...we realized we were capable of climbing to 6,125m and and climbing down in one piece after all. Specifically:
...we met our guide, who despite his young age (31) and slender physique turned out to be a a genuine superman and a mountaineering genius (he was the first to paraglide himself from the summit to Leh, does rock climbing and water rescue for the Indian army, conquered some 8-thousand m peaks, taught mountain rescue courses, ran an ultra marathon in Leh (72km), whose route passes through the world's highest motorable pass at over 5,600m etc. etc. etc.) His name is Takpa (which literally means success ) and unfortunately he's already married, dear ladies...
...we spent four days and three nights in some of the most spectacular mountain scenery there is, well taken care of, spoon-fed and babysat by the most capable of guides and the most talented of chefs ever
...we were shocked to see how many inventive dishes our Nepali chef was able to come up with at the most absurdly high altitudes and a little afraid we might not make it to the top not because of fatigue but because of being overfed. Plus he seemed to cook more and more food for every meal so it seemed like a genuine risk
...we noted with satisfaction that drinking lots and lots of water (4-5l per day) and taking altitude pills (Diamox) really does go a long way in speeding up acclimatization
...we forwent the initial plan to start the climb at 1am Monday morning, like everybody else did and like people always do, to experience the sunrise from the top, partly because the weather was s***: snow, fog and no visibility but mainly because I was suddenly incapacitated by a monster headache and refused to get out of my sleeping bag
...instead we set out at 9am - a good night's sleep and two paracetamols worked wonders in my case. We climbed the peak in just over 5 hours. As a result:
...we battled some snow in the morning on the glacier and on the slope, but by the time we reached 5,750m the sky cleared completely and the vistas around us took our breaths away. Temperature went up 10C and we started snapping photos away like madmen. People who had gone at night didn't see anything because of fog and snow. Plus in the daytime the summit was empty unlike at dawn, prior to the (expected) sunrise
...we reached the summit in good condition altogether and had a long photo shoot there, getting a slight sunburn from the snow in the process...
...we climbed down on the very slippery slope and then on the glacier in the valley were were blown away by the sight of our chef who had run uphill from the base camp to meet us en route (400m altitude difference!) with a pot of hot soup, because he had been worried that we weren't back yet. And he came in flip flops too. Of course after we ate he ran back down to the camp and beat us there by at least 20 minutes....
...we came back to our tent around 5.30pm; Kama fell a little sick, and I had some delicious dinner practically forced on me by the chef, after which I passed out on my mattress to wake up the next morning....
...the day after we woke up to find the base camp now covered in snow too and we thought that anyone who attempted the climb after us would need crampons.
...on our last legs we trekked back down to the nearest town (Stok), meeting some friendly marmots on the way, in around 5 hours, satisfied but dead tired and desperate for a hot shower!
...in summary: we completed a schedule which was as follows: day 1 Stok (3,600m) to Mankarmo (4,400m), day 2 Mankarmo to base camp (5,050m), day 3 base camp to the summit (6,125m) and back to base camp and day 4 walk back to Stok.