Climbing a mountain for the first time
I decided I was tired of trekking and that I wanted some adrenaline something like climbing a mountain. I did some research and chose and agency. The agency charged me 160$ for everything: the equipment, guide, food and transportation. I told them I had no experience at all with any of the equipment or climbing and they said it was ok. They asked me if I was in shape and I said “no” and they said “everything is in your head” so I said “ok”.
We took multiple public transportations to get to the place were we started walking.
1st day
We walked for 2:30 hours to get to base camp (4680mts). I was trying to drink a lot of water because I didn’t wanted to have altitude sickness. So far everything was smooth. Well kind of smooth. My stomach was not responding very well I had this number two flow ness that wasn’t very practical in the mountain. We set the tents, had dinner at 5:00pm and went to bed. At 12:00 am that night we started walking with frontal flashlights. We walked for 3 hours in the dark till we arrived to the glacier. Here we changed shoes, putted the crampons, tided the ropes and took the piolets (ice ax). Since I was the least experienced I was the second one just behind the guide, after me was an American and then Maximo a worker of the agency with no experience at all.
The guide (Willy): a very strong little man that seemed to have a rocket in the ass.
The American (Gerard): a 40 years old Rambo type.
Agency men (Maximo): a 55-year-old man with a good heart.
Me: a Venezuelan girl traveling alone (Maria wanted to arrive to Argentina faster so she left to lima the day I left to the mountain) that wanted to climb a mountain after 3 days of been in the altitude with no experience at all.
After 40 minutes of walking in the glacier and repeating in my head ESTOY FUERTE, ME SIENTO BIEN, SI PUEDO= I AM STRONG, I FEELING GOOD, I CAN I started vomiting. You could hear the eco of my noises in the silence of the night. When I finished, the American approached me, gave me water and asked me if I was ok. I received the water happily and told him I was trying to hold it since we started but I couldn’t anymore. A bit after the guide said “ ready to continue?” and I said yes. The American asked me if I was sure and I said yes again. Actually I was feeling great after my vomiting episode.
We continued silently for six hours. I kept repeating my words, by now they were: BIEN FUERTE= VERY STRONG. But the voice in my head was giving up and my body was exhausted. There was still no light, the weather was horrible it was snowing non-stop. Suddenly the American said “I think we need to go back this weather is dangerous, we might not find the track coming back.” The guide asked me what I wanted to do and I told him to decide for me. The guide finally said: We are only 1:30 away lets continue for 30 minutes if the weather doesn’t change we go back. We continued. The way was very stiff, we were sticking the axes and the crampons every step. I was just concentrating in getting over the next step. At this point when we were so near the top but at the same time the possibility of going down without it was in the table I STARTED CRYING and some weird energy invaded my whole body. I started repeating in my head: SI PUEDO= I CAN and told the guide I wanted to get to the top no matter what. The guide smiled and continued but Gerad and Max weren’t as motivated as I was. Gerard is an experienced climber and he didn’t care about conquering the top, he was tired and cold, he just wanted to go back. It wasn’t fun for him to climb under this conditions, he also said we weren’t going to see anything. But for me it wasn’t about the views, for me it was about myself about conquering my body with my head and breaking my own record. At some point the guide asked me to help him pulled the rope that way Gerard and Max will had a little help from us that were stronger. I really wanted to tell him I wasn’t strong at all, that I was really about to fall apart but since I was acting like robot and had this weird energy out of the blue I decided to do what he asked me. We pulled the rope, methodically for about 30 minutes all the time I was repeating: SI PUEDO and suddenly we were in front of the top with a 60-degree mountain wall. Here the guide explained again how to stick the ax and the crampons and advised not to look up or down to prevent a vertigo panic attack. I was about to have the panic attack before starting but I was so near that I just started climbing with the last strength I had. Half way I stopped I was so tired, it was so painful to hold all my weight with my hands and legs. Gerard was very good with the ax so he took mine and gave me another one, he told me it was going to be easier and with this new ax. I arrived with no air at all to the TOP. I started crying like a baby and I said to myself it was the first and the last time. Really this was the best and the worse experienced I have ever had. It was scary, dangerous, challenging and amazing. Going down was a bit easier. We arrived again to the rocky part took out our equipment and had to go down. In this part when all the danger of the mountain was far away my body crashed. I was so weak I fell 3 times, all the rocks were full of snow, it was slippery and my body was simply not reacting. I had fever and a bad headache. Gerard was very nice and he was the one that hold me and pulled me this time. We arrived to base camp after 12 hours and 30 minutes hours since we started (I had my timer). We slept that night in the base camp and next day walk down from the base camp to the place were we had to catch multiple public transportations to get back to Huaraz. That was yesterday, I had dinner with Gerard(the American) and thank him for holding me the last part and he confessed: “I was so ashamed you pulled me in the mountain” “I just needed wheels” “is the least thing I could do for you”. He said “suddenly you were a super-women, well you are also in your twenties” I told him it was my mind and my stubbornness what took me to the top… Is funny how easily we forget everything, remember what I said when I arrived to the top? Well today I am planning another climbing, this time four days and two mountains. Sorry if my story was too dramatic hahaha but I didn’t exaggerate a bit.
