Summit Attempt

The hut we stayed in the last couple of nights was at 15,800ft. I was starting to get a headache from the altitude but I took some Diamox and that seemed to fix me up. So we did some training hikes like I mentioned and I felt strong throughout. Even though, I was somewhat worried about my performance on the mountain today, but was still hopeful all would go well.

Yeah, so last night we went to bed around 6:00PM and woke up around 11:30PM. (an alpine start) Got dressed, ate breakfast and hit the mountain. We were climbing by 12:30AM.
I felt wonderful today. I was climbing strong and had a pretty good outlook on the day. That is until we hit the 50 degree incline that continued for 1800 vertical feet. Talk about a lung buster. About half way up, at 17,500ft, I asked the lead guide if I could quit, he was all, ¨No.¨

So this continued, and just so you know, am still recovering from my bronchitis so I was leaving big chunks of my lungs on the mountain. Around 18,000ft, I started having wicked coughing fits. I thought I was going to break a rib, turns out, I think I pulled an ab muscle because if I breathe deep, it hurts.

Well, around 18,700ft, the sun started to come up and I started seeing stars on the ground. This is a result of hypoxia; basically starving my brain of oxygen. I was still climbing though. Just to let you know how thing the air is that high, I was taking 2 to 3 breaths for every step I took - super hard.

Around 19,100ft, we took a break and only had about 200 ft to go. I was wasted though, I started coughing and red stuff came out. My guide thought I was coughing blood, but it was only gatorade, regardless, he turned me around. Thank God, I was ready.

So, I didn´t make the summit, but I did make 19,000ft, 4000 ft higher than anything in the lower 48, so I am pretty proud of myself.
Going to get a beer and celebrate our success on the mountain and get ready to try cayambe in 2 days.

GW