Exped Report 6 - The Final Countdown

Our penultimate day didn't exactly end as planned. It was a glorious evening and, threatened with 30 knot winds and zero contrast for the following day, we decided to push on past midnight, despite having already walked continually for 13 hours. Faced with large expanses of soft snow and melt water, our pace slowed and as the current leader I began probing the more fragile looking areas, testing the ground was safe for us to continue. Now in hindsight, the answer to our question “can we make it through?” should have been “NO”, but we made a judgement and lived with the consequences…. A cleansing but somewhat unscheduled dip in the icy waters for me! Still, the team leapt into action and before I knew it I was butt naked in my sleeping bag, inside the tent, supping a hot ‘Hi 5 carb drink' & munching on Jenny's last bit of Milka chocolate. What a team! My little dip had however cost us a precious few hours & meant we didn't get to bed until 5am, delaying our final start time for our final day.

Now, I'm sure the others will agree with me, that the last day represents both the highest highs and the lowest lows of the whole expedition. It was a truly incredible day……..

Jo