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Early this morning we are woken up for some food and tea. We stumble down to the food tent by about 11.30pm with all of our day packs and have tea and biscuits and prepare ourselves ready for the final push. Most of us are exhausted. I've no idea how I'm going to do at this but I can't come this far and not have a go at getting to the top. Despite everything in my body wanting to just go back to bed. Phil and Ed are singing Les Miserables songs and it lightens the mood a bit and I attempt to sing along., theres even talk of Brads vomit, and how quiet it has become these last few days. Winford takes my pack again and I'm ever so grateful to him. Theres no way I could have made it this far without his help. I think he feels my determination and is always not far from my side whenever we stop. I am so grateful to him that I've already decided to give him some of my things once I'm done here including these trekking poles, I feel like I will never want to see them again anyway after this trip. We begin our final climb. Its midnight freezing cold and we have a very steep hill to climb. Once we have made our way slowly our of camp which is a challenge in itself in the dark, we begin our way up to Stellar Point. In the darkness with only our headlamps to guide us. We walk slowly up over the large rocks and boulders. This is quite a challenge and a little danerous in places but its better than the scree I was expecting. My thoughts wonder and I find myself nodding off as I walk. I half cry as we go along and Winford start to sing songs of encouragement to me rubbing my arms and back as I continue to walk. I can hear another guide singing at the back of the group too. After 2 hours we stop for a little rest and the temptation to sleep is overwhelming. Before we know it though were off again and glancing up at the sky I see a path of stars leading up to the heavens. That is actually other peoples head torches up ahead and behind us too, It looks lovely for a moment and then I have to look down again at where my feet are going. It is tough and it's cold and I'm at the top of the group behind the head guide Elias again. I call his name and shout out because my fingers are so numb. Stupid ski gloves, Of course they're fine against the snow when its daylight and after a couple of hours skiiing you go warm up before you carry on skiing, but here its so so cold and my hands are so so numb. He turns around as I cry and tell him my hands are so cold, I tell him about the heat packs I have in the side of the day pack and Eugenia helps get them to me and into my gloves. We've lost Travis. He had to turn back and I feel sad that hes not with us, but he must have been really ill. We continue but I cant feel the packs working yet and I am becoming more worried as I go. How long till you get frostbite and your fingers fall off? Oh God! I need to focus, so I pick a film and decide to try and remember each and every scene and play it through in my head with all the lines I can remember. I'm not allowed to grumble until its all done in my head Its difficult to focus and my mind keeps drifting. We've seperated from the group I have lagged behind again and suddenly I feel alone again. But Winford has taken my hand and is leading me up the hill with no headlamp of his own. I feel right now like its the blind leading the blind and I can tell he is searching for the path in the darkness as our paces slows to a stop. I offer him my torch but he has one in his pack. It is a hand torch though and offers very little light in comparison to mine, although mine is by no means the brightest in our group. The group is gone and then suddenly we're with them again, but I need to pee. This in itself is an epic task as I am unfamiliar with my clothes. These salapettes are great but I dont remember if theres any way to take them off without taking all my layers off. Winford helps me take off some layers to get to my sallapettes he redresses me with my coats before I go off to pee because its too cold. I feel like a child he is looking after, but actually I'm really grateful. It's a hell of a task to find somewhere to go and such a relief when I do. Then I stumble back and Ed has come to check I'm OK. It certainly made me a little more alert by doing that excersise. I gratefully take some more drugs from Ed and we make a little joke about him being my drug supplier and begin to continue up the hill side. We're about 4 hours in now. I've never felt so cold and numb in all my life. I dont think my heat pads are working and my hands are so so numb. My feet are cold but I can still just about feel them as I have two pairs of socks on. I also have a weird tingling beard and my nose and mouth are cold and wet. Winford takes me on away from the group but they catch up with me and stop more than I do so were heading up at a simiar pace. Winford finds my pace and is relentless. I turn from being so grateful to this man to wanting to beat him to death with my trakking poles. Luckily I dont have the energy for that. Finally I look out and don't see stars or head torches anymore. I see a glimmer of the sunrise on my right. A strip of reddy orrange light which starts off very thin then gets thicker the closer to sunrise we get. I am so happy that the dawn is coming. However its so much slower than I thought it would be. It takes what feels like forever to come, and when it does finally arrive I dont feel any warmer and suddenly I feel like I'm done. I stumble to a rock as the orange light of dawn arrives and I tell Winford I cant do it. He sings to me and I shake my head and cry into his lap. I cant feel my fingers anymore Winford, Im going to die here. I'm emotionally and physically drained. He takes off my gloves and shakes the packs and I sit on the packs and sit on my hands to push the heat into my palms, its agony and I shout out in pain. Winford takes off his gloves and takes my hands and bends the fingers over the packs in the palm of my hands and again I shout out in pain. No he says no cry as another guide from another group coming down the hill comes to look at me. He makes me look up down left and right and tells me to chew sweets which Winford has already force fed me like a parent willing his child. He then says I'm close to the top which makes me get a grip compose myself and get up. I am now wearing Winfords big purple mittens and I'm clinging onto the heat packs which I can finally feel working. Up we go and every step through the scree I'm sliding back a pace and a half so it feels like im not getting anywhere. After about 40 minutes of this I look up and find I'm at the Stellar point sign at 5795m and I am so relieved. I toss asside my poles and walk right past the sign to sit on a rock behind it and wait for the others. I close my eyes and nod off for a moment before I can hear the others in the group arriving and taking photos. I reach into my bag for the sunscreen and sunglasses and I remember I packed mums card in here. I open it up and read it.
Dear Rachel, I know I will have been thinking about you(and worrying) all week but today is the most important day of the trip. I'm sure you may have had some down moments, but this climb to the Summit will probably be the most exciting and challenging part of the journey. We are all so proud of you taking on this challenge and raisng so much money to help others who are suffering. Focus on Dad and how much he loved his little Shelly. I know he is watching over you with love. Good luck for the rest of your trip. Looking forwards to seeing you soon. Lots of love Mum x.
I feel so high up that I could very well be very close to Dad indeed and thinking of him watching over me makes me get up and go. Winford takes advantage of my sudden energy and Twende, we go. The ground is so desolate and lacking of life that I feel like I could be walking on the moon. We see great views of the Glaciers and I giggle to myself that I'm actually enjoying the views now and I'm almost there. This bit isnt nearly so bad as the climb to stella point however it isnt easy either. Its just a constant slog. Winford overtakes a group of 5 ahead of us and he and I get to the Summit alone. We are just the two of us there and I'm first in our group to make it to the Summit at 5895m. How did that happen?! I strip down my face for some pictures with Dads little mouse talisman but as soon as I'm done I need to put those layers back on, It's still a freezing here with the strong winds off the glaciers, even with the suns rays at 9am. I put on my layers whilst the group behind us gets their photos and then the rest of my group arrive. Its hugs all round and photos and congratulations and I'm so blessed to have been part of such an amazingly supportive group. I give Winford the biggest hug he's probably ever had and after about ten minutes were ready to go down. The trouble is I didn't really save anything for going down. I am relieved that I've made it and I'm so pleased that I'm begining to get some feeling into my fingers again now. As we decend I go through waves of pressure on my head and ringing in my ears and then suddenly it eases off, but soon its back again. We slide down the scree digging our heels in and kind of skiing down the top of the mountain. Andy and Eugenia are good at this and the are taken off by a faster guide but the rest of us stick together and I'm really happy to be with my group for the most part of this descent. Its tricky and so dusty. My knees take the brunt of this and its difficult to relax into this strange sliding round the rocks movement. Some of us fall and the dust cloud that this movement kicks up is harmful so I make sure my mouth and nose are covered, however everything is getting covered in tiny fine dust. It takes about three hours and towards the end Winford takes me off into camp just 5 minutes before the others arrive. I desperately reach into my bag for some food for Winford from my larger bag. I give him a powershot, some haribo and some raisins. and hug him one more time before I go to the loo and then get into bed for a lie down short rest. Its about midday now and were about to be given dinner, But for now I need to just do nothing for a few moments........
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