19 October 2014 – Sumitt Lobuche!!!

Today was THE day!!!! We got some tea and porridge at 01:15 and then prepared us for the start of the summit attempt!! At 02:00 we began it darkness. With our headlamps on we began walking; me Jonas, Dennis, our two trekker guides Lakpa and Nima and our two climbing guides. Jan decided to stay in the tent keeping his fingers crossed for us. It began getting tough immediately. It did not make it any easier due to the darkness and the snow that fell the day before. It was slippery due to the snow and the icy rocks and cliffs. A some points the climbing guides had to use ropes to help us get pass some places. It was cold but as we kept climbing we managed the cold. When we got higher and there was just snow we had to put our cramping shoes on, (stegjarn) and harness (klattersele) Two guides got a head to fix the ropes further ahead. We began walking in line with ropes between us. It was still dark and we used our headlights to see. When we reached the ropes we had to wait a while as the ropes was not yet ready. It got a little cold as we had to wait. Then, it was time to start the attempt for the summit. The angle of the climb with the ropes is steep. As we got higher the sun was rising. Being on a rope on a steep hill seeing that; AMAZING!!! The angle at some points was as much as 60-70%!! You feel small being on a snowy cliff at those times. We spent at least 2-3 hours on the ropes climbing. At some times standing on your cramping shoes and secured just by a rope. Finally; at 7.30 Nepal time we reached the summit!!!!!! You do not realize it at first because it is such an angle the last part and you just keep climbing, and then; there is no more cliff, it is flat!! You are on the top!!!! Reaching the top, you just fell down on the ground reaching for air. The feeling is indescribable. You are standing on the summit on a mountain, 6119m over sea level. The wind was quite strong the last part of the climb and was strong also at the top. We spent about 20 minutes at the top taking pictures and just enjoying the moment. Then it was time to go down. I understand why they say reaching the top is just getting half way. The descend was very hard. All energy kind of left the body. Getting down on the ropes was hard, but after we took our cramping shoes of and walked down over the rocks and cliffs, that were tough. Dennis hade backpaines and Jonas left knee was hurting. Finally at 11:00 we reached high camp after 9 hours of climbing. Happy but very tired. Jan met us with a congratulations and a big hug!! We got some hot warm tea and some food.

After just a short time of relaxing we packed our things and began heading down to the village of Pheriche. That walk was hard. With no energy left we reached there at 16:00. We had been up since 01:00 and had been walking pretty much the whole day. We spent the evening in the nice lodge Himalaya Hotel, a very nice place. We got dinner that tasted excellent. At around 20 we went to bed, tired but VERY HAPPY!!! We have reached the goal of our journey, reaching the summit of Lobuche Peak East, 6119m above sea level. Thank you all who have read the blog, commented and just cheered for us, it has really helped.