Race to the summit!

OK, for some people it's a race and they'll happily sweep past while you're desperately clinging to the rock face - as I tend to do, suffering from mild vertigo. Thankfully they also offer lots of encouragement to the less agile :)

Our day had begun with an early start at Laban Rata, sharing an "all-you-can-eat" plate between the three of us (no-one was that hungry). Once we stepped onto the first ladder, we became a small thread of a continuous ribbon of climbers that stretched from Laban Rata to the Sayat-sayat hut, the final checkpoint before the summit.

After a while a white rope appeared, which can be a blessing and a curse - I really welcome having something solid to help pull myself up (ps. head-torches are cool!), but you can rely on it too much and end up in situations where it would have been better to just stand up and take a different route. (My sense of balance can be dodgy, so I really had to will myself to stand straight and let go of the rope at times, especially on the slippery granite slabs.)

Eventually, the darkness gave way to the grey fingers of dawn, and we redoubled our efforts to reach the summit before the sun rose. I really wasn't sure I'd make it at times, but my prayers were answered and I found a new burst of energy once Low's peak was in sight.