Taking up a bike that's hanging onto a half-empty backpack for a distance of 1,000 meters of vertical gain at this altitude is something else. The bike makes the backpack rather unstable and the hard part of carrying a bike up is not so much the weight in combination with the altitude, but rather this non-stop nagging feeling, bordering pain, of having something pull you back all the time. This feeling accompanied us all the way up the mountain, and will be, in our opinion, the single greatest challenge for anyone who is thinking of doing something similar in the future.

On August 2nd, two days after our first ascent to Camp 1, Luc and I established camp there. I was grateful to Luc for giving me a sweater and a down jacket to wear on the ascent; in my cerebral liquidity I had taken up all my warm clothes on the first ascent, so I had only two T-shirts left for my second ascent!

Luc's help on this occasion and later events made me realize that a key factor to climbing Mustagh Ata was teamwork: having someone around to help you out when needed, and being there for your climbing partner when they need you.

As Martin, Peter and Stijn were still a couple of days behind in their acclimatization process, they would come up later. Martin, however, was making good time, and would catch up in Camp 2.

In contrast to Base Camp, Camp 1 is a dull, uncomfortable place. Because of the steepness of the slope here, each tent has to be put up on a separate patch of stony ground. The view may be okay, but there is really nothing to do here but wait for your cerebral and pulmonary fluids to stabilize, so that you can move to Camp 2.

In Camp 1 we tried out my brand-new XGK stove for the first time. Luc was a fine cook, and the instant noodles, pickled vegetables and mashed potatoes were a real treat... No really, they were!