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The Climb to Dead Woman Pass
QUARTER of an hour had passed since leaving the rest point at Ayapata camp. Dead Woman Pass didn’t seem any closer and the air was noticeably thinner. The trail here was only moderately steep. At this altitude though it felt like a killer. The stones underfoot were irregular and becoming rather hard to walk on. I walked at a very slow pace to conserve energy, yet I was quickly catching up to the laggards of the next group in front of me.
The long steep trail to the pass |
Julia was still keeping up at about ten metres behind me. Everyone else had already disappeared too far behind for me to see whenever I looked back. Wilbur had told us to go at our own pace, but to wait for everyone else at the top. I was happy with that arrangement. Going at your own pace no matter how slowly actually uses less energy than when walking together as a group at the pace of the slowest member.
There was quite a substantial drop below the track now. There was no forest here, so I would have been above the tree line by now. The gully below had expanded into a large glacial basin, carved out by ice in recent ice ages. At the bottom of the wide valley was the remains of what had once been quite a large campsite - Llulluchapampa. All that was left now were the huge arrow shaped mounds used to bank up the flat areas of land. The campsite had now been abandoned in the interests of revegetation. Two streams meandered over the glacial basin like silver slivering snakes.
Porter |
Thankfully the pass appeared to get closer and closer as I continued approaching it one step at a time getting up. I was passing people now, those who were struggling to have the will power to make it to the top. Fortunately no one was turning back. They were all determined to get to the top and complete the trail no matter how slow the going was. This place obviously attracts the tough.
Although it was challenging enough for me to be huffing and puffing, this climb was not as difficult as the final climb to the summit of Mount Kinabalu. For a start it was daytime, and I could clearly see the pass. I had climbed Kinabalu at night. The towering ridges on either side here provided protection from the elements. I was getting quite close to the snow now. Upon looking back I didn’t see anyone else from our group. They were all climbing more slowly than I was. Even Julia was slipping further behind. I could see the clouds that clung into the gullies was quickly ascending, and once more I was starting to think that I would lose the view from the top, so that gave me more motivation to keep a reasonably fast pace.
Cloud shrouds the mountaintops |
I took two brief rests to catch my breath and to take photos, but otherwise I kept a constant pace. The gully closed in a bit causing me to lose sight of the valley below. A large bank of cloud came in front of the mountains on the other side of the valley. The stones laid on the track were a bit dislodged from the wear and tear of the high altitude. Some sections were completely worn away with makeshift steps built from the few remaining rocks to minimise erosion.
Finally I saw the top with people on it, including some of our porters who had quite easily walked past us with their heavy packs. I gathered just a bit more strength having gone to my highest yet, and paced myself up the final steps to the flat summit at the top.
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