A day of eating, drinking and trying to relax followed, before we loaded up after dark, and headed back to Tejos.
The night was starlit as we headed out of camp on our summit attempt. Within the first few minutes the pacesetters were away, whilst I plodded on, balancing on pumice and rock as best as I could. My pace was steady, with regular and very deep breaths to keep my lungs working. I passed 6000m, entering a long section of zig zags, and continued my steady progress. The wind picked up, and it was biting, not only because of its altitude and speed, but also its dryness. We call this a ‘lazy wind’, because rather than going around you, it goes through you. As I approached 6300m, I began to waver, and my feet struggled to negotiate the boulder strewn sides of Ojos Del Salado. The last thing anyone needed was me slipping over and banging my head at altitude. With great reluctance, but absolute reality, I decided that enough was enough. There are few true heroes in this world, and though being heroic might sound wonderful, I had weighed up the risks and made my decision. I don’t regret it for a moment. By the time I had made it back to the vehicles, my legs were shattered and any further progress up the hill would have proved fruitless.
I certainly wasn’t on my own as a number of runners and trekkers had already pulled out, and were congregated at Tejos. Two were suffering acute mountain sickness, and I ferried them down the mountain only minutes after arriving myself. Just a few hundred feet of descent can make all the difference. The temperature range was huge, and after feeling throughly chilled on Ojos, Laguna Verde baked us to a crisp. It reminded me of the first trip Sibu and I did together in Iran Jaya. We had just summited Carsten’s Pyramid, and ended up flying in an helicopter from the glaciers to the coast in an hour. Getting out of a chopper in down jackets and fleece when it’s +40C is not an experience I’d recommend.
People tried to sleep in the heat, as I stayed up and kept an eye on the race. Conditions had been past challenging on Ojos, and the remaining runners didn’t come down until later that day. Days before we had joked about finishing in the dark, thinking early evening, but it was obvious that the following morning would be a better estimate.
My tent rattled at 03:00am, and by 04:00am I was building the finishing line. The film crew were ready and in the distance we could see the twinkle of head torches. Aldo, Mark and Paul crossed the line at 5:00am, Sibu and Sara just past 06:30am. The race was done..! Everyone was exhausted, but the record had been broken. There were immediate interviews, and the desire for a well earned sleep. Dawn was rising in the east as we departed, and sleep couldn’t come quickly enough. The runners had been on the course for over 28 hours and up for over 48. At least I had managed about 3 hours, but my body was ready to stop – until the sun forced us out of our tents mid morning.
We broke camp that afternoon, and headed back to Copiapó, for a well needed shower and reflection time on what we had achieved.
Oh, and then we had an earthquake..!
Time to put my stumps up…
My thanks to Terra Nova Equipment, Extremeties and Grangers for ther continued support, and the Climbers Shop for helping fit high altitude boots to what’s left of my feet..!