We stayed at Park Headquarters the night before. I was not feeling very well suffering from a cold, and not helped by the fact that it took me 45 minutes to deflate the tube in preparation for the climb.
I was surprised with my fitness, maybe because I had only climbed Mount Fansipan a few weeks ago, but I was bombing it up the mountain. I was first to reach the nightspot at Laban Rata (3,272m). The facilities were excellent, including heating and warm bedding. I chilled as people arrived into the hut. Some food and a game of Scrabble later, it was time for bed, at 6pm.
We had to leave for the final ascent to the summit at 2am. There were a lot of people on the trail and it was difficult to get any momentum. A lot of the climb was using ropes, so we had to go one at a time unless we dared ascend without the rope (like the guides). I was among the first group of climbers to reach the top, at 5:06 am. However, sunrise was not until 6am, and so had to wait at the top for almost an hour in freezing cold and very windy conditions. I frantically tried to pump up the tube, difficult as I could not feel my fingers or feet. In the meantime, Mitch had proposed to a tearful Jo, which followed a loud scream of joy.
A quick photo at the top, and I was heading right back down. I had the tube over my shoulder as it would take too long to deflate. Somehow, I made it back down the ropes (one-handed) to Laban Rata unscathed. It was a very successful journey as 10 of the 12 of us made it to the summit. Kennets was in pieces as he had the runs, but managed it. Benedicte and Nicole had no problems, and the Scots made it without any major issues too. Dennis did really well too as was up pretty fast.
There are loads of stunning pics on the blog (not all that I took), but were are a few:
We had breakfast at Laban Rata before heading back down. I was down by noon, desperate to change into comfy flip-flops. I was very sore from the descent, brutal on the knees, but very happy with the way I went.
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