Day 10 of Trek, May 24, 2008 – 5:00 am 

Up early, washed, ate and left for Island Peak Base Camp (IBC).  Things were hectic, and we all were moving slowly, due to the elevation (still at 17,530 feet).  Diamox was now our friend.  The girls only 1⁄2 a tablet, the guy’s one whole tablet.  The Diamox has to be taken the prior evening – before elevation gain to work properly for altitude sickness, but unfortunately it works similar to a diuretic.  We all were up urinating the whole night, so . . . not much sleep.  Pem and 1⁄2 of the Sherpas left earlier than our expedition team, to run off to IBC to set up tents and prepare food for our arrival. The trek was long but not strenuous.  In fact, Base Camp was only at 16,305 feet – only.  We were met at the “entrance” of camp with hot tea – actually hot grape Tang.  Interesting!  After a quick briefing in the Mess Tent, Pem instructed us to take a nap until about 1:00 P.M., when we would practice fixed line climbing with a jumar, and equipment check. 

Sleeping would have been no problem, but the  two Tibetan Snow Grouse pecking outside of our tents, tempted us, as we were all protein deprived, Gerri, Dan, Brandi, and I came up with a plan to kill and roast them ourselves.  Brandi and Gerri were both raised on farms, and Dan hunts for a favorite pastime.  I was simply just hungry for fresh meat.  Pem finally caught onto our plan and reminded us that the Snow grouse are sacred.  We then fell into our tents and slept for 3 hours.   Up for practice, a hardy meal (cheese spring rolls, sardines, egg fried rice, mushroom/garlic soup, and mangos), then back to bed until midnight, when we would start our climb up Island Peak.  Gerri and I had both caught head and chest colds, so she was more than happy to be staying at IBC while I attempted a 4,000 foot elevation climb to 20,305 feet.

Day 11 of Trek (ISLAND PEAK), May 25, 2008 – 12:00 am

Too anxious to sleep, and up too often —due to the Diamox, I was wide awake at 11:00 P.M.  I lay restless for 45 more minutes, and then decided to get dressed.  At exactly 12:00 midnight, Pem called for wakeup.  Thank God I had batteries, and an extra headlamp, as the Sherpas guiding us has low light on two out of four lamps.  Once other equipment was checked, we had Sherpa porridge, toast, and hot tea, and we prayed as a team (both Christian and Buddha), we were off.  Pem’s goal was to summit by 8:00 a.m. 

The trek was immediately 60% + slope – up hill, all rock, skree, and boulders (for 4 hours).  The Sherpas lead us up and over an extremely exposed ledge, then to a safe area (near high base camp—of which we skipped for some reason) to put on harnesses, crampons, and rope up for glacier travel. Pem decided on rope teams at that point.  The four guys on one team with PK Sherpa and Gombu Sherpa, and Brandi and I on the other, with Pem and Dendi Sherpa as our guides.

Crossing the glacier was cold, very cold – I was in my arctic down and layered underneath. The pace across the glacier was too fast for my short little legs, but I didn’t complain (which I would regret later).  The snow was fresh, and Pem did not kick-step the snow, which made it much more difficult for me – the second one in on the rope team (I kicked stepped for Brandi).  I had exhausted myself by the time we reached the ice wall.  Pem and Dendi saw how tired I was, so they chose to take my backpack of water.  I took one last drink of water, which would be the last drink for over four hours — another gravely mistake. It was now 5.5 hours into our climb.  We were still on schedule.

The ice wall was also extremely challenging.  I took one look up the ice, and seeing it was over three football fields in length, I surprisingly said to Pem, “Are you kidding me?”  No, he said, “its ok.”  I looked at Brandi, and then looked at Dendi, and I proceeded up the ice, following Lee, Marius, and Elliott.  Brandi cheered me on, “Come on, Momma, you can do it!”  I was so exhausted I would go twenty feet, then rest.  I finally reached the top of the ice wall, and saw I only had approximately two hundred foot snow ridge to tackle. 

My brain was working faster than my hands and feet at that elevation.  But, being on a fixed (1/4 inch twine) line, and with the help of Dendi Sherpa and his jumar, the last of the attempt seemed safe and doable. However, forgetting I was at such a high elevation, and dehydrating by the minute, I climbed in spurts.  It was ugly.  I walked, crawled, cried, and laughed.  Finally, I made it to the summit (at 7:30 am – ½ hour ahead of schedule) with Brandi and Dan at my heels.  Lee, Elliott and Marius were crying and cheering us on, waiting on the summit.  We all cheered, cried, and laughed together.  I looked at Pem and said, “If it weren’t for the children, I would have never made it up here!”  He asked how much I earned.  I told him $1000 with this climb.  He said, “That is enough to build a new library!”  We all hugged then took photos with our Sherpas. Dan prayed and gave a special recognition in remembrance of his brother.  Then we made our descent.