Day 3: Written by Lee Hollington

Hooray – there’s been a miracle cure – I feel so much better today and Michelle, bless her soul, has persuaded the guide to take us up Twin Peaks this afternoon. We all decided that the Mitre is too technical a climb and so Michelle, Loraine and I are not doing it – it’s Twins for us instead.. Viv went to sleep on Tuesday night, still undecided, after yo-yo-ing between going up the Mitre and not going up the Mitre!

At about 5.30am, I tapped Viv on the feet to wake her up and said, “what’ll it be?”. She was still not sure but eventually decided that she was up for trying the Mitre. Unfortunately for Viv and Belinda, it was an early start, and after much scurrying around, they left with our two guides at 7am to climb the Mitre. We started off the day very slowly, what a bonus after the prior two days.

The porters left to find water and we just sat and kept warm for a while. At some stage we all bomb-shelled in different directions to conduct our daily toilette and also to get cell reception outside the cave. A little later there was a bit of excitement - Michelle and I were back in the cave, Loraine was just returning and the porters had only just got back when 4 Basutho men came around the corner (It was later established that both Loraine and Michelle had apparently seen them whilst out on their ablutions – they had walked right past Loraine who cheerily greeted them in her usual way!) Our porters were instantly on their guard and protective of us and extremely aggressive with them – we didn’t have a cooking clue what was being said but sort of gathered that they “had lost their way”. The porters weren’t having any of that and sent them packing.

We spent the rest of the morning nattering away, playing 30 seconds and Uno (I’d carried these up the mountain and was making sure it wasn’t for nothing!) The weather was a bit miserable, raining, sleet and wind and it was very cold in the cave, although it had the most spectacular view. When the rain stopped we moved into the sun to keep warm and to get a view of the Mitre in the distance. We saw three little bodies on top and were happy for Belinda but disappointed and sad thinking Viv hadn’t made it. This changed to major excitement as we noticed a 4^th little body climbing up the last section on the side (that looked like an impossible climb) and finally summiting – we all beamed with pride. There was congratulations all round when they returned at lunchtime.

After lunch we started off on our climb up Twins. Viv decided to join us as well, The first section was a zigzag section up a bit of a gulley with mainly grass tufts which we climbed using our hands a fair bit. The wind was howling at an absolute rate of knots and we were all kitted out in our snow jackets as it was so cold. After getting to the top of the gulley, we made our way across a bit of a ridge over-looking a valley far below. At the base of a sheer rock section, the guide attached rope to our harnesses and one by one we had to climb up this sheer rock onto the grassy section above. The last section was a scramble up to the top of the twin – I was so excited, even the freezing wind which was so strong that it felt as if it would knock us over, didn’t spoil it for me. The view was truly gorgeous. We took a couple of pics sitting gingerly on a rock at the top and tried to phone our hubbys whilst up there. I got through to Mike and gave him the good news. Then it was a mad scramble to get down the peak and out of the wind. Once again we had to be harnessed to get down the rock face. I was last and had the others shouting above the wind – “foot right, move left…” Michelle was so nervous that I was going to fall and pull the guide with me that she couldn’t look as we would have both been goners. We went down the gulley a fair way on our backsides. The two guides harnessed Loraine and I and had us attached to the ropes as they guided us down, walking behind us. Viv and Michelle couldn’t stop laughing as they said we looked like Barbara Woodhouse with dogs on leashes – “left doggy, straight doggy, over there doggy!” It was hilarious.

The rest of the day I spent in total euphoria. We wrapped ourselves in our sleeping bags, played a bit of 30 seconds but mainly just nattered away whilst drinking brutal fruit, wine and tea to keep warm. This was interrupted by a great meal of freeze-dried Thai chicken made by dear Loraine. After our first night’s experience, Viv and Michelle decided against eating any! It was so cold that we had about three sets of clothing on as well as ear muffs, a beanie and gloves and we were still shivering! Eventually we went to sleep, dressed like Michelin men and giggling like a bunch of school girls way into the night whilst Loraine entertained us!