Weaving her way through the Khumbu Icefall
Super, and well attended, talk last night from Mollie Hughes. On the 19th May 2012 Mollie became one of the youngest British climbers to summit Mount Everest at the age of 21. Taking us through her experience we learned lots, including that:
- Fear is natural and beneficial, but can be controlled
- Respect thy mountain – especially when avalanches hit Camp 2
- Celebrate every small achievement – don’t just focus on the overall goal
- Getting stuck at the top of the Hilary Step trying to go down, when the rest of the world is coming up, is a bad thing…
- Running out of oxygen at that point is worse…
- Nearly as bad as coughing up your tracheotomy (!)
- Sherpas who can bake cakes on a camping stove are amazing
- Crazy French women might make Everest their very first mountain…
- Fundraising is hard but do-able, but having military friends who bid to put a tattoo on your bottom is a very dangerous thing…
- Having done it once may only inspire you to do it again – but from the other side
Don’t look down!
Thanks Claire and Peter Y for making it happen!