Day 7- To the Summit!

Hamed woke us up around 11pm, ( this is still day 6...but it will change soon enough). I was able to sleep a little bit, but the wind was going crazy and it sounded like a blizzard outside. I was actually worried that we wouldn't be able to go up, but things always sound worse in a tent, it was just windy- no blizzard. We slept in our base layers, so it wouldn't take that long to get ready. We were served some porridge before we went, but it was different then the normal disgusting porridge, so thankfully, we were able to swallow a few bites along with some biscuits.

Normal, disgusting porridge

We were all bundled up and ready to go by 12:30 (now it's Day 7). Shabaz recruited 3 extra assistant guides to help us up, and carry our bags. Unfortunately he wasn't able to go to the top with us, he had a really bad ingrown toe nail that was causing him a lot of pain, so he was staying at camp. The 8 of us were ready to go, and of course I was in the lead. With our headlamps on, we started out pole, pole, and saw a trail of lights heading up the mountain ahead of us. A few things greatly frustrated me during this time. First of all, my waterproof pants were a bit big so I felt really restricted trying to step up on the big rocks. I had to stop a few times to try to pull my pants up and tie them tight. Another frustration was that I didn't have a water bottle on hand. I didn't have room to shove it in my jacket like the others, so Dan and I shared his. Which meant anytime I needed to drink, I had to stop the group to get it from Dan. Going up, I felt VERY dehydrated, my mouth was extremely dry, so I had to drink a lot, which meant stopping a lot. They say you get very irritable and grumpy at higher altitudes, and it's true. I was getting so upset at the fact that no one else was stopping, I was thinking 'Are they not thirsty? What's wrong with these people?' Ok, so maybe I didn't just think that, I kind of snapped at Dan once. I hated being the one who always had to initiate the stops, and it made me look like I was so weak (which I was, but I didn't like it). So anyways, I was really upset about this for a while...I think some steam was coming out of my nose. Rob later made a comment that there were times when he wanted to stop for a break, but he knew I would stop soon so he never said anything. Thanks a lot Rob! It's ok though, I'm over it now...kind of. Back to the climb- the higher we got, the steeper it got so we had to do switchbacks (back and forth) to help get up. I was getting so tired and exhausted, there were moments when I could barely lift my feet, I was just dragging them behind me. My head was also killing me, and I would look in the distance and it still felt so far away, I just wasn't sure if I had enough energy to go all the way. I did a lot of praying at this point, I knew I wasn't making it up there on my own that's for sure.Even though I felt like quitting, and felt like my legs would just stop moving at a moment's notice, I kept on going. We finally stopped for a tea break, and Christine gave me two red magic pills. I say magic pills because after taking them I got this immediate renewed energy. Then I found out that we were just 3 hours to the top! That's it? For some reason that felt like a short distance, and I thought 'I really CAN do this'! I asked Basil what he thought our chances were to make it to the top, and he said '80%'. Oh come on Basil, have a little faith! But I was determined to prove him wrong. Those magic pills did wonders, and I felt great for a good while, I just continued to put one foot in front of the other, and we kept on going and going and going and going and you get the point. 

The sun was slowly beginning to rise so we didn't need our headlamps anymore, and the views were beautiful! The summit seemed to be getting closer and closer. However the more we walked, the more the magic pills wore off. My headache was gone, but the exhaustion came back, and it came with a vengeance. Man was I tired, but before I knew it, I saw the sign for Stella's Point (5739m) the last checkpoint before the summit.

It was at that moment that I knew without a shadow of doubt, that I was going all the way! I asked Basil again what percent we were at now, '110%!' Finally! Some people only make it to this point, as it's still another 45 minutes to the summit. I started getting emotional, but quickly stopped myself as I wasn't quite there yet. The last 45 minutes were hard, very hard. I would put my pole in front of me and take two steps, move the pole ahead, take two steps, I did this for a while. Sometimes I would put the pole in front, take two steps, rest my head on the pole and repeat. The others were feeling great (I hated them), but they still lingered close by me so we would reach the peak together.
 Even though I knew there was never a point I actually would have given up, and I always said I would make it all the way, I was never really convinced until the moment the sign was in view. I was overcome with emotion, and these weird sobs (I blame the altitude) came out of my mouth, along with 'I can't believe I did it!' All the praying, talking, preparing, planning, finally became a reality. It was absolutely one of the best moments of my life, and the best thing was that I got to share it with Dan. Without him, I would have never dreamed of doing anything like this. Throughout the hike he always knew when I needed to hold his hand, or some words of encouragement. I just love him. It was great sharing the experience with Rob and Christine too. It was 7:15 by the time we made it to the summit, took us just under 7.5 hours.

The whole gang

After our little celebration, and some pictures we were on our way down. Now you would think that going down would be a breeze, and for some people it was, but not for me of course. The rocks that were frozen solid on our way up, were now loose scree, so you just had to shuffle your feet through it kind of like skiing and you could go as fast as you dared. But every time I sped up I felt my body leaning forward, and just imagined myself doing somersaults all the way down, so I took the slow lane down. Besides I was the slow one going up, why change things now? Keep in mind that we just spent the last 7.5 hours hiking uphill, so I'm tired, I just want to be done. But true to myself I'm being extremely careful going down, and so I fall a few times. Hamed (our waiter, who came up with us), saw I was struggling, so he took my left trekking pole and held it in his left hand, and linked arms with me and we walked together, arm in arm down the hill. I didn't care if I looked pathetic, I needed help, and he helped me down. We finally made it back to camp at 9:15, and we were greeted by a few of our porters who had orange juice for us. Everyone was so happy and congratulated us for making it all the way. Shabaz was there with a big smile on his face, very proud of us, and was even impressed with our time as he wasn't expecting us so soon. I thought I went up extremely slow, so I guess I didn't do that bad. We were told we had a few hours to nap and rest a bit, as we still had a 3 hour downhill hike ahead. This was the moment we all felt our worst. We had really bad, pounding headaches, and the sun was just roasting us in our tents, and we could barely move an inch without being breathless. All we wanted to do was to get out of there. So by 1:30 we were on our way down, and moved at a good pace. The more you went down the easier it was to breath.

In case of emergencies, this is your way down

Last night!

You still had to keep your eyes to the ground though as we were heading down on slippery, muddy rocks. After a little while we were out of the rocky, desert land and into the rain forest which is much nicer to look at. However still steep and slippery, your toes are constantly jamming into the front of your boots, which feels like non-stop bruising. So each step hurts, and you just want to be done so you pick up your pace, and start slipping so you slow it down, but you want to finish so you speed up again. And this rhythm goes on and on until we finally reach our final campsite at 4:30. It was probably my favorite camp, not only because it was the last one, but it was in the middle of the rain forest with trees and greenery all around. Shabaz wanted us to be away from all the other groups so our tents were further away to make it nice and quiet for us. We had a good night of reminiscing in the mess tent, we couldn't believe it was almost over, and it felt like the beginning was already a distant memory. They wanted us to get an early start tomorrow, so we went to bed for the last time in our tents!