August 9th was also the day that I made an
absolute ass of myself in front of the camera, in what must be the low point of our video footage. I had Stijn record my speech, in which I promised Luc and Martin that I'd help them get to the record height, even if it meant kicking their butts. I don't know what got into me (air, probably, and lots of it), but somehow I thought that they were not feeling as strong as before, and that I was getting stronger, ready to take the lead and guide them on, the way Luc had done up until now.
Needless to say, the next day (August 10th) was my worst. It took me ages to get ready, we only left at noon, and I trailed Luc and Martin all the way. They had to wait for me every 30 minutes or so, as I was struggling to keep up. By 5pm we had to set up camp at 6,450m, a meager 250 meters above Camp 2. Luc and Martin gracefully accepted my apology...
The next morning (August 11th) we got up before sunrise for the first (and last) time and got ready in the freezing cold. By 7:15am, Jim passed by (he had set out from Camp 2 at 5:45am), said "hi" and went on up, in order to make a track for us. When I say that it was Jim who passed us, I mean that we assumed it was Jim; what happened was that someone came speeding by like lightning, followed closely by a shadow looking like Jim's and by a voice that sounded remarkably like Jim's...
Half-an-hour later, a surprisingly strong Stijn arrived; he was going to try and summit the same day. Strangely enough, this day was the complete opposite of the day before. Whereas Martin and Luc were finding it hard to keep a steady pace, I felt really strong and caught up with Stijn in no time. The rest of the climb Stijn and I stayed together, resting every 50 meters or so, with Martin and Luc doing the same.
After about an hour we passed a small tent at 6,600m, which should have been our stop from the previous day. The idea had been to camp at 6,600m and aim for the summit today, a 950-meter climb which would not have been impossible. Instead, being stranded at 6,450m made us realize that getting to the summit would not be realistic.
