Vinson blog part 4: The Big Day

My fingers have been hovering over the keyboard for about an hour now with lots of thoughts running through my head. This blog really shouldn’t be difficult to write but as I do start to type, it seems as if the last full stop will put a full stop to this particular mountain chapter of my life and I’m not sure I’m quite ready for that finality.

Vinson was a mountain I simply never thought I would get to experience. The history, the environment, the solitude, the distance, all wrapped up in one amazing package. When the 7 summits started to become a thing, a possibility, a reality after Everest I still didn’t think that this mountain was obtainable for me, purely down to the cost rather than the difficulty of the mountain. To cut a long story very short, I had a sponsor for the 2 Everests and then to attempt to complete the final 3. After Denali, my sponsor had to pull out, I took a year off this project but at the beginning of 2019 I revved up my engines and set up Jo’s Mighty 90 to continue raising funds for children’s mental health charity Place2Be as well as to cover the cost of climbing #6 of the 7. I write I am a smidge under £250 short of hitting £40,000 of the £90,000 target. I’m really proud of that figure and at 44% of the way there, it’s an amazing total so far but I still have a long way to go. For those who aren’t aware, funds raised up to £70,000 of the £90k are split 50/50 and the last £20,000 will all be for Place2Be. I absolutely cannot wait for that tipping point.

So, onto Vinson and The Big Day. Finally, it was here. After all of the delays, the hard earned fundraising and hours and hours of training. They say it’s not all about the summit but as the summit was now so close, this day was all about that summit.

I woke up early on the morning of 27th December at High Camp on Vinson and not a flutter of any tent was to be heard. ‘It’s summit daaaaaay’ I said to Rolfe with excitement as we enjoyed our first brew of the day. This was it, a little wander up a chilly hill to complete #6 of the 7 but for me it wasn’t about the numbers, it was about this mountain and the pure privilege of actually being here.

We set out from camp at around 10am and I was ready to press play on Louis Theroux’s audio book. I find having a distraction of a book or music helpful on big climbs, particularly at night. When I left the South Col on Everest at 8.30pm, 18th May 2016 I had one ear plugged into my iPod and as The Black Eyed Peas sprang into action with I Gotta Feeling (that’s how it’s spelt Mum!) I knew I was in for an interesting climb.

However, as I took my first steps across the glacier on our 6 hour, 1100m ascent to the summit I took a peak to my left at Mt Shinn, the 3rd highest peak in Antarctica, and the incredible mountains beyond and knew that this time, on this climb, in broad daylight and on a continent that I was never likely to return to that I wanted to take absolutely every second in and, as corny as it sounds, stay in the moment. Louis would have to wait.

As we crossed the plateau to the first climb it couldn’t have been a more perfect day. I wasn’t totally wrapped up in my down kit at the time but was fully covered up from the sun and cold. It’s amazing how you can get blasted by UV rays in such a cold environment and can easily be badly sunburnt. We were one of the last groups to leave camp and although it’s not a race and you all climb at a different pace, we caught up with a couple of groups at the pee flags/rest spots. Rather than stopping too often we chose to carry on to the rescue cache which was about half-way up our route. I can’t describe to you the beauty of the surroundings and quite how biting the wind was when we came away from the shelter of the mountain to our right on the way to the cache. Being open to the winds from the polar plateau, the temperatures plummeted, and everything started to freeze from my face mask to my fingers. I had left camp only wearing a pair of liner gloves but as the mercury dropped on went my 2nd warmer pair and in went a couple of hand warmers which did the trick. I’m often asked if I have ever lost a digit or two and I wasn’t going to turn this climb into a yes to the answer to that question.

Sweat is your enemy on colder climbs and it’s a fine line to tread between being too hot and too cold but the wind kept up her ferocity so on came Big Bertha, my fabulous PHD down jacket and warm, toasty but not sweaty was I.

Our little team was going well. Rolfe up front and on the way to his 3rd Vinson summit of the season, Luke in the middle and me bringing up the rear. Communication is key and as we went a long I had to ask for the pace to be eased up a couple of times. Both Luke and Rolfe are well over 6’ and being rather shorter and more like a tortoise, I was starting to blow a little too much. On a rope you go at the pace of the slowest person and although I’m not the slowest ever, having shorter pins was of a disadvantage at this point. I also knew that we needed a good amount of energy for the descent so didn’t want to blow all of my power on the way up. It’s so important to speak up in a team, not to be the shrinking violet on occasions like this and as we weren’t in a race or under time pressure, I wanted to chill the pace and enjoy the climb.

Onwards we went, higher and higher and after leaving the cache we traversed underneath the summit then hooked right up a steep climb towards the summit ridge, passing a couple having a full-on argument about who was going too fast or too slow. Their guide watched and waited for the fur to stop flying, swapped them around on the rope and peace was restored!

As we popped our heads over the top of the climb and came out of the protection of the mountain once again the wind blew fiercely, and the mercury dropped even more. I hadn’t eaten much on the way up but was feeling great. I’m now very used to running on a lower amount of fuel intake on a summit day or night, having done a fair few. I knew what I needed to keep me going and my 2nd Twix bar of the climb was it! Experience in a place like this is so valuable. I knew I was well within the realms of my capabilities and that’s a nice place to be but you still learn so much on each mountain, on each climb. It’s all good miles in the memory bank.

The final few hundred meters in distance and few 10s of meters in height gain were ahead of us. As we clambered over the rocks to get to the summit ridge my knees suddenly had a moment of jellification. I used to have a ridiculous fear of heights and exposure and have worked hard over the years to get it under control. I’m much better when I’m guiding as I can focus my energies on a wary client but when I am the client, I just have to get on with it. ‘Your eyes are like a camera lens’ I kept chanting as we wend our way around the rocks and along the paper-thin ridge line with several hundred meters of air on either side. It was breath taking, literally! Ahead of us was the summit, a little nob of snow marking the highest point in Antarctica and we had made it. I cried.

It was now not just about the summit. I had made it with you and Place2Be pushing me on every step of the way. Years of dreaming and many many months of fundraising and training had gone into getting us to this point. The views were spectacular. I didn’t want to leave; I was truly in my happy place.

As I tried to make that all important SoundCloud call I knew it would be an interesting listen the other end as the wind was blowing a hooley but make that call I did and it was a proud moment. My tracker had turned itself off because of the cold but I hoped it had tracked me up to the highest point. With my banner proudly hoisted and photos taken, congratulations received and hugs given we made our way back along the ridge line to lower elevations. ‘Stop right there Jo, it’s a great shot!’ shouted Rolfe from the back of the rope. “Gulp” I said internally…”eyes, camera lens, just don’t worry” and all was good.

I was at the front of the rope for our descent and having said to Luke to let me know if the pace was too fast, we retraced our route and hot footed it back down to High Camp. With a couple of trips from Luke en route and Rolfe holding his falls, which is why the guide is always at the back on the way down, we made it back to camp in 2 hours to enjoy a well-earned cuppa and a phone call to Mum to say that I was back at camp safely. We both cried.

A couple of great friends of mine had given me a little plastic bottle of Gun Shot Gin for Rolfe and myself to celebrate with on top. It had been in my pack to the summit but knowing that I hadn’t drunk for a long time and how altitude and alcohol don’t mix, especially on top of a tiny peak, Rolfe and I enjoyed said gin in the tent back at camp. A big Salut! Cheers! Prost! and every other bottoms-up saying that goes was had.

This mountain was most definitely not a tick box exercise for me and as soon as I had reached the summit and returned other climbers were asking ‘What’s next?’ I didn’t want a what’s next, I wanted to keep living in the moment, I didn’t want this to end. As I stood at High Camp looking over the mountains and onto the polar plateau wondering where Wendy Searle, Mollie Hughes and Solo to the South Pole Jenny Davis were all individually skiing from Hercules Inlet to the South Pole, solo, with no-one else around for so many weeks, I couldn’t imagine being unable to share the beauty of this incredible place with anyone else but they were, at the time, going through the ultimate pain of being alone but hopefully not being lonely.

I had the absolute pleasure and privilege of sharing this wonderful continent with a great friend and climbing buddy in Rolfe and getting to meet, chat to, share cuppas with, learn from and climb alongside some of the greatest mountaineers in the world. I couldn’t have wished for a greater expedition and I can’t thank everyone enough who has helped me during this particular journey.

So, what is next? ‘That’ question that is always asked. For me, it’s an attempt on #7 of the 7 summits, Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia. As you may know, this particular mountain was meant to be #6 but my expedition was cancelled 24 hours before I was due to depart at the end of September last year. Civil unrest in West Papua had meant that the police were not issuing permits for the mountain and the country was closed to foreigners.

We had been given the all clear to rebook for March and with my flights sorted this week by amazing friend Gem King, departure is set for 5th March with a potential 11-13th March summit attempt.

Well, that was until today when I received an email to say that the mountain has been shut once again due to more civil unrest in the mine next to the mountain. You are not allowed anywhere near the mine but due to its proximity to base camp, the police are, at the moment, not issuing permits.

Where does that leave #7? Hanging in the balance for the 2nd time around but I have another 6 weeks until a final decision has to be made so I’ll keep hanging on in there. I’m climbing Carstensz with 4 great friends and am truly, madly, deeply hoping to hit that Mighty 90 target by the time I get there. I hope you will hang in there with me too.

Climbing the 7 summits and proudly supporting children's mental health charity Place2Be because mental health matters 💚 1 summit remaining in 6 weeks! #findyoureverest
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/JosMighty90

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