Post-climb report

NOW WITH PICS!!

We left early enough on Saturday. Michael aka 'Long Man' was not feeling his best (turned out to be Malaria - zoiinkk!) and had to drop out.

Two hours in a PMV and 4 hour in an old Mazda ute (we luckily got to sit on the inside) got us to Keglsugl. We played some cards, ate some of our rations - rice, packet noodles, can of tuna with some local produce and crashed for the night.

Next morning we did a sweaty 4 hour trek through the rainforest to the base camp. To be honest, I was quite knackered and feeling a bit of the altitude and was praying the climb to the summit wouldn't be too much more taxing. More rice and tuna and a game of 500 later, we dressed up in our climbing regalia and retired for a disruptive sleep. At this point, I was extremely pleased that I brought my sleeping bag along. We were up at 12:30 for a 1AM departure when the rains arrived. At 1:45 the rains abated to a drizzle and we set forth.

Let me tell you, it was tough. I have never climbed a serious mountain before but man was this was tough. The terrain was quite technical. I had to get on all fours many times (consequentially freezing my gloveless fingers) to climb over a slippery rock or up a steep rock face. I remember being short of breath pretty much the whole way up. Our guide, Joe, had a smoke every time we stopped to catch our breath. I wished he'd stop mocking our puny tar free lungs. The altitude gave me a slight headache which got worse the higher up we went and lasted till I got back to Keglsugl. Oh and we met this student from the highlands who, probably for the sole purpose of making me feel inadequate, did the climb barefoot.

We got to the top at 7:25AM, chilled (pun intended) for an hour or so and headed back down. Down hill was great for my lungs and heart but devastated my knees. We got back to base camp, had a cup of tea and biscuits and pushed through to Keglsugl arriving at the guesthouse at 5PM.

Take a minute to do the maths here. We walked from 1:45AM to 5PM with an hour at the summit and half an hour at the base camp. A lot of that was up hill through some challenging terrain. I have never been more physically exhausted in my life. It also puts it in perspective though doesn't it - this was just over half the height of Everest - HALF! The easy half as well I'm sure.

In Keglsugl, we bought some veggies (that were picked that morning) because thats what you do when you are in highlands and took a ute (this time sitting at the back) and a PMV back to Garoka.

I had a few beers and a nice piece of greasy fried chicken to forget the rice and tuna.