26th Jan, the return of all summits

Carmen! Carmen!

I wake up, a bit out of it. Check the time. I'd been in bed (in the sleeping bag) for 4 hours. The sun through the yellow fabric of the tent makes everything cheery. I feel like I am made of cement. No part of me wants to move.

Carmen!

A head pokes in through the tent. It's Jaime.

Jaime! Did you make it up?

Yes. I feel ecstatic. It's his 6th time, and he just turned 27 a few days ago. And this is just this mountain, he's summitted others. He is going to be a very sought-after guide, Jaime!

But he doesn't care about his success, he comes in quickly, checks on me. I'm fine. Did you eat? Did you drink? I grimace. I forced myself to do a bit of both, but it's hard. Jaime disappears, but comes back a few minutes later with the doctor's oxymeter and plops my finger into it to get a reading. All four of our eyebrows climb into our scalps as we get the info back: 51%.


Self-portrait as I got back to the tent before sleeping. The swelling is from peripheral oedema, not dangerous in the short run, but a warning sign. It was worse the next day.

Christ, no wonder I coulnd't keep going! If I'd pushed on, I would have blacked out! I already was! Ryan was at 47% and his friends were scared for him!

Consternation filled me as I looked at this. How could it have gone down so much so quickly? I had the highest reading 2 days ago! I breath deeply, I know this is a way of making it go up (Ryan told me, he was traveling with 3 nurses, they all took readings twice a day, he always cheated right before his turn). It went up to 54%.

Jaime starts preparing water. The quickest way to get me better, apart from going down, is drinking tons. And I don't actually feel badly, I think, rather surprised. Weak and heavy, sure. But that's it. I've felt like that after boring work days, and a great deal worse after hard interval training sessions. I turn to my bottle and drink. Jaime frowns. I should have drunk that already. I feel a bit sheepish.

He hums as he works, a habit I find marvelously soothing. It makes me feel safe. He tells me that some people react late to altitude sickness, even 48 hours later. How dumb, I think. And here I thought I was doing so well. Fine, now that I know that about me, I can add another rest day in Camp 2 next time and that will solve that problem. He laughs. Yes, many people come back here. I laugh too. I think I already have partners for next time! I check the time, how long until Lito and Jackman are back? A couple of hours. He grins hugely. They are going to make it.

And they do! Jackman, so demure and quiet, has a fantastic smile on his unevenly tanned face, Lito seemingly relaxes when he sees me laugh, but insists on my drinking.

That's pretty much all any one of us can do, it's too high to be hungry, but I eat one of those soup in bowl type things and feel better.

Jaime and Lito sharing an exhausted laugh


Everyone goes to bed early. Tomorrow morning, Shum wants to try going up a bit higher, at least the 6000m mark, with Lito before we head back down. He asks whether I am up to it too, but I know I am not. I only want down.

We all sit in the tent a bit longer, munching, laughing, but mainly, getting more and more tired. This was Lito's 48th summit. With a bit of luck, he will reach 50 this season.

The night was far from restful, but I did sleep again. The next morning was glorious, it would be a good day for those summitting.