September 30th - Back at Base Camp

So it was all going really well, I was feeling fantastic. I had set my alarm for midnight, looking for 2 am start. I was either really excited or the altitude was preventing me from sleeping. I woke up at 8:30, then 10, then I was finally up for the distance. I was actually thinking of waking Tchouky to get the thing on the road.


Camp 4 is in a stunning spot, perched on an outcrop of rock with 270 deg views of the Himlayas. The other 90 is of Manaslu itself, there taunting anyone who thinks of climbing it.

At 1:30 a we were out of the tents and on the glacier. We were both surprised at the speed we could maintain. About 20 mins in, I started to feel cold in my hands so I put some heaters in. At about an hour in, my feet were starting to feel cold, especially since I had put some toe warmers in before I left.

I'm not sure what time it was but we eventually tried to stop and figure this out. Funny dances, foot stomping, running on the spot, were all holding hope to figure this out and let us get on with the climb. We went as far as taking a functioning hand warmer and stuffing it in the toe of my boot. In the end, common sense and my wife's love of playing "this little piggy" won out over the summit.

Yes, we did a u-turn at about 7800 m.

When we got back to the tent, I had a nasty surprise; my left foot had blotches all over it, my right was not as bad but all the toes were frost bitten. It took me a good three hours with bottles of hot water to finally get some feeling back in both. In passing I realised that I have lost sensitivity in a few fingers as well. All serious but nothing that will require amputation, the team medic has given me something to expand the small blood vessels in my body and help repair the damage, it doesn't start with a V.

We had a look at a second run at the mountain but it seems the weather will not co-operate, snow and high winds at altitude. So it seems that Manaslu will have to wait...