(Picture: Glad and relieved to have finally reached)

Today was an extremely important day for us as we were due to set off on a round trip for Camp1 at 6400m. We had heard so much about how difficult climbing up the long and steep scree slope leading up to Camp 1 would be. Taking into account the fact that we did not even manage to reach Lake Camp (situated at the bottom of the scree slope) two days ago, we were rather anxious about our performance for today.

As events of the day unfolded, it turned out that our initial apprehension was unfounded, much to our surprise and delight! We started off bright and early at 730am at a great pace and we actually reached the turn around point (before Lake Camp) of two days ago in 2 ½ hours, down from the original 4 hours it took us the first time. The terrain was definitely very challenging and we had to be accurate and sure in our footwork so as to avoid nasty falls and sprains while navigating the landslide of boulders and rocks that paved the entire way to Lake Camp at the base of the scree slope.

We arrived at Lake Camp in 3 ½ hours at 11am and we had our lunch break, consisting of a packed lunch of biscuits, hard-boiled eggs, Tibetan bread (a type of deep friend dough very similar to hum chim peng) and cheese. All throughout lunch, our initial satisfaction at arriving at Lake Camp in good shape was tempered by a sense of foreboding at the impressive sight of the seemingly endless scree slope just ahead of us.

Our Sherpa guide, Kami, estimated that it would take about 3 ½ hours of hard climbing for us to clear the scree slope before reaching Camp1 so when we set off, we were prepared for a long and arduous climb. Along the way, we took turns to change the lead so the person breaking trail could have a rest. As the slope was so steep, it was literally impossible for us to stop and take breaks without suffering painful lactic acid build ups in our calves, thus as much as we wanted to stop at regular intervals, we made do with only two 5-minute breathers.

After a spell, the scree terrain gradually merged with the beginnings of snow on Cho Oyu and we found ourselves in the very tiring position of having to break trail through unconsolidated knee-deep snow, sometimes falling face first into the slope when the snow surface gave way underfoot. We had almost forgotten how physically demanding climbing can be, especially in deep snow. Every step we took had to be compensated by at least four hard intakes of air and it took all of our concentration to stay on the steep snow without pitching sideways from fatigue. The slope was so steep that the last 50m required the placement of a fixed rope (placed by our climbing Sherpas the day before) as a safety precaution. Even holding on the fixed rope was hardly a mitigation in the level of effort required.

Moving up the last stretch

At long last, we saw the end of the fixed rope and a rock outcrop dead ahead and we knew that we had almost reached our goal for the day! Kami was grinning at us when we stumbled onto the rock outcrop overlooking Camp 1. He looked none the worse for wear, whereas we were collapsing on top of each other, panting for dear life! At 6400m, Camp 1 is higher than any mountain in Southeast Asia and is almost the height of Mera Peak (6476m), our very first training climb in June 2004. Imagine our utter surprise when Joanne had the sense to check her watch that we only took a total of 2 hours and 10 minutes to clear the steep slope and reach Camp 1, way ahead of the 3 ½ hour estimation made by Kami, which probably explained why he was so happy when we arrived.

Peh Gee arrived about 45 minutes later than the rest of us because she was combating a splitting headache all the way from Lake Camp. We were not even certain if she was going to be able to make it all the way up, since she had already expressed an alternative plan to turn back early if her condition aggravated. However, true to Peh Gee’s characteristic determined nature, she fought her pain all the way up and we were elated to see the top of her head bobbing as she cleared the last 20m of the fixed rope.

The round trip back to ABC took us 11 hours and we fell into the dining tent one after another, exhausted, frozen and famished. In our semi-moribund state, we were mortified to find out from Kami that our Sherpas only require about 4 hours to make the round trip! That’s the difference between our incredible Sherpas and mere mortals like us! Yet having said that, we were still pretty pleased with ourselves as Kami revealed that most teams take 14 hours to make the round trip, so we didn’t do too badly on the first try!

We’ll be resting for the next two days to eat lots and recuperate, before heading for Camp 1 again to stay for the night and then make the climb up towards Camp 2 at 7000m.