Hard day. We knew it was going to be a looooooong day, but had no idea that we were talking a 9 hour, altitude testing, feeling crappy kind of day. We left Shira Camp 2 with wet boots, but feeling hopeful because they weren't too uncomfortable. Slept with some clothes in the bottom of my bag to keep them warm. Sad that my phone got soaked thru my backpack despite cover and sad the lens was compromised and my pics were crap. ( didn't have battery for other cam, so all I had) anyhow, jeff, a guy from the team had these absorbant crystals, so hopefully my phone will come right again. Our camera crew has everything, including a drone, so I'm not too worried.
Anyhow, my oxygen is still good( 13,000 ft) and I'm feeling good. Started our morning trek straight up hill and had lunch at 14,000+, and I was officially higher than Whitney, feeling good, and only myself and the 2 camera guys were diamox free. I told Julie that I thought I was going to be the lucky girl that goes unaffected by altitude. I knew so many people that struggled at 14,000, and I'm still good. Started to rain at lunch and you could see the panic and angst set in. Please no repeat of yesterday. Rain gear was put on and we continued our ascent to Lava Tower( 15,200 ft) to acclimate and then the plan was to descend to Barranca Camp to sleep (13,200) hike high- sleep low motto. Then it hit me. I instantly became ill. I had made it to lava Tower, but as I started to descend, my stomach and head felt horrible, and I mean really bad. The feeling stayed with me all night and the medical check by the porter showed my heart rate up and my oxygen low. It was advised that I start diamox tomorrow. Ok. I didn't need to be convinced. Didn't sleep too well. Knew we had a strenuous day ahead of us climbing barranca wall, and if I felt this bad, I knew I wouldn't make it. I knew this trek was going to be hard, I just never imagined it would be his hard.
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