With a team of four we decided to run around the Monte Rosa Massif, covering a distance of 170km and 11,000m ascent in 6 days. We battled extreme weather conditions, detours due to landslides, hypothermia, sickness and injuries. We worked as a team and were determined to finish together. This is our journey, part 4/6 from Saas Fee to Europahut.

Wednesday August 5,

I wake up, if I can call it that. I have not slept for days. I get out of bed and feel relatively okay - I feel like crap every morning, so I might got used to feeling this way -. Not much later however, I experience a new record low…

This morning of our fourth stage, it is quiet. We are over half way of our six day journey and it is clear, all four of us are getting tired. The fatigue of the long days in the mountains and not recovering due to lack of sleep and not being able to eat, has built over the days.

We go down for breakfast and Andy, the photographer that has come to photograph parts of our journey, is already sitting at one of the tables in the breakfast area. I sit down next to him, order coffee and select food from the buffet. The yoghurt and cereals go down well, but one bite of my croissant with ham, cheese and egg and I know I was not going to finish it. I am conscious of the fact that I need more protein in my diet, as protein is essential for recovery, but my stomach is not having it.

“Giving up?” This is the first time this thought entered my mind”

All of us are having our struggles by now. Karen is feeling nauseous and also struggles eating, Nils is calling his physiotherapist about his swollen ankle and I am feeling exhausted, sick and bad overall. Only Christof seems to still be doing okay at this point, besides some obvious tiredness of course. Although later in the day, even he hit his low point of the trip. 

I had been feeling tired this whole trip, but this morning I feel different, worse. I am not sure whether it is the accumulative exhaustion or something else that is going on. Maybe it is the fear in the back of my mind not knowing how much longer I can handle feeling this way, or how much worse I could feel before I have to give up. “Giving up?” This is the first time this thought entered my mind. I push it away best that I can and try to ignore it. Somehow I can tell it has affected me already.

JUST GET THROUGH THIS DAY

While Nils is hearing from his physiotherapist whether it would be wise to continue or not, I find a quiet corner to call home. The moment Rob answers the phone, I break. Tears are running down my face. All I could say is that I feel horrible and I did not understand why. He has been monitoring me from a distance. Hearing from me how I was feeling and seeing my heart rate data, he immediately knew what was going on. I clearly have been suffering from altitude sickness this whole time. I should be over the worst now, Rob assures me. “Your body has already started to acclimatise. Just get through this day, and you will feel better tomorrow.”

Rob also explains that it is wise to cut down on caffeine. As I felt tired and needed a boost from coffee or just the calories from the coke, I had been taking in quite some caffeine on this trip. I know it elevates heart rate and as my heart rate was already very high due to the altitude, I can’t believe how I did not think of it before... I stop drinking coke and coffee and replace them with hot chocolate and ice teas for the continuation of our journey.

I JUST WANT TO GET IT OVER WITH

When we take our first steps outside the Popcorn Hotel, I feel horrible nonetheless. This is the start of our thirty three kilometres stage with two mountains to climb and two thousand meters of ascent. I did not have much faith in it and neither did the others, as they told me later. The guys were really worried about me and did not think I would make it through the day. Honestly, so did I, but nobody said it out loud.

It could not have been that cold outside that morning. Nils, Christof and Karen were fine, but I was shivering, even though I was wearing my jacket, gloves, one buff around my neck and one as a beanie on my head. As we head towards our trail, I quietly keep to myself, looking at the ground in front of me and following the footsteps of the others. I just want to get it over with.

We start hiking up. I set off with a relatively fast hiking pace and they let me take the lead. I am hoping it would warm me up and I did not want to let the others down by going too slow. Half an hour in, I feel good enough to take my jacket off. Just in that little moment of standing still, I start shivering again. I realise it was not a good sign, but there was nothing I could do about it now. I put away my jacket and go on my way knowing I would be okay as long as I kept moving.

Clearly my body was low on energy and struggling to comply with the energy demands. I know I had not been drinking or eating enough and realise I could not keep going like this. I decide to set myself the goal to finish one large bag of M&M’s that day. That would mean I would at least get fifteen hundred calories in.

I had been carrying a bag of M&M’s around everyday, but packed away in my rucksack, I was just not eating them. To help myself reach the target, I put a handful of M&M’s in one of my empty ziplock bags and hold it in my hand while running, refilling it from the large bags in my rucksack when needed. This way I could keep eating on the go. I also ask the guys to hand me my water bottles more often, which were inconveniently out of my reach in the side pockets of my rucksack. 

Karen at this point is experiencing similar struggles. So far, she had stuck to quite a healthy diet with mostly whole foods, but with her stomach in bits and getting more tired by the day, she eventually also caves for the fast sugars to keep her going. We share the M&M’s and wine gums which seem to be doing the trick. They give us the energy we need and are easy to digest.

We all notice how these ‘details’, like hydration, nutrition and rest, add up and become more important the longer the distance gets and especially on multiple day journeys like ours.

Nils with his ankle did surprisingly well however. He seems to be running better than the day before. Back at the hotel, the night before, Nils had been icing his ankle and I had taped it, with the help from a YouTube video, to reduce the swelling. We knew it would be good to elevate his ankle overnight, but once we got to the room after dinner, none of us wanted to go back down to ask reception for some extra pillows. With some creative thinking and looking around the room, we found the solution. We took out the drawers from the cabinets and placed them underneath Nils’ mattress. In the morning the swelling seems to have gone down and the physiotherapist assures Nils he will not make it worse by continuing. So he continues.

IT IS THE ADVENTURE I HAD LONGED FOR

The higher we get, the more scenic the route. We are lucky it's a beautiful day. The sun has come out and we are rewarded with some spectacular views. I don’t know when, how or why it happened, but somehow I arrive at the top of this mountain feeling on top of the world. The sick and tiredness from this morning seems to have disappeared completely. My energy is back. Running feels great again and I am truly enjoying myself.

The trail is interesting and challenging. It helps me to completely focus on the task at hand. One wrong step or an accidental slide, could have severe consequences here. A somewhat scary but welcome distraction from all our troubles that morning.The small ridges we run on, come with some impressive drops. There are via ferrata cables which we occasionally hold on to, to be on the safe side. It is the adventure I had longed for.

It is crazy to think how quickly things can change up here. How fast the body and mind can adapt to the different demands. One moment I don’t think I am going to make it. The other moment I feel like I could go on forever. I can’t remember the exact moment it changed. If there even was a moment, or when I started to feel good again, but it did. And I am happy for it.

UP AND DOWN WE GO

Before starting our second ascent of the day, we make sure to replenish at the one restaurant along the way. We rely on these places for water and food. 

Karen especially, felt tired this day, so we decide to take our time. As we sit down Nils and I start eating the sandwiches we had taken from breakfast, while Christof goes to get our drinks; Ice tea and no coke for me this time. As I take the last bite from my sandwich, Christof comes back with a tray full of cakes. He figured we could use some more energy. I think he just could not choose and decided to get all of them.

It was like my feelings were going up and down simultaneously with our trail that day.

After my sandwich, I am not hungry anymore. And the longer we sit down, the worse I started to feel. I go and get some hot chocolate. Even though the tourists are sunbathing with their ice creams or cocktails in hand on the terrace outside, I started to feel cold again. It was like my feelings are going up and down simultaneously with our trail that day. We are at our lowest point and so am I. I feel again just as I had felt that morning. At least we would be going up again.

I try to focus on my breathing to cope with this horrible feeling, hoping it will go away. We hike for a while, but we still have a long way to go. I figure that if I would feel sick either way, I might as well run. We run along the trails and pass a few tourists. I stop making eye contact. I can not bring myself to say something anymore. It feel somewhat impolite not to greet them, but I figure that one look at my face and they would understand I am in a different place. 

ONE MORE CLIMB

We only have one more climb to go that would take us up to 2,800m. There we would arrive at our mountain hut for the night. It was known to be a very nice hut and we were looking forward to rest, have some good food and meet Andy again.

We have only six kilometres left, when we notice the stop sign at the top of the mountain. The road is closed because of the landslides from the bad weather the other day. We figure there has to be a detour we could take,. Otherwise the sign surely would have been at the bottom of this mountain and not only at the top.

We can see the trail we are supposed to follow and even if we have considered it for a moment to continue, it is clearly impossible. The trail has disappeared completely at some spots. No way we could traverse the path without sliding down the deep end. 

Karen, Nils and I wait, while Christof goes on to see if we can continue our way to the hut via another path. He comes back clearly unhappy and disappointed. Our only options are to take a twenty kilometre detour crossing the glacier at 3,400m, or turning back. We are already running for nine hours and have run out of water. Clearly we have to change our plans for the night and turn back. We decide to go to the nearest village, Gasenried, at 1,200m below us. 

CHEERS TO ANOTHER ADVENTUROUS DAY!

About one and a half hours later, we finally sit down on a small terrace in the sun. Karen and I order alcohol free drinks while the guys have their well deserved beers. I kinda wanted a beer as well, but the way I have been feeling this trip, I know it would not be smart. "Cheers to another adventurous day!"

We are happy to be down in the valley, but Christof does not seem to be in the same cheerful mood as the rest of us. He feels like he has let us down, he mentions. Christof had organised this whole adventure and feels responsible for what happened today. Of course we did not blame him at all. We feel really fortunate to have him with us with his expertise and experience. He even comes up for a perfect alternative for our next stage, so we would not miss a thing. For Christof however, this, even looking back on the trip on hindsight, still remains the low point of his trip. 

After a few drinks, we walk off to find a hotel for the night. The one street in the village seems to have an hotel. When we get to the entrance, we spot our second closure sign of the day. The further we walk, the more we realise we are running out of options. Scrolling the internet we find an affordable hotel at a twenty minutes drive from where we are. After the ten hour day we had, we could not bare to run that much further.

Fortunately Andy is still in the area. He had been waiting for us on the other side of the mountain. We could have taken some amazing photos, he mentions, looking pretty disappointed, when he arrives to have dinner with us. After dinner he is kind enough to drop us off at the hotel. The next morning we would have to take a bus and train to get us back on our route, but for now, the only thing we cared about is getting some rest.