The flags have been printed – both the main Patch flag and the schools flag – and they have been sent off to Nepal to climb Everest!  Woohoo!  After a very, very, very long slog and loads of fundraising we are both delighted and proud that all our sponsors will soon find themselves on the summit of Everest – the highest point on earth!  Unfortunately, Stevie and I won’t be joining them!  Despite our best efforts we have not managed to secure sufficient corporate sponsorship to take the flags ourselves this year.  But have no fear!  We have not given up!  We are merely postponing the inevitable until Spring 2012 to give us time to get the funds in.

Of course, we really didn’t want to let any of you down who have supported us this year and are really grateful to Russell Brice and Himex (the company we will eventually climb Everest with!) who have very kindly agreed to take the flags to Everest on our behalf and fly them from the summit.  We cannot begin to describe what a relief this is and we will be following their progress very closely in our blogs, as they make their amazing journey to the top of the world.  

So there’s another year to go!! And we are now trying to work out exactly how we progress from here – both in order to raise the necessary funds and also what physical tests we can do in order to keep our training fresh and interesting.  We have a few ideas up our sleeves but are certainly open to suggestions as well. 

We know from this past year that time flies by and so we really need to get stuck back in to it all.  Please, please let us know your ideas!  Free Patch Expedition buff to anyone who comes up with something new that we use!

It seems like such a long time ago back in September 2009 when we first came up with the idea for Patch and began to think about how we could make it all happen.  We took our first steps towards learning the ropes (literally!) by embarking on a weeks climbing course at Plas Y Brenin in the hills of Snowdonia.  With little idea of quite how much hard work it would all be we happily threw ourselves into the first part of the adventure that would soon dominate both our lives.  

At the end of January 2010 we travelled down to London to the Altitude Centre to be tested for altitude susceptibility.  Of course, it’s no substitute for the real thing, but not all of us have instant access to neither high altitude mountains nor an unlimited budget to travel to them.  Therefore, our altitude experience started in a small room in the National Tennis Centre in London!  Glamorous?  No!  But practical.  We passed all tests with flying colours which at least ruled out certain problems at this early stage.  

We were also thrilled to meet Russell Brice on this trip while he was passing through London.  We were hoping to be accepted as part of the Himex team to climb Everest in Spring 2011 and this was the man who could say yay or nay.  Of course he tried to scare us and talk us out of it, but we were having none of it and by the end of a lovely meal and some wine (always helps!) we had our provisional places booked!   Just over a year to go! 

Altitude Centre

Then it was off to Scotland at the beginning of February 2010.  With Britain experiencing one of the worst winters for years, with heaps of snow, it was ideal conditions for our training.  We joined Di Gilbert – crazy but excellent Scottish Guide who put us to the test on the Scottish mountains.  Di had previously guided the youngest Brit to climb Everest and so she knew what we needed to learn and was the perfect person to put us through our paces.  With alpine conditions, we had a fantastic week and it was both a hair-raising and exciting foray into lead climbing in winter conditions.  Check out our blog – http://patchexpedition.com/blog/team-extreme-tackle-the-scottish-hills/ 

Fighting at the top of Munro number one

In May 2010 our relationship with the BBC started with a radio interview for Good Morning Wales.  Little did we know that this would be the start of regular radio recordings and our first TV appearance!  It really opened our eyes as to how hard it can be to talk to the camera, whilst walking, without tripping up or saying something inappropriate, innit!  As Davina would say, you are live on TV – please do not swear!  (Not that we would, but I do have a tendency to talk complete rubbish and giggle when nervous!  Not good for media interviews).  

Then later that month the Radio 1 Big Weekend came to Bangor, North Wales.  So we got a couple of T-shirts printed up, grabbed our video camera and asked the Big Weekenders what song would they take with them to get them to the top of the world?!  We also met a couple of the Radio 1 DJ’s and Chipmunk!  And that’s not all!!  We spent the previous day filming a video to go with Chris Moyles Parody North Wales.  We’ve had over 7000 hits now!  Take a look at both our videos on You Tube : 

In June 2010 we flew over to the French Alps to have our first taste of real Altitude.  We had a fantastic experience climbing Mont Blanc via the Trois Mont Blanc route with Chamonix Experience, which we would thoroughly recommend.  We then spent a crazy few days learning some more advanced technical skills on the peaks around Mont Blanc with the seriously bonkers Sebastian!  He wasn’t in the slightest bit phased by all the avalanches going off all around us and thought it was hilarious when he nearly knocked himself out on an overhang leaving an enormous gushing gash on his forehead!  But we survived and quickly learnt how to look after each other.  Blogs: http://patchexpedition.com/blog/91/ (Mont Blanc) and http://patchexpedition.com/blog/technical-training-in-the-alps/ (Technical Training). 

Cheese!

Living so close to Snowdonia, we have spent countless weekends bombing it up and down these mountains.  A sunrise on Crib Goch is one of the sights you really must see and it’s right here in the UK.  In August 2010 we decided to complete the Welsh 3000’s which means climbing all 15 mountains over 3000ft in Wales within the space of 24 hours, without using any form of transport.  The length is approximately 24 miles, but the walks from the start point and to the finish point take it to over 30 miles.  This may not sound that far, but this is 30 miles up and down and up and down and up and down again!  It was a long and tiring day, but we love our local mountains and experienced a real sense of achievement once we’d finished.  If you’re interested in doing it, see our blog – http://patchexpedition.com/blog/welsh-3000s/ 

Cantilever carnage!

October and November 2010 were very much about networking and fundraising.  We were still short of our targets and time was ticking on – so it was about getting out there and in touch with as many people as possible.   November was also the month that Wayne O’Brien and Chester University got involved with Patch and have created a couple of videos for us to use in our fundraising.  We learnt how much hard work goes into filming for such a video – totally exhausting but bags of fun!  Take a look at these video’s here!  

Then in December 2010 we headed off to Argentina to tackle Aconcagua.  Our first attempt at a high altitude mountain.  As you may have seen from our recent blogs it didn’t quite go to plan, but was essential training none the less and we feel it has put us in good stead for our future climbs.  Check out the blogs about this expedition on our website or through links on our Facebook pages.

Fat face!!!

No sooner had we landed back in Manchester from Argentina, it was off to London Excel for The Outdoors Show.  We had expected this to be a real winner in terms of fundraising, but unfortunately we found ourselves at the wrong end of a long line of charities in a dark corner where no-one came to see us!  Aghhh!  But we made the most of our time there and went to speak to some other businesses who were exhibiting to secure some sponsorship and advice.  Whilst we were disappointed with The Outdoor Show we had to appreciate that when you start something new, it’s often about learning what doesn’t work for you and then making sure you do something different next time.  

And on a positive note, we met up with the charming Ben Fogle who kindly signed some merchandise for us to use as prizes in future competitions (he’s so much taller in real life!).  And we were thrilled to meet Sir Ranulph Fiennes in person, as he had endorsed our expedition but we had had not actually met him face to face.  No one can dispute that this guy is an adventuring legend and is still going strong! 

Sir Ranulph Fiennes!

 And of course, this month, March 2011 we announced the winners of the Patch Nationwide School’s Competition.  It was fantastic to involve so many pupils in our fundraising and awareness days and the standard of the competition entries was impressive!  Blog: http://patchexpedition.com/blog/winning-schools/ 

The winning Entry - Elizabeth Chan (Year 10)

The background stuff! 

Now, whilst it may all seem like a huge big adventure, what you’ve got to remember is that in between all of these micro adventures we have to put in hours and hours of fundraising and preparations.  And I mean hours and hours!  If you are thinking of undertaking something like The Patch Expedition be prepared to put the rest of your life on hold.  You will not have time for nights out with friends, time to spend with loved ones or sometimes time to eat!  It took us a long time to create the branding for Patch and then hours to write the content for the website, the content for the Fundraising Pack, Schools Pack and Corporate Sponsorship Pack.  Then there was having to design and create all the graphics and then write press releases so people would know about all the work that had been going on.  And those all had to be in place before we could go out there and seek sponsorship as we needed something tangible to show people.   

We have sent thousands of e-mails, made hundreds of phone calls and attended a very large number of networking events.  Before work and after work it’s laptops on, heads down and even at lunch time we try to fit in a few extra phone calls to catch people during working hours.  We would veer from huge highs when we got a ‘yes’ from a sponsor to crushing lows when we had day after day of ‘no’s’.  And of course all this had to be fitted around the increasing physical training and our full time jobs!  

However, we persevered and pushed on, determined we would make it a success.  And we have learnt so so much.  I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who were confident in standing up and talking to lots of people but have always tended to take a back seat.  However, not any more!  We found that we have had to put ourselves out there, stand up and take every opportunity to promote The Patch Expedition.  And then there’s all the cold calling to companies to ask for sums of money.  Believe me, it’s not an easy thing to do but in the end we got so used to just picking up the phone and making the calls that it has become second nature.   

Patch People! 

One of the best things about the whole process so far has been when people get excited about the project with us and jump on board.  Without these people putting their faith in us we would not have achieved what we have so far and therefore we feel it is really important that we say a personal thank you to some of the key Patch players!  And of course we are truly grateful for every penny that every single one of you has raised for The Patch Expedition in aid of UNICEF.  Every donation made counts and helps keep us motivated to carry on fundraising and training so THANK YOU!! 

Key Sponsors:  

Reckless New Media – These guys were our very first sponsors and were pivotal in taking The Patch Expedition from being just a concept to something tangible, something real.  We approached Reckless with nothing but an idea and they jumped straight on board with bags of enthusiasm and ideas to help create the Patch Expedition website.  As The Patch Expedition has evolved and grown, Reckless have made sure our website reflects this.  They have remained enthusiastic and supportive throughout the whole process and we couldn’t have done it without them.  Check out their website www.recklessnewmedia.com.  

Lyons Den – Neil and Fay Lyons were also along for the ride right from the beginning.  We knew we had a long way to go in order to get from a very average fitness level to super-duper Everest fit.  Neil assessed our initial fitness levels and helped us devise our fitness training programme.  With a very good knowledge of fitness, health and training Neil was able to spot our weaknesses – such as my weak knee – and help us to build full body strength and stamina.  I still remember him watching me doing a lunge and asking if I have problems with my right knee when coming down a hill on scree – I was flabbergasted as that was exactly my problem!  Like I say – he knows his stuff.  Lyons Den and Neil himself also feature on our Corporate Sponsorship Video.  It’s a great gym – check out their website www.lyonsdenfitness.co.uk.  

Cotswolds Royal Oak Store, Betws y Coed – Having good equipment is extremely important for mountaineering.  It’s also a real science with so many different companies trying to sell you this jacket and that waterproof, all claiming to be essential pieces of kit.  As we ventured into the unknown, Stephen Hayes and Chris Hopwood have showed us the way, right from our trip to Snowdon up to the current time and our future climb of Everest.  They really do take a personal approach and sell you what you need, rather than simply push the most expensive pieces of kit at you.  We are currently completing a blog on the various bits of equipment they supplied so look out for that one.  In the meantime, check out their website www.cotswoldoutdoor.com   

Himalayan Experience – Thanks to Russell Brice for providing us with a place on the 2011 Everest Summit Team.  He’s also agreed that should we not make it to the summit ourselves, then his Sherpas will take the Patch and Schools Flags to the top of the world for us.  This is hugely important and means that whatever happens in this unpredictable environment of mountaineering, we will get our sponsors to the top!  www.himex.com  

Storm Beach – The mental aspect of mountaineering is not to be underestimated.  We were thrilled when Stuart Haden approached us and offered to coach us during our preparation for climbing Everest.  He helped us to gain focus when we needed it, motivate us when we were flagging and help us devise visualisation techniques to use on the mountain.  And it works!  Check out Stuart’s website: www.stormbeach.co.uk  

Plas Power – Enthusiastic Ian Walton was interested in our journey and with his  passion for climbing keen to help us develop our skills.  Whilst we certainly don’t claim to have the grace and skill of many of his other customers, our time at Plas Power has been crucial in helping us maintain our rope skills and continue to develop our strength and balance in that area.  www.plaspoweradventure.com  

Chester University – Wayne O’Brien has introduced us to the world of film!  Wayne and his students have kindly given up hours of their spare time to film a few spoofs and a sponsorship video for us.    It was a very exciting experience for us filming both on location and in the studio and we hope this innovative approach to fundraising will help us to reach more sponsors.   

Camera Solutions – Ray Fisher at Camera Solutions in Chester was kind enough to help us out with both a camera and a video camera in order for us to visually document our progress.  Therefore, the pics you have seen from Aconcagua onwards are courtesy of the Panasonic FT2.  We will also be starting a video blog in the near future using the Panasonic HDC-SD60EB-R Camcorder.  If you need some advice as to which equipment would be best for you, either call into the shop in Chester or give them a ring – they really do have a lot of useful advice.  www.camerasolutions.co.uk 

Schools Marketing Company – Huge thanks to Andrew Morgan for sending out our e-mails to schools nationwide in order to encourage schools to get involved with our Schools Competition.   It would have been impossible for us to have contacted each school personally and so this help was invaluable.  www.schoolsmarketingcompany.co.uk  

Buff - These guys very kindly made us over 200 custom made Buff’s that we could sell on in order to raise sponsorship.  These are small yet essential pieces of kit and we use them all the time.  If you don’t know what a buff is check out their website – www.buffwear.co.uk. 

Work colleagues – Let’s face it – we spend an awful lot of our lives at our places of work and we consider ourselves lucky to work with such supportive colleagues who have egged us on on those mornings where we’ve dragged ourselves in exhausted having stayed up to the early hours sending sponsorship e-mails.  So for all your moral support and sponsorship activities – we thank you!  

Friends, Romans, countrymen and just about anyone who lent us your ear, made a donation or helped us spread the word.   There are too many of you to thank each of you personally here but you know who you are so thank you ever so much.  It’s helped keep us going and without you we wouldn’t have got as far as we have.   

Please do continue to spread the word.  It’s so easy to see something, think it’s a good idea, decide you’ll definitely do something about it – later – and then totally forget about it!  We’ve all done it!  Take action today and help us out.  Spread the word on Facebook, e-mail our website to your friends, make a donation – any of these are a huge help and do make a massive difference. 

Now the next blog will outline our plans from now onwards……Oooh….

The Patch Expedition is thrilled to announce the winners of the 2010/11 School Competitions! 

It has been a really exciting few months as the ‘Design A Patch’ entries have come flying through the letterbox here at The Patch Expedition – our Postman has even got involved in admiring the amazing high standard of the entries for our ‘UNICEF in Nepal’ themed competition.

 In addition, It’s been fantastic to hear how much effort pupils and teachers alike have invested in their Patch Fundraising Day’s and to hear about the creative fundraising ideas different schools came up with.  We hoped to help raise awareness of the plight of the children in Nepal and it is clear from the reports we’ve received from schools that this mission has been accomplished and that the children had a great time to boot!

So without further ado, here are the winners…

Drum roll please……

Patch Expedition Design A Patch Competition  – We asked pupils to get their creative juices flowing by designing a ‘patch’ based on the theme ‘UNICEF in Nepal’.  We asked each school to chose a winning entry to be put forward into the inter-school competition.

A  HUGE congratulations to Elizabeth Chan from Year 10 at the Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, London.   I’m sure you’ll agree that Elizabeth’s design completely captures the theme of UNICEF in Nepal and the artwork is fantastic!  Thank you Elizabeth for your hard work and congratulations!

Elizabeth’s design will now be made into it’s very own flag and carried all the way to the summit of Everest this Spring.  Elizabeth will also receive a laptop to help her with her studies and a book signed by Sir Ranulph Fiennes who has kindly endorsed The Patch Expedition.  And of course Elizabeth will be presented with her flag once it has made it’s spectacular journey back from Nepal and the summit of Everest!  Phew…

We will also be sending a Patch Expedition customised buff to the winning pupil from each School to say a huge thank you and well done for all your efforts.  And that’s not all!  Each school that entered will have their school logo printed on the Everest Summit Flag and carried to the top of the world this Spring! 

Patch Expedition Schools on the Summit Competition – For every £5 that each school raised during a Patch Fundraising Day, the school received one entry into the Schools on the Summit draw.  The winning school that was drawn out of the hat will have it’s emblem made into a flag which will be carried to and flown from the summit of Everest. 

And the lucky winner is Farnborough Grange Nursery and Infant Community School!  Their School Logo will also be made into a flag and carried to the summit of Everest this Spring.  They will be presented with their flag on it’s return from it’s awesome journey!  A fantastic memento for the school to keep.

You can take a look at some of the winning entries for the Design a Patch competition on our website www.patchexpedition.com in the ‘Schools’ box near the bottom of the page.  They really are impressive so please do take a look.

And here are some of our favourite fundraising efforts that schools got involved in:

Farnborough Grange School created a trail from Everest Base Camp to the summit of Everest around their School Hall, including all the camps on Everest illustrated with photo’s and pictures.  The pupils were able to wear mufti and bring in pennies, which they placed on the trail to try to reach the summit.  They raised £131.76 and reached Camp 2!

Delamere Primary School in Cheshire held a collection when they staged Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as their school play this Christmas raising over £125.

The pupils at Portfield Special School in Pembrokeshire went the extra mile for the Patch Expedition by walking down a new road just as it had finished being built and did a sponsored walk around the racecourse located nearby.  

Moorlands School in Luton raised money by having a mufti day and children from Nursery to Year 6 took part in a range of Everest activities.

Warkworth Church of England First School held a collection during their Harvest festival.

And of course lots of schools held non-uniform days, cake bakes and collections to help raise money and awareness.  We are truly grateful to all the schools that have taken part in fundraising for The Patch Expedition in aid of UNICEF.  It has been a truly remarkable journey and we hope that you will all follow Elizabeth’s Patch and all the school logo’s as they make there way up to the highest point on earth.  Thank you all – together we will make a difference.

It didn’t matter that the showers were falling apart and that we had snubbed them on our departure for Aconcagua, deeming them unfit for human use.  Having not had a shower for weeks, the showers in our run down hotel in Penitentes now represented heaven for us.   As the water washed away layer upon layer of sweat and mountain grime I started to feel human again.  Of course bad hair days had become the norm on the mountain, but when you had a fat face like mine it really wouldn’t have mattered if I was having the best hair day ever – no-one would have noticed!!  But it was still nice to wash my hair and feel clean all over. 

And then there was a proper bed – with pillows and everything!!  Wow!  Real luxury!  No matter how creative you are in your tent, nothing really compensates for a proper pillow.  Rolling up clothing and stuffing them into the hood on your sleeping bag works to some extent but if I could take one luxury up a mountain it would be a big fluffy pillow on which I could rest the weight of my face! 

It was good to meet up with the group again.  They were all exhausted after a particularly long summit day followed by a couple of long days to get back down (although one managed to get ill enough to bag a free helicopter ride!).  Everyone had sunburn and varying degrees of injuries.  This of course provided more material for endless mickey taking and banter which made Stevie and I feel more at ease as we were unsure how we would feel on meeting up with everyone and listening to their summit stories. 

So it was one night at Penitentes and then back to Mendoza for a night of luxury in the Hyatt once again.  This was to be the turning point for my Fat Face!  Once we arrived it was straight to the spa for me and into the steam room.  I hoped that by giving my now very scabby face a good steam I would be-able to rub off basically a whole layer of my face!  Suffice to say, my entrance into the spa caused most of the beautiful people in there to leave fairly promptly!  I was getting used to being pointed at and met with looks of horror and was now starting to use it to my advantage!  Always a silver lining! 

And it worked!  Lo and behold the vast majority of my skin came off – admittedly my face then looked red raw so I looked like I was in a constant state of severe embarrassment – but it was progress!  Operation back to normal was underway.  The next problem was where to stay until our flights departed in a few days time.  As we had all been rushed up and back down the mountain, we had finished well before the last scheduled date for the trip (convenient for the expedition company!).  So now we had to find somewhere to stay.  We couldn’t afford to stay in the Hyatt so we moved to an Aparthotel around the corner.  And whilst it didn’t provide us with the facilities of the Hyatt, it was pretty good!  

As we now had a few days to pass we decided to try and find some sights to see in the area (there aren’t many!).  We followed the Tourism Office’s advice and decided to go wine tasting.  This involved catching a bus out to a more rural area.  We were given the number of bus we needed and the location of the bus stop.  Pretty simple – or so we thought!  Finding the buses were no problem, but getting them to stop proved to be a nightmare!  After spending a couple of hours running around behind buses waving frantically and sweating buckets we had to admit defeat and go for a nice cool beer (how awful!).  To this day we have no idea what the trick is to getting one of those buses to stop – having a bus stop didn’t seem to work!  

We spent the rest of the day sampling more of the delicious ice-creams and beers on offer in the city before going out for an evening meal to celebrate Claire’s birthday.   I have to say, I’m not the biggest fan of the food in Mendoza (apart from the ice cream).  I thought I was playing it safe having a pizza and yet it came out raw!  Why they do this I don’t know, but on the three occasions I ordered pizza it came out this way!  (Yes – I know, I should have cottoned on the first time, but there was so little choice!)  So a cold, stodgy base with grated cheese, not melted at all, and a couple of slices of tomatoes.  Yum…  But food aside, it was a great evening and a good laugh. 

BLLLEEUUGGHHHHHHHH!  Not good.  Woke up in the middle of the night feeling sicker than I have ever felt before.  Just about made it into the bathroom before that nasty pizza made a reappearance!  And then I spent the whole of the next day and most of the day after constantly being sick and eventually just producing bile as there was nothing left to come out!  It was lovely to end the trip in the same way as it had started – back in bed being ill – this time with food poisoning.  I was not alone however, as most of the group who had eaten out with us were also poorly.  

So it was with great relief that we were finally on our way to the airport so we could get back to our little house in the country and to eat something decent.  We had 32 hours of flying to look forward to and of course, like the rest of the trip, this was to involve its own little adventures…..

Meet the team courtesey of Mark Horrell – www.markhorrell.com

Rogues’ Gallery 1: Maude and her permanent smile

Rogues’ Gallery 2: Guillaume after the balloon has burst

Rogues’ Gallery 3: Sarah fat face

Rogues’ Gallery 4: Steve, still on probation

Rogues’ Gallery 5: Pierre the heavy drinker

Rogues’ Gallery 6: Me, caption not suitable to publish

Rogues’ Gallery 7: Peter, a model of German efficiency (ie. he appeared to wear enough sun cream)

Rogues’ Gallery 8: Claire the Irish leprechaun

We decided to stay an extra night in the relative luxury of Base Camp for the New Year celebrations.  Our guide Eli had let slip that her boyfriend, also a guide, would be passing through for New Years and by way of thanks to her for guiding us back down we offered to stay on so she could see him.   (Of course due to the law of sod he never made it – I’m sure this trip was jinxed!).  Anyhoo’s, we spent New Years Eve with the next group of victim’s preparing to climb.  Of course my face was great encouragement for them especially as by that time the skin on my swollen stretched face had started to split and ooze and when it solidified I had problems opening my mouth to eat (didn’t stop me talking though – ha ha in your face!).   Not the best advertisement for those waiting to climb!

It was an interesting group of clashing characters and whilst we had a great evening laughing along with them (and at them to be honest!) we felt grateful to have been in such a harmonious group when we climbed.  It was great to switch off and laugh along with others for a while as we had both been experiencing a real roller-coaster of emotions having been made to turn around so close to the summit.  Disappointment, despondency, frustration, anger, the list goes on.  But we had to keep telling ourselves that we came to Aconcagua to learn and one thing we had learnt was more about the effects of altitude and to have more confidence in our own decision making.  Better to have to learn these things now than when we get to Everest!  

We also learnt that we were able to cope well with living in a tent for a number of weeks and that we had both thoroughly enjoyed this aspect of the trip.  There’s something beautifully simplistic about being on a mountaineering expedition.  You get up, you eat something and you climb, you eat something else and then you sleep.  Then the next day you do it all again!  No phone calls, no supermarket shop, no e-mails, no bills to pay.  No cars rushing past, no noisy neighbours, you don’t hear the news; everyday life seems like a million miles away.  And although you know it’s all out there, still going on, for a short time it’s forgotten.  For a short time it’s just about you and the mountain. 

Another good thing about spending some extra time at Base Camp was that we got to see all the backstage stuff that goes on between the arrivals of groups of climbers.  Helicopters swooped in to pick up the toilet waste and the lovely poo bags we had carried down with us!  (Couldn’t help laughing at the thought of this being dropped on unsuspecting climbers on the mountain above!).  The Mules arrived to take our bags away and the chefs got ready for the next big arrival.  They all got used to us knocking about and we were made very welcome in the kitchen tent where we were very well fed!  (Made my face even fatter!)

Then on the morning of the 1^st January 2011 we took a few more photo’s for sponsors before we set off for another two days of hiking to get back down to Penitentes ski resort where we would meet up again with our group.  They were coming down the much quicker normal route (sore subject – don’t get me started!) and so would arrive back at the same time as us.  It was beautiful weather again and we tried to get a few photos on the way down.  Of course we had an enormous distance to cover and so Eli set off at practically a running pace while we huffed and puffed along behind her.  (This girl was a beast!  She could carry enormous loads and never stopped smiling and laughing – a true gem!). 

Now that we were close to the finish line I had started to feel slightly homesick.  It was all over for us on Aconcagua and I started to crave a shower and my little house back in North Wales.  It’s funny what you learn about yourself on expeditions such as this – I discovered that as much as I love an adventure, I also love to come back to my home at the end of it, to catch up with my family and friends.  And I felt so grateful to have someone like Stevie by my side no matter what, to share in all my experiences, the good and the bad.  The whole trip had involved some fantastic highs and some crushing lows accompanied by both mental and physical tests that sent me on a journey of self-discovery that will stay with me for the rest of my life.  (Fortunately the fat face has not!).  And I look forward to continuing this journey on our next trip and then on to Everest.

Slept much better than I had on previous nights and woke up feeling like myself again.  Somehow I knew I was stronger today.  However, the slight swelling in my face had got worse overnight and I could feel my cheeks and lips being stretched to the extent that I was dribbling uncontrollably and my speech was blurred (and no alcohol in sight!).  I decided to get up slightly early and get moving around to boost my circulation and hopefully help reduce the swelling.  

As everyone else began to get up I could see from their shocked reactions that I must resemble the Elephant Man!  Steve made the most of it by joking about waking up, “next to that!” in the morning!  However, the lead guide was concerned and took my blood saturation level which I was pleased to discover was very good.  I explained that I felt much better than I had the previous day and that I’d slept well.  The down side to having slept so well was that I hadn’t got up and moved around in the night and this seemed to have affected the swelling of my face.   

I got up and had some breakfast – fruity loops are a real treat at altitude!  I was feeling so relieved that I was feeling ‘normal’ again and was actually looking forward to moving up to the final camp – particularly as I had carried the heaviest load the previous day.   But then everything changed.  The lead guide approached me and told me that I had to go down the mountain.  I tried to explain that I was feeling myself again today and that it was just the swelling of my face which looked worse than it felt, but he said that he was concerned it may spread to my brain and so I had to go down.  He was a very experienced guide and when someone tells you they think it could go to your brain, i.e. cerebral edema which is a major killer at altitude, you don’t argue.   

I experienced a crushing disappointment at having come so close to the summit and having completed all the toughest carries only to be turned around and sent back down.  The next major problem was what Stevie should do.  His initial reaction was to descend with me to make sure I was ok.    However, I wanted him to continue and have his chance at the summit and I pointed out that I felt strong again and it was just the swelling in my face that made it look worse than it probably was – I would be ok getting down and he could catch up with me within a few days.  We had spent months fundraising for this trip and a lot of people, including sponsors were looking for a summit.  We were concerned that no-one would care about the rest of the Patch Expedition, or understand why we had turned around and that they would consider it an indicator of future failures.  And on a personal level, I didn’t want to be the reason anyone else had to turn around.

After much discussion, we had made our decision that Stevie would continue and I would go down.  Then it all changed again!  The lead guide came back to us and told us that things had changed and that if I went down alone a guide would no longer accompany me and that I would have to pay for a porter to guide me down.   But that if two of us went down then a guide would come with us.  Well that was it, we had no choice.  A porter would have cost over $1500 which we simply did not have.  Stevie would have to descend as well.  Game over for both of us.

 And it was a long way back down to Base camp.  We couldn’t leave until 4pm as we had to wait for all our kit that we had carried the previous day to be brought back down from Camp 3.  We then had to carry all of our kit back down – so what we would normally take two days to carry had to be carried all at once.  Our packs were therefore ridiculously heavy.  I felt fine though and the walk down was tough but nowhere near as difficult as on previous days.  My face was still swollen but I felt strong physically.  The scree section was a challenge and due to the weight of his pack, when Stevie tripped over on a rogue rock, he just kept on going!  We thought for a minute he was going to take a swim in the river at the bottom but he came to a halt just in time!  It was then a pretty horrendous scramble for him to get back up with his huge pack.

 But we plodded on downwards with heavy hearts.  We felt so disappointed about having to turn around so close to the end of the trip.  And as we had time to reflect over the decision to send us down we became increasingly frustrated. We felt annoyed that our inexperience had meant we didn’t put forward our case to continue and we thought of other alternatives to coming down that would have made far more sense.  Also, the doctor at Base Camp cleared me to climb and said I was in very good health and that sometimes swelling in the face did occur and that it was not dangerous.  But it was too late to go back up as we were with a large commercial company and they would not accommodate it.  It was simply too late and something that we would have to learn to live with over the coming days, weeks and months.  And so we vowed to try not to let it bother us and enjoy the rest of the journey back down…..

Today we carried our first load to Camp 3 at just over 6000m – the final camp before summit day.  We were so close to summiting by now, just a couple of sleeps to go and we would have achieved our goal for this trip.  All our hard work would be rewarded by that amazing sense of achievement of having climbed our first high altitude mountain.  Success was imminent! 

By now all of us were experiencing symptoms of altitude to some degree or another.  I woke to find I had quite a lot of swelling to my face and I didn’t feel quite right somehow.  I couldn’t put a finger on why I didn’t feel right, just knew that something wasn’t as it normally is.  But then I was at altitude and therefore was not going to feel great (or look particularly good! – mountaineering goes hand in hand with bad hair days and body odour!), especially as I had not slept at all well.  I had experienced a slight swelling in my face lower down on the mountain and it had gone down after a couple of hours and so I expected the same to happen today.  Altitude symptoms often get worse over night but improve as you get up and move around during the day.  An extra rest day to acclimatise would have been ideal at this point and a number of groups were doing exactly that.  However, our guide was worried about the weather window and so we pushed on.  

I found this day the hardest one yet and wished I had given myself a lighter load.  Our logic had been to carry the heaviest load on the first day so that when you were tired on the second day it would be easier to manage.  In hindsight, it may have been wiser to have carried the lighter load whilst acclimatising and the heavier load the second day.  But that was what this trip was all about – learning what works best for us (and as usual we learnt the hard way! – Doh!). 

The weather wasn’t great and hid any views, giving us snow, winds and greyness (new word but it totally describes everything about the day – like a dull grey Sunday – looked grey, felt grey, was grey!).  One point of interest was passing the site where a fatal helicopter crash had occurred a few years earlier, the twisted remains of the propellers reminding us not to forget those who lost their lives during a daring yet fatal rescue attempt and a stark reminder of how dangerous it can be up here and how rescue is often impossible.  I was slower than usual today and really felt the hours drag on – but there was no doubt in my mind that I could make it.  I would get up there no matter how tired I felt.  And I did.  I managed to keep up with the group and make it to Camp 3 at around 6000m. 

Now for the science bit…..The pressure is lower on Aconcagua (which means the air is thinner) than it is in the Himalayas due to its relative distance from the equator.  The further away from the equator you are, the lower the pressure.  What this basically means is that when you are at 6000m on Aconcagua it feels the same as being at 7000m in the Himalayas!  Strange but true!  

It was a relief to reach Camp 3 after a tough day’s climbing.  As I had struggled all day I found that every time I reached a rest stop everyone else would get up and move and not wanting to drop too far behind I had pushed on.  I therefore did not have time to recover and to eat properly.  However, catch up with the group I did and we all made it to Camp 3 together.  By then I was tired and hungry and had hoped for a few minutes to rest and eat.  It was of course at this point that the weather decided to make a turn for the worse and near white out conditions swept over the mountain disorientating us and bringing with it cold and precarious winds. 

It was not the time to hang around and our guides set off down the mountain at break neck speed (again!).  I still wasn’t feeling myself at all and felt somewhat spaced out, I was also stumbling a lot and Stevie, Pierre and Elianna kept me company, supporting me all the way down and teasing me about my inability to make my legs go any faster!  Whilst I knew I would make it down just fine I was frustrated that once again the effects of the altitude seemed to hit me harder coming down!  Mind you, most mountaineering statistics cite that approximately 80% of fatalities and serious accidents occur on the descent so I’m certainly not the only one!  But we got there and after about an hour I felt fine again.  We had some dinner (no loss of appetite for us!) and then it was to bed before our last carry to Camp 3 the following morning.    

Christmas had been completely forgotten by now and whilst everyone at home would be tucking into turkey sandwiches and selection boxes it was time for us to enter further into unknown territory.  It was time for our first carry to Camp 2 at 5800m, much higher than we had ever been before.  (Mont Blanc stands at 4260m).  At this point we were both feeling quite strong and very much enjoying the whole experience, particularly as our fellow group members were such good company – (don’t tell them I said that they’ll get big heads!).  But how we would cope as we continued to climb was very much unknown.

 Whilst the distance between Camp 1 and 2 was less than that between Base Camp and Camp 1, the climb was much harder due to the altitude.  Whilst I did not find I was out of breath at all, I did find that I felt generally quite tired.  There was obviously considerably less conversation by this point and therefore it was important to be-able to manage the thoughts going round in our heads so as not to allow the tiredness and negative thoughts to take over.  The mental aspects of such a trip are often underestimated.  Success can be reliant on your ability to keep going when all you want to do is rest and in order to do this it is vital to stay focussed on the goal ahead and remember why you are there in the first place.  In the periods where I felt I was struggling to keep going I would visualise myself reaching the end point for the day and how good I would feel when I’d achieved it.  Also, by this stage, I was beginning to visualise what it would feel like to stand on the summit after all this hard work, both before we even left the UK in terms of preparation and once we’d arrived in Argentina. 

 Anyway, the first half of the day was a slog up a pretty large and dull scree slope (for a change!!).  However, we came out of the Col to experience a breathtaking vista of the surrounding snow topped peaks which was truly spectacular and a perfect spot for lunch.  We tucked into our feast of cereal bars, sweets and chocolate (weight watchers eat your hearts out!) whilst ignoring the steep section leading off into the distance up towards Camp 2.  We’d worry about that after lunch.  Denial is also an essential factor for mountaineering at times!

And once we did get going again, it wasn’t as bad as we thought it might have been.  The terrain varied a bit as well which helped to keep us occupied mentally.  After the steep section we crossed a glaciated section and then it wasn’t too much further until we reached Camp 2.  However, our guide made us push on and climb higher up towards Camp 3 (bully!) as he felt this would help with our acclimatisation (easy for him to say!).  This section was tough as we had mentally prepared to get to Camp 2 and then to stop and by now we were pretty exhausted.  But we did it and after about an hour of climbing it was time to turn around and descend all the way back to Camp 1 for the night.  However, we had ten minutes at this point to relax and take in the views, something that you sometimes forget to do when you’re slogging uphill, or simply can’t do when the weather turns bad. 

Again I found the rapid descent caused my head to pound and I felt a little nauseous.  I found it quite frustrating that I was strong in going up but not as good coming down.  To me it seemed illogical for it to be that way round!  However, descending too quickly can also have an effect on the body just as ascending too quickly does.  However, our guides had obviously had enough of us slow westerners and would whiz down the mountain at lightening pace in order to sort out camp logistics.  Whilst a couple of the group attempted to keep up, the rest of us made our own way down, we were in no rush as the sun was out and the hard work for the day had been completed.  And it was back for dinner just as the weather started to turn…

What do you get for Christmas on Aconcagua?  You get to leave behind all your comfort, pick up your really heavy packs again and move up to the winds and cold weather of the higher camps!  Bet you’re jealous?!  However, on a positive note, we weren’t leaving until late morning and so Stevie and I had our own mini Christmas celebration in our tent before we got up.  Stevie’s mum had given us two tiny stockings to take up with us and we had saved up a thermos of luke warm tea to toast in the day!  We had a giggle as we unwrapped the mini bottles of Baileys and Lindor chocolates – our favourites!  We then eagerly scratched off our lottery cards in hope of winning enough money to pay for a porter to carry us up!  The next few minutes were spent brainstorming how we would spend the £1 that we’d won!  Of course, that didn’t take long and so it was time to pull on the Santa hats and enjoy a porridge breakfast!  Mmm! 

Just before we left we made use of the camp’s Satellite phone to very briefly ring home.  It was good to speak to the family and to know everyone was ok back home, but we couldn’t allow any emotion to take over as we had a mountain to climb and we didn’t want to start thinking about Christmas at home too much incase we started to get a little homesick (or experience major turkey withdrawals)!  Fortunately, as it was hot and sunny and there were no signs of Christmas around us, this was quite easily achieved. 

Just before we departed we had our compulsory medical tests.  And although we had been told that these tests didn’t really mean anything as at these altitudes things can change in an instant – we were pleased to get glowing reports, with good blood saturation levels.  This suggested we were acclimatising well and we took it as a good omen for the days to come.  So it was goodbye mules, cooks and toilets and hello pee bottles, poo bags and cold weather!  Now the real adventure would begin! 

I had been feeling quite nervous about the second carry to Camp 1 as I had found it quite tiring the day before and I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the scree section again.  Plus there was always the thought of what was to come higher up.  I still felt that I didn’t really know what to expect and how hard I would find it.  However, on this day I was pleased to find that I found the carry much easier – probably because it was about 5kg lighter – and we were also an hour quicker going up.  We had great weather conditions and were all in good spirits.   

That night we experienced the winds we had heard so much about.  They whipped around our tent raging at us while we tried to get some sleep.  The canvas strained against the guidelines threatening to take off at any moment!  Apparently a couple of weeks before we arrived a group returned to camp to find their tents had been completely ruined by sudden winds that had caught them off guard.  We had been warned numerous times that higher up we would need to be careful whenever we took anything out of our bags, particularly the tent, so that they didn’t get blown away.  This was the first time we experienced these winds and it highlighted how lucky we had been with the weather so far and just how quickly things could change. 

This was also the first night where we felt we really didn’t want to leave our tents to pee and so it was time to move onto the pee bottles!  These were soon to become a vital part of my night as one of the effects of being at altitude is the need to pee far more often than usual.  One thing we soon learnt was that having a 1 litre pee bottle each was simply not going to be sufficient!!  I woke one night with Stevie telling me to get the other pee bottle quick as he was going to need more than a litre!  Whilst at the time we both found this hilarious, we realised that we would not both be-able to do this every night.  Fortunately, Stevie slept almost as well at altitude as he did back at home and managed most nights without his, allowing me to commandeer both! 

This may all seem like way too much information for some of you – but these are the kind of things no-one ever tells you about before you go.  And it’s funny how important such bodily functions become on a mountain where it’s vital to monitor such things in order to ascertain how your body is functioning.  And of course, boys being boys, there was some bragging going on about who was making most use of their bottles and bags!  Lovely!

It didn’t feel in the slightest bit like Christmas Eve!  Bright sunshine and soaring temperatures – no sign of any tinsel or mulled wine, no sitting in front of the TV eating too many chocolates and watching Santa Claus the movie.  For those of us on Aconcagua it was the day where things started to get serious.  No more mules to carry our stuff – from now on it was up to us to lug all our personal kit plus endless amounts of group kit up the mountain stuffed into and tied onto every spare inch of our rucksacks!  And as if that wasn’t enough, we also had to wear our huge high altitude boots which is like walking with concrete blocks for feet, just for an added challenge!  This would have been a reasonable task back in our local hills, but at altitude on steep scree, it took its toll!

By now I was getting used to having a constant headache and resigned myself to the fact that I was possibly going to experience these throughout the trip and that I was just going to have to deal with it and get on with things.  At this point I was still heeding the advice of our guide not to take any medication to allow my body to adjust.  I wasn’t sure about this as other members of the group were taking them and if I had experienced such a headache at home I would have.  However, our guide was very experienced and so for the time being I took nothing.  This trip was very much about learning how to cope at altitude as prior to this trip our only altitude experience had been climbing Mont Blanc at 4810m.  Camp 1 was just under 5000m. 

We had plodded up for a few hours when we came face to face with our first really steep and nasty loose scree section just below Camp 1.  It was that dreaded horrendous scree whereby if you didn’t move very quickly you would slide back further than the last step you took.  And moving quickly was pretty tough at the end of a hard day, with a heavy pack on your back and at altitude.  This was a horrible climb and left most of us exhausted and out of breath.  This was where the mental battle took place.  How to tell yourself to keep going and that you can do it and not to allow the negative thoughts into your head.  Thinking negatively would be the end of our journey and there was no way we were turning back unless we had too!  Having said that, I was secretly praying that the rest of the mountain wouldn’t be like this!

When we eventually arrived at Camp 1, we deposited our first carry loads and then it was back down to stay the night at Base Camp before carrying our second load up the following day.  I found coming down quite difficult as I had a real thumping head which seemed to get worse as I went down and by the time we arrived back at the tent I had to lie down and do the unthinkable!  Yes, I took an Ibuprofen!  Sssh don’t tell the guides!  By dinnertime I felt fine (thanks to the drugs!) and tucked into the surprisingly good food prepared by Betsy the cook.  We were pleased that our appetite’s had not diminished and that so far our stomach’s were holding out! 

We were a bit concerned about the water situation.  There was a real shortage and all the water available was a lovely chocolate brown with gritty  chips in it!  The decision was, do you risk upset stomachs through drinking the water, or do you risk getting ill due to dehydration?  Not much of a choice really!  We did have a Steripen with us which kills germs by way of a UV light which had been great to this point but it doesn’t work in murky water!  Doh!  And despite its chocolate coloured appearance, the water actually tasted rather muddy, even after the addition of some flavoured powder.  But we had no choice but to drink it and just hope that it wouldn’t cause us to get too ill.  And so with a sprinkle of denial and a touch of positive thinking it went down a treat!