The North Col
21st April Today has probably been the hardest single day I have ever experienced. I can not remember doing anything in my life that asked the same questions as today did. Seven clients and Mat set off and after the usual faff we got going at 9.30am. The weather was good, the wind a bit strong but I felt up for it. We got to the haed wall and had a drink and a bite to eat. A number of the party had walked up to the head wall as there pre Col walk. I connected to the fixed line and began. At first the ground is quite steep and I was soon gasping for air. As I made slow progress up the ice it became obvious that this was going to be very hard. For the first time Everest was going to ask both physical and mental questions of me. Every step and every pull on the jumar(ascending device) was sapping. The ground would be hard going at sea level and then add to that the alltitude it makes it really slow. Before the trip, when I thought of these hard days I was worried I would get frustrated at how debilitating this makes you feel. In reality it didn`t frustrate me, I just settled into a rythem of 6 to 10 steps and then a stop and slow my breathing down. It took me a few hours to get up. The last little section involved us crossing a ladder that was laid over a a pretty deep cravase, then up a steep section to the tents at 7100m. I slumped down next to Mat and waited for Josh and Simon. The others had turned back about half way up knowing they weren`t going to make the top before the turn around time. The weather was looking like it could turn on us so we were quite keen to get down. The wind was wild at times, I found the best way to deal with it was to just to drop down and dip my head when I heard it coming. I wore my Cebe goggles (courtesy of Bushnell Optics) which, along with a baloclava kept the wind off my face. Once we started coming down I felt confident to descend quickly. I wrapped the rope round my fore arm and let gravity do the rest. The less confident people abselied some sections but I felt confident enough to just to let the resistance of the rope against my arm to control my descent. Once off the wall it was a straight forward slog back to camp. We got back just before 6 and we`re met by the rest of the team wanting to know what it was like. Our physical state really said it all. I couldn`t eat a lot so re-hydrated and hit the tent. The end to a hard but reassuring day. Bring the next stage!