June 24 report from Millennium Camp (delayed)

We started the day off very poorly. At 11:30 pm last night (Tuesday, June 23) Allison was hit very hard with Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). No doubt the healthiest and most fit of the four of us, she is now very sick. Allison woke up again at 12:30 am and we spent at least 30 minutes getting her oxygen and stable enough to get back to sleep.

At 4:30 am we all wake up, Allison is definitely in no shape to leave the tent let alone trying to climb 4,000 feet and descent another 7,000 today. Michelle decides to stay behind with her. Kevin and Brian are on their own and leave at 6 am for the summit.

At 17,000 ft or so AMS hits Brian first with a severe headache. He is given oxygen for relief but it does little good. At 18,000 feet he starts vomiting. We continue our ascent. He is pretty determined at this point.

We finally reach the peak (19,330 ft) at 1 pm after 7 hours of taking essentially one step for each breath. The smiles for the pictures are not very genuine. We leave the summit after 20 minutes or less and can’t wait to get down.

Within 30 yards of the summit Brian is vomiting again. It’s going to be a long way down.

We pass through Barafu at 15,200 ft on our way down to Millennium camp at 12,500 ft to meet up with Michelle and Allison . Brian still has a headache however the vomiting has stopped. Kevin is dizzy with fatigue. Brian and Kevin arrive at Millennium camp around 5 pm; 3-1/2 hours and 6,800 ft from the summit. Kevin is given some energy drink from the guides and within minutes is heaving for quite some time.

We have dinner and no one is eating. Brian vomits again. We crawl into our tents and can’t wait to get to real bed the following night.

So far Michelle is the only one to avoid some symptom of AMS.

Kevin, Michelle, Brian & Allison