and lungs I really have no idea how I will be able to survive without oxygen as I just can't breathe up here.

Try as I might, I just cant get enough air to carry on walking and there is no one anywhere near me to help so I start crawling along the ridge. Even this is taking more oxygen than I can breathe in and in am soon feeling very sick and absolutely drained. I am stopping every 10 seconds to catch my breath and having frequent racking, coughing fits that leave me prostrate and gasping for air to avoid passing out. Things are really not going well and I have got to the top of the sections that lead down to camp - there are a number of sections here where I will need to climb and also some pretty big drops. It really isn't safe to continue as I am, so I have no choice but to wait for people to come along who can either give me some oxygen or get some sent back up from the camp below. This is rather worrying as the weather has continued to deteriorate and it is now getting very windy with frequent snow storms - I am not that warm at the moment and lying on a very exposed ridge waiting for a random person to come along with oxygen is going to be a very cold wait! If no one comes along and I am unlucky with the weather I might have to start heading down to try and generate some heat and get out of the wind but that means taking a risk with falling which could be a lot more serious ...

Just as I am about to abandon waiting for help and start down the tricky descent, having been passed by a couple of people in a bad way who could not help, a team comes past and one of them (a Sherpa I think) is bringing down an empty bottle and is more than happy for me to carry it down for him. The pressure gauge is not quite on zero but pretty much there, so pulling myself together I set off again.

Given the minimal amount of oxygen in the bottle, I have it turned right down which gives me enough to stand and move very slowly but little more - I just hope that this can get me back to camp - or at least down this steep section from where I can stumble / crawl into camp. Moving slowly and safely, I make decent progress on what I my weakened state are some pretty tricky sections despite falling a few times. These are mostly tired falls / sit downs after technical bits so I am not too worried. After the exit crags, there is a short walk across a flatter section and then about another 200m walk through the camp to our tent. Unfortunately my oxygen bottle is now pretty much empty and I am walking on vapour - it will be interesting and a little dispiriting to see how far I can get before it runs out.

The camp site looks fairly post-apocalyptic. What tents are left, are situated amongst rocky outcrops and new snow from the days storms. The area is littered with broken tents, rope, oxygen bottles and other detritus and there is no one in sight. I seem oddly to have moved ahead of the group that stopped to help me and I am now on my own again. Whilst not a problem when I have oxygen, things are going to get rather tricky when my oxygen inevitably runs out. Sure enough, this happens just when I get to the camp leaving me another 200m to go. Getting back down to 8,300 seems to have helped and I am now able to walk (albeit very slowly and unsteadily) the tent is tantalisingly close and I really need to get out of the weather and get a reliable source of oxygen to stop further damage to my lungs and get some rest for the rest of the descent. I make very slow progress through the camp largely as I need to stop every few seconds or so for a coughing fit or just to rest but eventually I collapse into the tent at about 15:30.

Once safely in the tent there is oxygen, hot juice and a chance to rest. It is very unsafe to spend a second night at this altitude so I am very keen to carry on down the mountain to get to Camp 2 which is another 700m lower and at the edge of the Death Zone rather than a long way into it. However, my breathing continues to deteriorate and I am having 'episodes' where I am virtually unable to breathe and so need to turn the oxygen right up even though I am just lying in my sleeping bag at the moment. I have also started to become delirious and, for the first time on the mountain, I can really recognise that my mind is not working properly as I struggle to think clearly even when lucid. I try radioing down to camp a few times but, as usual, I can't get any response.

A big concern is that this is the last bottle of oxygen up here and it appears that the group Sherpas have cleared our equipment off the mountain. Quite why this has been done before there has been confirmation that we are all safely down is an absolute mystery and taking the general incompetence in the organisation of this expedition to new and very dangerous levels! My lungs / throat / chest are not improving and for the first time I start to wonder how on earth I am going to get down; not much I can do at the moment so we will just have to see how I am in the morning.

Day 25 - South Pole!

Today should be pretty easy as we only have the last 8k to the VLF point and from there about a further 5k to the SP itself. The VLF point is the marker that all those heading to the Pole have to come via. There is a lot of scientific work being done at the pole and large areas have been zoned off for these to avoid pollution, contamination and other interference which people and vehicles would cause. Luckily the rather more significant pollution emanating from the US base doesn't seem to interfere with such work!!





I did not manage to get to sleep last night until about 3:30 am and then woke up at 06:30 this morning. But at least that gave me time for my XMas wash and to change into new clothes for the pole. We had a lazy start to the day and set off at 10am. Despite the fact that it is sunny yet again, it is a lot colder today so I hope we don't spend a lot of time waiting / standing about.

Just as we got to the VLF we saw a kite in the sky but not for long! There has not been much wind for the past few days and when it has come it had been in the wrong direction and very cold so he has not moved much at all - perhaps he will get in tomorrow. It will be interesting to see who it is and what he is doing.

Slightly premature - VLF is a good few km form the pole

From the VLF point there is a 'groomed' way leading to the pole which provides a good hard surface for us to move on (I get separated from the group here as they stop for a rest for some reason) and I get to the pole at 2pm.

Long walk to the pole

Being by myself I get some good, unspoilt footage before I meet a couple of ALE chaps who are up here working on some vehicles who very kindly take some photos.

The actual South Pole with the marker



Ceremonial South Pole - no about 50m from the actual pole as the ice moves over the ground

There is a ceremonial pole which is the recognisable one and then the geographic pole. Since this whole area is on a glacier, it is slowly moving and so the point which is over the actual SP is also moving. Therefore the geographic pole is marked by a sceptre that is moved on 1 Jan each year. The ceremonial pole is surrounded by the flags of all Antarctic Treaty Countries but the geographic pole only has the US flag - not very impressive!


Reflection in the ceremonial pole

A bit later, the others turn up and we do some group shots before I start to get really cold and head back to the mess tent to warm up.




Team at the Pole

The warmth of our nearby mess tent

There I meet another group who arrived a couple of days ago and are waiting for the plane back to UG. It is not clear why the plane has not been scheduled for today but hopefully it will come tomorrow.

We are getting a tour of the US base in the afternoon - or tomorrow morning their time - which is very interesting. As expected there is a lot of attention to the quality of living here with a lot of luxury - large gymnasium, several TV and games rooms etc.

The late afternoon and evening sees a series of polar explorers getting to the pole which is fantastic.
I get to welcome Jeff who is kite skiing across Antarctica raising money for breast cancer among other causes and has a novelty sled! Ben Saunders and Tarka pop in before setting off again on their momentous journey back to the coast in Scott's footsteps.

Me with Jeff's amazing sled at the pole

Then in the evening Maria arrives to become the first person to cycle to the pole. There is a route that very large trucks take from the coast to bring in supplies and fuel to the US base and this leaves a very compact clear track that provides a swift, 'easy' path to the pole. She has had a great, swift ride in but unfortunately this has taken that challenge away now.

Maria with her bike

The modified polar bike!

Day 12 - Summit Day

Unfortunately, I did not get to sleep until about 4 am but woke naturally a bit before 7am - and as on previous trips did not feel that bad with such little sleep. 

The weather is pretty miserable at first with low cloud and snow but it is not too cold. Things seem to improve a bit over breakfast and then I am pretty much ready to go at 8 am to find that the instruction of 'get ready to go after breakfast' in fact meant we are leaving at 9 am so I head back into the tent to keep warm. There is quite a bit of faffing around in the group so those who are ready on time end up just hanging around in the cold for a while - really not the ideal way to start a summit bid!

Nearly ready to go....

The weather deteriorates by the time we leave at 9 and we set off in the cloud and the cold - my concern over yesterday's decision is growing. We are also moving very slowly so it is pretty hard to stay warm or even enthused given that the clouds prevent any view to enjoy. There is a bit of a steep hill that takes us out of camp before we get onto a large flat plain followed by a steepish slope that seems to go on for ever - this is a mix of the speed at which we are travelling and the fact that we can't see any edges given the cloud which finally starts to lift.

Clouds starting to lift on the slope

Vinson mound on the right - the approach to which is from the back

Finally we come to the Vinson peak and head left and up to come round the back. There, after about 3 hours, we see the summit through a break in the clouds which encourages everyone as well as heralding the start of a warmer spell and some superb views of the surrounding area.

From there we climb the final steep section of this slope to the start of the summit ridge where there is a bit of a pause whilst people organise themselves for the final push and others sit back and enjoy the view and the newly warming sun..

 

Rest point before the final ridge

This is very exposed and windy but there are some enjoyable technical sections and great views. The summit ridge is pretty narrow in places and in a few places there we are right on the edge of huge drops when skirting round some of the rock outcrops along it - it is even windier out here which makes it pretty treacherous going. A slip here wouldn't be fatal in itself as we are all roped together but the cold and the wind means that any injury from such a fall would inevitably lead to significant problems (pretty much certain frostbite) before getting back to camp.



Climb up to the final ridge

View along the ridge towards the summit - it starts fairly easily but things get tougher further along!



View back to the start of the ridge and out over Antarctica



Further along the ridge



Its a long way down from here and an outward facing slope with a lot of debris is never fun

 

The summit is equally exposed so we don't spend much time there; a few congratulations and then some photos before heading back down. Apparently, from later discussions the temperature would have been about -40 c whilst we were on the summit, much of which was the windchill. That is a bit surprising as I did not need to layer up for that at all - I did buy a new (lightly insulated) soft shell jacket for the trip and whilst I was finding it too warm lower down on the mountain, these are the conditions it is designed for and it seemed to work fantastically well on reflection - so much so that I did not really realise it at the time!

This just shows how much difference dry vs damp air makes as at no point have I felt anywhere near as cold as even the warmest day at the North Pole but there the coldest was about -40 as well.

Final approach to the summit

The highest point in Antarctica



Remarkable (and unplanned) pose with Gus 

As the weather has cleared,  we can see a lot more of what we have just walked up and it is a much more enjoyable walk down - we are also on the leeward side of the mountain which helps!

Leading the team back along the ridge - the red head in the distance is the hood of my primaloft top - it is pretty chilly in the wind without having done much for some time!

Steep drop off the rest point after the summit ridge

Leading the way over the long plateau - really not too bad now we can enjoy the view and the sun.

Final slope back into camp

The groups split up a bit on the way back to camp but there are further handshakes and backslapping (with a few high fives mixed in) when we re-congregate in camp. In the last part, heat has been a bit of an issue and I have pretty much all my vents undone to keep as cool as possible - not quite what one would expect whilst mountaineering in Antarctica!

Back at camp with Gus.
 

View back up what we have just come down

It has actually been a relatively easy summit day. There is a slightly technical ridge leading up to the summit but there is little else to make this a difficult day. We ended up doing the round trip in about 8 hours but I would think that it would be doable in 4 to 5 hours. The main issue here is the weather which can be pretty bad, but as long as you have your extra layers this can be dealt with. The views, when you have them, are superb though.  

Later on there is a bit of organising and then people congregate to chat and have some hot drinks which lead into supper and bed. I still can't sleep and lie awake thinking and reading until after 3am which is a bit annoying given how tired I am after the past few days. 

Food:

Pancakes and oatmeal
Nothing really for lunch
Crackers and salami / cheese. Also rehydrated meals for those who want some.

Day 10 - Island Peak (6,189 mtrs)

Up at midnight and jump into my warm clothes as it is pretty chilly in the tent and delaying get out of your sleeping bag in such conditions just gets harder and harder. At quarter past breakfast is brought round whilst we are packing up. There are the usual last minute issues where something, having been carefully placed in one pile or bag, has mysteriously moved but in general things go pretty smoothly and we set off at 01:09. It wont get light until about 6am so we are walking with our head torches - this means that we will see very little of our surroundings for a while. We start out walking along the valley floor to get to path leading up the mountain and it is a great deal warmer than we feared it might be. Soon we turn up onto the steep path up the 'nose' of the mountain as opposed to the much longer but more gentle one that leads round the back. Very soon the group starts to split as the lead Sherpa sets a pretty quick pace and only I and one other, Simon, are able to keep up - Simon has excellent technique and it is a bit of a struggle to stay with them. The major issue is that I don't feel that I have acclimatised that well as yet - our recent days have been short walks at low altitude - and I am really puffing which does not bode well for the rest of the day! 

Despite the lack of air, the trek is really enjoyable including a variety of gradients as well as moving over snow, rock and ice. However we really aren't moving that quickly and start to get cold. I have bought a new pair of gloves for this trip but really struggle with them - it is something I will have to look into more for future trips - and soon revert to my tried and trusted warm liner gloves and 8,000 mtr mitt shell. At about 3 am the temperature seems to drop again and a bit of wind picks up and so we put on our down jackets and I add my new face mask - it is remarkable how much more enjoyable climbing is when you are nice and warm rather than a bit too chilly! This combines with the crampons going on as we have now cleared the final rock outcrop and are walking on snow and ice on much steeper sections. We are struggling a bit as neither of us wants to be the one to slow things down!

At about 5am or so we came to the final headwall which is about 150 mtrs high leading up to the summit ridge - dawn has broken although the sun is still behind the surrounding mountains.

The climb up the face takes a long time (about an hour or so) as we need to take a breath every three steps or so - this is where the lack of acclimatisation is really hurting us.

It was actually a lot steeper than it looks and absolutely exhausting!

Looking back along the summit ridge

But eventually I get to top of the ridge and then follow the ridge up for a bit to a small plateau and a couple of minutes later the Sherpa arrives to confirm that this is indeed the summit. The view is spectacular - Island Peak is so named as it appears like an island surrounded by a ring of larger mountains including the 8,000 mtr Lhotse to the North (blocking the view of Everest) and Ama Dablam (our main objective) to the South. 

After a few photos we need to head down as Simon is feeling pretty terrible and other people are now starting up the ropes and we want to avoid congestion on them. I am trying my go pro for the first time in real action and it will be interesting to see what the footage looks like. 

We reconvene at the bottom of the ropes along with someone else from the group who doesn't feel great and start the long journey back to camp. None of us are moving that well and at times the route is pretty tricky so it takes us quite a while to get back to camp. I got to the summit in 5:30 and then it was about 3 hours back down; setting off at a bit after 1 and getting back a bit after 10:30. 

Once back at base camp we have a quick drink and a bowl of noodle soup before stretching out on some mats - unfortunately the camp (except for the kitchen tent) was packed up whilst we were on the mountain. We fall asleep in the sun for a couple of hours until the rest get back in the afternoon. Unfortunately for them we still have a good 2 hour walk back to Chuckun and so they don't have much time to rest if they want to avoid the cold, dark and wet weather that arrives in late afternoon here. 

The walk back is a bit of a schlep in the end - it is not that tricky but long after the summit and we end up getting quite strung out - the low cloud and wind really don't help either. There does not seem to be much recovery by supper which turns out to be a quiet affair with people heading to bed soon after.