See: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/13/sports/13martina.html
See: http://www.laureus.com/ and click on their blog for full details of this extreme adventure.
Flew from Nairobi last night. Martina came to the airport for a tearful reunion. She is very fortunate that she descended on the 4th night. Six porters brought her down on a stretcher in the dark on a bumpy trail. Our medic went with her. One of our fellow trekkers is a physician, which was good, because Doug split his head open on a rock when he came down from the summit and she had to stitch him up at 16,000 ft. with no pain-killers! This expedition was constantly beset bwith challenges!
Midnight on Friday night was summit night. The leaders considered cancelling the summit attempt. We had just trekked 8 hours over high ridges through cold, rain, snow and wind. We were soaked. Three of us decided to spend the night in our tents in the high camp. Two of the climbers returned from the summit attempt due to severe altitude sickness. The rest made the summit, literally on their hands and knees. These were 20/30 somethings, some Olympians. When they returned to camp the next morning they looked totally beat and told us nightmarish stories.
We all climbed down to 12,000 ft., passed 3 stretchers just like the one Martina used--very sobering. Deo Gratias, my guide, was listening/singing to the African music on my M P3 player, so I gave it to him when we got to camp. On Sunday, we had a 6 hour walk down to the gate. Both descents in the rain. I tried to stick to my promise to not count the time to the end, and listened to the lovely sounds of rain in the rainforest--birds and chattering blue monkeys. My big toe looks ugly and swollen and is so sore, I'm not sure if I can walk the streets of London!
Happy Trails,
Linda and David
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