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Dinner (stuffed aubergines,
vegetable soup, a roast) was a wonderful time. We went
through the scenes of Monty Python’s Holy Grail and
had a good laugh. At 8 p.m. there was another storm
with strong winds and we had to secure the lines of
our tents with rocks. At five in the morning the storm
began to ease a little bit. I slept about two hours
that night.
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Snow Storm |
On January 19, under a clear blue
sky but facing a strong wind, we went up to Camp
Canada (4860m) to install a depot with food, kerosene
and our climbing equipment. We wanted to spend the
first night of our definite ascent there. Martin
Docherty couldn’t come with us because he had the
first symptoms of altitude sickness and the camp
doctor advised him to stay behind. As of the base camp
the path went through so-called ‘Penitentes’ (Séracs)
before it led straight up to the Conway Rocks, from
where we had to walk over innumerable serpentines to
get to the windswept Camp Canada. The whole walk took
us three and a half hours. From here we had our first
glimpse of the surrounding Andes. My blood sugar still
did not react quite like I wanted or expected it to.
Because of the strenuous stage that lay ahead for the
next day I injected ‘Basalinsulin’ before we got back
down again.
We climbed down in the rubble in a
more or less straight line so I was back in the group
tent at the base camp after just 50 minutes. Because I
had a headache I lay down in my warm tent for a while.
We had to rest as much as possible because we wanted
to install another depot in camp Nido de Condores
(5350m) the next day.
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Patrick at Nido |
So, we left at 9 in the morning,
the sky was cloudy and it was windy. We had to carry
about 15 kilos in our rucksacks. I should have known
that it would be extremely cold high up on the
mountain. However, I only wore light underwear under
my Gore-Tex jacket and a pair of light gloves. This
would prove to be a bad misjudgement on my part. I had
to fight against the biting cold the whole day, which
was further accentuated by the chilly wind. I was
wondering how one could possible get it so completely
wrong when you have all the equipment that is needed
to comfortably face temperatures as low as minus 35°C.
The wind got stronger all through the morning, and
after we reached the Conway Rocks, it started to snow.
We met several people who came down from Nido because
the wind was getting too strong there. I climbed up
behind Khalil and fixed my eyes on his heels trying to
keep a regular breathing rhythm. Chris and Richard
were very slow and gave their loads to Khalil and
Ricardo, the second guide. The wind and snow became so
strong that we had to abandon our aim Nido de Condores.
At 2.15 p.m. we installed a depot in Camp Alaska and
climbed back down as fast as possible. When we arrived
the weather had developed into an outright snowstorm.
I secured the tent that I shared with Richard. It
continued to snow long into the night.
We didn’t worry about the success
of the expedition yet, because the next day was a rest
day. According to our plan it would take five days
from base camp to the summit, passing camps Canada,
Nido de Condores and Berlin on our way. We wanted to
spend two days in Nido de Condores to get used to the
altitude and we were going to install another depot in
Camp Berlin.
On January 21 I slept until 9
o’clock in the morning. The weather had improved but
there was a huge lenticular cloud over the summit,
which was a definite sign for a coming storm. A French
team decided to abandon their expedition after the
wind had forced them to leave Nido de Condores. One of
their team members had to be taken away with a
pulmonary oedema. Martin Docherty was still ill and
decided to give up. I waited until the afternoon sun
heated up the water pipes to enjoy the luxury of a hot
shower and fresh, clean clothes. We also went to the
camp doctor to check our oxygen levels. I had a degree
of saturation of 86% which was excellent and similar
to what I had on Denali. Khalil told us that the jet
stream which normally exists at an altitude of 8 to 12
kilometres was much lower, and that El Nino had an
effect on the unstable weather situation as well.
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lenticular cloud over the
summit |
We didn’t know that things would
turn out to be even worse during the following night.
At 9.30 p.m., when I had to leave the tent again, I
looked up at a beautiful sky and I clearly saw the
Milky Way. On top of the summit there was a gloomy
atmosphere. The huge lenticular cloud was dimly lit by
the fading light of the moon, and it seemed to oppress
everything. Half an hour later a new storm set in and
it lasted for 22 hours. In the morning the snow was
already pushing against the tent’s walls. It became
clear very quickly that we couldn’t go up that day. We
had planned for two extra stages, one of which was now
used up. Unfortunately I had taken my climbing boots
to Camp Canada so that I had to use my trekking shoes
to walk through the knee-deep snow. Visibility was
reduced to about 20 metres and the wind pushed the
stinging snow into our faces. In the afternoon we
heard some disturbing news which Khlail received by
radio. The road between Los Penitentes and Mendoza was
closed due to avalanches and the entire Horcones
Valley was also at risk. Later we learned that the
Nido de Condores camp had been destroyed. We were in a
bad mood. Then we heard of two deaths, one due to a
fall and one due to a cerebral oedema, as well as of
two mountaineers who had suffered from severe
hypothermia. Apparently, there was another climber
whose face was frostbitten. All of these events made
us consider putting an end to our expedition. Khlail
warned us because we couldn’t climb down the following
day due to the risk of avalanches, and we also had to
fetch our material in Camp Canada. So, we were almost
agreed to descend in two days.
At 8 p.m., after 22 hours of
snowstorm, the situation took a u-turn. The storm
stopped from one moment to the next, and when we left
the big team tent, we could see a clear blue sky, and
the west wall of the Aconcagua was shining in the
bright red light of the setting sun. After we had rid
the tents of the snow we went to bed with mixed
feelings. I had a sleepless night during which I
thought a lot about continuing the expedition. I
didn’t want to give up just yet, and I wanted to
complete the ascent if Khalil agreed to guide me.
I told the other members of the
expedition about my decision the next morning, and
there was no audible reaction. Only Khalil thought
that we could try, but that we had to wait another day
because he, Ricardo and Max had to salvage the
equipment in Camp Canada. They started out at 10 a.m.
The wind blew huge sheets of snow from the summit,
which would have been an encouraging sign were it not
for the numerous weather reports that only agreed on
one point: there was going to be another storm. I
stuck to my decision, but the four Brits were still
undecided. In the late afternoon, after our material
had been recovered, things became rather chaotic. Max,
who was in an excellent physical condition, reported
that it was relatively easy to climb up through the
snow, but that he wanted to go down, because he was
fed up living in tents. For Martin there was only one
way, and that way lead down, because he had been
suffering from headaches for five days. The other four
then decided to descent. Khalil had to prepare the
ascent, and the descent of the others. At 6.30 p.m.
David Rhodes talked to Daniel Alessio by radio, and
David returned to the group tent to let us know that
he was now motivated as well to go to the top. This
led Julius Rosa to join in, too. The ensuing 90-minute
discussion didn’t concern me so I left. After
everything had been said, the result was that the
others had decided to climb down after all.
Because we didn’t know what kind of
surprises the weather still had for us, Khalil and I
decided to get to the top in three days without
acclimatisation. On January 24 I waved goodbye to the
rest of team and began the ascent at 9.30 a.m. Khalil
and Ricardo would follow carrying the tents. The
passage through the Penitentes took my breath away
straight away, as it had done the previous times.
After I passed the Séracs, I had to take off one layer
of clothes because I felt very warm. Before breakfast
I had a blood sugar level of 175 mg/dl and added to it
with carbohydrate-rich food. After 75 minutes I
reached the Conway Rocks. As I had planned to go
without a break for as long as possible I had another
muesli-bar and some of my electrolyte drink. I
continued but after a short while I realised that it
started to be quite difficult. My legs felt heavy and
I started to have cramps in my thighs, despite all the
magnesium that I had had. After a while I was all but
pulling myself up that mountain, wondering whether I
had taken the right decision, only to immediately
forbid myself to have these thoughts. Because of all
the snow it was very difficult to find the easier
serpentine path, and the way was only visible in a
straight upward line. Just before the Séracs, below
Camp Canada, I got stuck in the snow up to my waist.
When I tried t get out I had terrible cramps in my
thighs and lower legs. I didn’t know why. After three
hours Khalil and Ricardo caught up with me and thought
that I was moving too slowly. Both laid traces to make
the ascent less tiring. We cut across the slope to get
to Camp Canada where we had a break. The way I felt I
thought that my blood sugar level would be too low, so
I was shocked when I saw the result of my test: 475
mg/dl. A second test confirmed the high level and I
really didn’t know what was going on anymore. I didn’t
inject any insulin because I thought that the
continued effort would reduce the level, and I didn’t
feel like eating anyway. The following four and a half
hours were a pain, and I kept thinking about my
insulin which, I was afraid, had lost its effect.
Furthermore, I kept doubting whether I could make it
to the top under these circumstances, and I simply
could not see why everything would be so different
from when I was on Denali. Nevertheless, I forced
myself to concentrate on moving on. At 6.30 p.m. I
finally reached Nido de Condores (5345m). I was
completely dehydrated because I didn’t dare drink more
of my electrolyte – it contains sugar. My blood sugar
level got down to 232 mg/dl, not exactly the level I
expected after such efforts. When I arrived Khalil had
already molten some snow and I drank as much as
possible. I couldn’t eat anything but soup. I injected
ten units of insulin. After a beautiful sunset over an
awe-inspiring landscape I put myself to rest in my
sleeping bag.
On the morning of January 25 I
still had a level of 220 mg/dl. The insulin didn’t
show any effect. I injected 4 units of fast insulin
and checked again 75 minutes later: 226 mg/dl. I had
another ten units of NOVORAPID before I tackled the
short stage to Camp Berlin (two and a half hours). It
was another beautiful day, but I was too concerned
about my medical situation to feel like taking any
photos. An hour after the last injection I controlled
my level again and I finally saw a result: 153 mg/dl.
Throughout the afternoon the level remained stable at
a normal level. At 1 p.m. I reached Camp Berlin at
5880m and took advantage of the warm afternoon to rest
myself. At night there was some fog and clouds slipped
by in the north east. There was almost no wind, so
there was no need to be concerned. I had some soup
with crackers, but I didn’t inject any insulin.
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Guanaco ridge |
I slept until one in the morning
and then I couldn’t get back to sleep because I was
too nervous. I kept turning this way and that way
until 4.50 a.m. when I started to prepare my rucksack
for the day’s climb. It was not very cold outside so I
put my down jacket into my rucksack in case it got
colder later. My blood sugar level in the morning was
230 mg/dl, which is OK. I tried to force down some
soup but it made me feel sick. At 5.45 a.m. we got on
our way, a way that would prove to be extremely
painful for me. It took just one hour, when we had
passed White Rocks, for me to realize that I was not
in a condition to succeed in my attempt to get to the
top. Still, I kept going. A little later we saw a
wonderful sunrise which projected a pyramid-like
shadow down the west of the Aconcagua. I checked my
levels, which had gone up again, and injected some
NOVORAPID. I almost couldn’t bear the fact that my
levels kept rising, and told myself that it would be
safer to go down again. Still, I kept going. I started
to set myself a task: the number of paces I would have
to make before I could have another break. Once I
really managed to make the projected one hundred, but
then it became fewer and fewer steps, down to twenty.
Then I drove my ski sticks into the snow and leant
over them to take a rest, thinking all the time: Stop!
Climb down. After three hours we reached the ruins of
the Independenzia hut. My level had gone up again and
I injected insulin. As I could see that the weather
would stay fine I left some of my equipment behind to
lighten my load. The Caneletta is the only technically
demanding part of the ascent. It consists of about 400
very steep and chimney-like altitude meters. The snow
still lay knee-deep over the loose scree here, but
there was no track. Before the Caneletta we had to put
on our climbing irons. Because I felt like the insulin
had finally had an effect I took a Power Gel but I was
sick straight away. For the first time Khalil asked if
I had enough energy left. Instead of answering ‘No’
and turning around I said ‘Yes.’ We started with the
Caneletta and the frequency of my paces was between
five and ten. Surprisingly I overtook a Dutch couple
who were also on their way to the summit. After Khalil
gave me some sweetened herbal tea, I felt better and
my level was down to 111 mg/dl. I took that test at
6600m. After two hours I saw the end of the Caneletta
and I was able to perceive the way along the Guanaco
ridge that leads to the summit. There were five
mountaineers who were trying to get to the top. At 1
p.m. we had passed the Caneletta and I realized that I
was going to make it. This feeling after all the
strain was more than sweet. Now I was so motivated
that there were no longer any negative thoughts.
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