Reflection

Tuesday 10^th August 2010

 

Its taken me several days to gather my thoughts of the events that occurred last Wednesday, and only now do I feel in a position to assess what happened.

 

It is unquestionable in my mind what Simon and I both achieved last Wednesday, was probably the single biggest achievement of our lives to date, I think Simon summed it up eloquently on an earlier blog, and that was that yes there are bigger mountains but at the moment this was our Everest.  We gave it everything we had partly because we wanted to succeed for the charities, but mainly because we are both determined individuals, the slight problem with this determination and indomitable spirit is that sometimes you end up in a situation that is beyond your control.   

 

The hard thing to explain to people and the one thing I underestimated was the effect the thin air would have, I had acclimatized well up to 3300 metres, so it was a massive shock when I got above 4000 metres on how the simple things you take for granted become intensely more difficult, eating and swallowing is nigh on impossible, you try to eat chocolate as you know you need energy but it just congeals in your mouth so you end up spitting it out, drinking is a necessity but while your trying to drink your not breathing which is also a necessity.  The only thing I was able to consume above 4000 metres was a can of coke, water from my camel pack and a high protein gel.  Its not until you get back that you realise further that your mind is processing at such a slower speed, why do I say this, well I have few but some amazing photographs at 4807 metres, what I can’t do is actually remember these pictures in my mind, and that’s because total concentration was on putting one foot in front of the other and breathing in between, there is little room to be able to do anything else, this happened again to me at the summit, I could not find my phone to call home, yet it was in my trouser pocket all the time, as I could not find the 3tc Charity Challenge banner, which again was in the top pocket of my rucksack, which I actually emptied out on the summit but still could not see it.

 

My descend from the summit was really where my battle against the mountain began, and I have reflected on this quite deeply, as initially I did not want or wish to climb another mountain again, the Acute Mountain Sickness hit me so fast and was rapidly turning into HAPE, I was therefore quite prepared to pull out of the next challenge of summiting Kilimanjaro, as this was probably the most terrifying thing that has happened to me and I could do nothing about it.  I have been constantly mulling over the facts of the events of that day.

 

At 6.15pm I arrived at the summit of Mont Blanc, some 4807 metres, at 7am that morning I was at 1,000 metres leaving my hotel in Chamonix for the cable car, after the cable car and train we were left at 2,000 metres, and set out to ascend on foot a further 2,807 metres and descend a further 1,700 metres to the Tet Rousse refuge, this is not the standard ascent route for a guided party on the mountain and our chances of success were less than 10%, the height gain on foot alone was some 1,100 metres more than a normal final ascent push, this was also compound by my wanting to try and catch Simon and Phillipe up so that we could summit together.   

 

In my conclusion, I ascended too high too fast in order to achieve my goal, and this affected my acclimatisation programme, and the consequences could have been more serious than what they were, yes a mountain can be climbed however the summit is only half the journey getting home safe is the most important factor, so I have concluded that my body should be capable of coping with the acclimatization required to summit Kilimanjaro, the question to answer is that if bad weather occurs again, would I try and do 2 days climb in 1 go? Its one I cannot really answer until the situation arises, this I’m afraid is the lure of the mountain.

 

I have also underestimated the recovery time required, as I need to start training but am still feeling the effects of the Altitude sickness and still cannot feel my toes.

 

1 Down 2 to Go.

 

David Todd

Chief Executive Officer

3tc Software Limited

 

Tel:- +44 (0)116 272 5276

Fax:- +44 (0)845 688 9951

e-mail :- david.todd@3tcsoftware.com

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