Hopping Clouds

When the alarm clock rang at 5am, we sprang up. Not that we managed to get much sleep anyway due to CL's snoring. Gathering our breakfast supplies, we carbo-loaded with noodles and bread. For those who are not used to eating heacy in the morning, eat a piece of bread and store the rest for the climb up. Climbing 70 degrees upwards has a nasty effect on a full stomach.

We were warned that we have to make it up to the first ladder before 11am. Any team who reaches after the cut-off time will be turned back.

This is the first ladder, a milestone of the point of no return. This is where the gloves and long sleeves come in handy. We reached with half and hour to spare.

As we headed up, I was too busy trying to catch my breath and tried not to slow the rest of the ultra-fit. the huffing and wheezing made me forget my camera at times. When the gung-ho actually took a break, I took the opportunity to take pictures of one my multitudes of companions on the mountain, the Ant.

What I realized throughout this climb was that you have to be at least 160cm tall to reach the multitude of stairs nailed into rocks, grab a rope or even reach across to grab an outcropping. No one told me that! Guess who was the shortest in the group. You've got it! Me riggghhht ovvver here.

Thankfully, I have great team mates even though I had just met them on the day we flew out together, especially Uncle Chong who really looked out for me, Choong Lii who helped me gauge how far will I drop if I released a hand, and the Triathlete himself stopped and waited while I caught my breath.

Remember to bring your gloves, they helped me hold on to slippery ropes and let me dig my fingers into cracks in the cliff to get a firmer hold while I boosted myself over ledges. Don't bother washing after the trip. A good gardener's glove is good enough as it's going straight into the trash bin. It isn't worth wasting water on.

Finally the view that greeted us was worth it somehow. Even though, it was just a few pointy rocks.

Clear skies!

Clouds are rolling in

I thought the worst was over. How wrong I was...

Coming down was more difficult than going up. It would really be good advice during the climb up, to remember the way you did it because you would be doing it in reverse on the way down.I definitely had a hard time. Remember what I posted on being 160cm or more? I had to rely on my climbing buddies to let me know where I would land if I let go of a certain hand hold. There has to be trust going on during a climb. Without them, I would probably be falling over a ledge, or end up with a broken ankle.

Halfway through, my knees and legs start to cramp up. To make matters worse, it started to drizzle and the mossy rocks turned into a travellator. Uncle Chong, the father figure of the group, had to hold on to my back pack to prevent me pitching over due to lack of grip and muscles that refused to work.

It took us 8 hours to get back down. 2 hours more than it took to get up. We kept eating energy bars on the way down because we were burning up so much calories from the climb. I did not manage to take out my camera during the climb down due to exhaustion.

Once we reached Camp 5, we stripped off our shoes and waded into the cold river to get rid of the mud and to relax our sore muscles. Even though I really dislike cold water, the river was different. It was strong, icy cold and soothing. It was cold enough to chill beer cans if you leave it at the bottom long enough. Had the sky to entertain us too.