After a ½ nights sleep in the confines of an Indonesian sized sleeping bag, I awoke at 2.30am to Full wanting me up and Amanda wanting my sleeping bag and bedroll. One bag wasn’t cutting the mustard. Being unable to get up she had become the 40% of our party who was not going to make the final assent. After a coffee we got underway with torches in frozen fingers. Just as well it was dark.
In my mind I was looking for excuses to turn back. Maybe it was too windy or there was too much cloud. It was windy but not too windy and as the cloud dispersed and the summit came into view I accepted my fate. I would make it eventually.
After a lot of sheltering behind rocks and a packet of biscuits (the final 300 meters taking 1 hour to scramble up) the summit was mine.
The trip back to camp took 1/6 of the time and after some breakfast we headed off.
At one of our rest stops Amanda headed off into the bushes for a toilet break only to come skidding out 5 mins latter on her backside, pants still around ankles. Apparently a monkey heard her taking the plastic off the toilet roll and thought she had biscuits. He decided maybe he could fight her for them as she looked about his size in her position.
Walking down hill also had its problems with toes jammed into the front of shoes (for those who had shoes). Amanda having no pack had galloped off like a pony on the home straight at the cost of a lot of black toenails. Today Full showed us magic mushrooms that could be purchased at most restaurants around the area in the form of omelette’s or a shake. Finally we approached civilization again with the locals giving us funny looks probably due to our smell. At least Sloop was glad to see us.
In my mind I was looking for excuses to turn back. Maybe it was too windy or there was too much cloud. It was windy but not too windy and as the cloud dispersed and the summit came into view I accepted my fate. I would make it eventually.
After a lot of sheltering behind rocks and a packet of biscuits (the final 300 meters taking 1 hour to scramble up) the summit was mine.
The trip back to camp took 1/6 of the time and after some breakfast we headed off.
At one of our rest stops Amanda headed off into the bushes for a toilet break only to come skidding out 5 mins latter on her backside, pants still around ankles. Apparently a monkey heard her taking the plastic off the toilet roll and thought she had biscuits. He decided maybe he could fight her for them as she looked about his size in her position.
Walking down hill also had its problems with toes jammed into the front of shoes (for those who had shoes). Amanda having no pack had galloped off like a pony on the home straight at the cost of a lot of black toenails. Today Full showed us magic mushrooms that could be purchased at most restaurants around the area in the form of omelette’s or a shake. Finally we approached civilization again with the locals giving us funny looks probably due to our smell. At least Sloop was glad to see us.
1 comment:
I really can just picture Amanda galloping off like a pony, only to be rewarded with black toenails later. I'm laughing even harder imagining her being chased by a monkey while her pants were down. Thank you for the mental image, I'm still giggling like a goon at the thought.
What I can't imagine, however, is her not making the final ascent! Must have been as hard core as it looks.
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