holy (shit) nose.

on the holy nose.

woah i think i scared many many with my previous post! did it really sound that scary omg.

but anyway! i shall just update that story, for now.

on the the 5 of us left this little town along the coast of lake baikal called ust-baguzin on a little 4 wheel drive to the bottom of this mountain called holy nose at 8.30am and reached our destination 3 hours later. we were all excited for the climb, expecting it to be just tiring but all worth it for the breathtaking view we were going to see for ourselves.

when we finally reached the place, we were told that we would probably finish it in 3-5 hours, and the climb down would take 2-3 hours, but little did we know that these timings were meant for experienced climbers and mountaineers, and nothing for the noobs we were.

initially we followed close to the group, despite the rather fast pace of the tour guide we had. eventually we were a little tired so we fell behind a little. then along the way up, the route just became steeper and steeper, and we took more breaks in between and eventually the other group of hikers were all very far up.

after 3 hours of climbing, we finally reached an area where we could see the view! it was about 700m above sea level alr and omg i tell u the view was amazing! but it was also at this point that we finished all our water and our legs were already aching and fatigued.

we continued up another hour or so, this time the route was already consisting of some serious rock climbing (where loose stones at your feet would roll down the slope in a damn scary way), and at some parts if u missed a step you'll probably can expect some broken bones. it was really difficult to climb and eventually, ying2 and berns decided to stop at about 1000m up.

we had our small little lunch at the rocks (damn scary can, we almost lost one of our snickers bar) andden the 3 of us decided to continue up. half an hour later, we reached to one of the peaks and OMG i tell you the view was fantastic can! i think we were about 1300m up already. we were really lucky because the clouds sorta cleared and the sun was shining in at the right places, and so the whole view of lake baikal was damn freaking nice! at that point of time, i totally felt that all those 4hours of climbing was worth it.

helen (our female english translator) then told us it was another half an hour more to the highest point of the holy nose, and so we decided to give it a try. then she told us that this would be the most difficult part and i was like "OMG you mean what we've gone through the past 4 hours was nothing compared?!"

and really, the difficult part comes now. the slopes were steeper, and the route became much less obvious. we had to follow helen closely to know where we were going. at some places, it was just rocks, rocks and more large rocks. with every step i had to plan in advance the next ten steps to find the easiest route up, and not only that i had to check that the rock i was going to step on was a stable one, and not one that would probably fall off the cliff. it was damn stressful and tiring both physically and mentally. and not to forget we didnt have any water for more than an hour already.

the rest of the path consisted of climbing up and down some small peaks, and at first i only saw 4 of them but it turned out to be almost 10 of them! when i was crossing the 3rd one, i was so tired and i hit the wall (in marathoners' terms) and just wanted to stop, but cy kept pushing me on so i kept climbing.

eventually at about the 6th or 7th one, we reached this super steep slope with very little rocks to step on (all were mostly sand). i watched nic climbed up that slope and witness all the little rocks on his feet falling off and down the cliff. at that moment, it really hit me how dangerous all these really is and i really couldnt push on anymore. i was too tired, and i knew i still had to go back down. cy stayed with me while nic went to call helen from the top. the two of us sat at a damn scary area for like one hour, with the strong winds and the hot sun alternating, with the funny looking insects flying around us, buzzing.

eventually two germans who were in our group were on their way down and spotted us. we talked to them abit, about how the top was, what they were doing here, and chatted randomly. they even showed us the videos of the freshwater seals they saw yesterday (the only freshwater seals left in the world!) and they were super cute! (: haha. it was really nice talking to them. oh yes, one of them then stopped and waited for us because he saw that we didnt have any water with us! super nice can!!!! he gave us like 300ml worth which was a real lifesaver.

after we sorta finished with our conversation, they told us that nic and helen said we could go ahead first. so cy and i decided to slowly make our way back. and after climbing for about half an hour, cy and i totally couldn't recognise the path we were taking! we were like "do you remember this..." and "this doesn't look very familiar" many many times. after some time we decided that we were just going down and down wasn't the right way back when we were still at those mini peaks. so we decided that we had to climb up one of peaks to search for an alternative route.

at that point of time, you couldn't imagine the emotional and physical stress i had. i was totally fatigued from the 4hour climb, dehydrated for almost 2 hours, and cold from the wind and irritated by the funny insects. and now we were lost 1500m above sea level, unsure of what to do next. and our only option seemed to be to climb up this REALLY steep rocky slope up. i told cy that once we went up, there was no way that i could get down simply because of the slope. so we decided that he would get up first to check if there's a way before i make my way up. so cy climbed up, while i stayed at the lower side.

my mind was full of different scenarios, like being stuck in that place, dying of thirst, hunger, cold, being left behind, etc etc. it was damn scary because the images were almost vivid, and the possibility of all those happening were very real.

i climbed up that slope in the end, with my arms and legs all shaking from both fear and fatigue. almost fell a little because of a sudden gust of strong wind, but thankfully i immediately squatted down and covered myself. cy and i just stayed there for another 15min, cold and hungry, and i just kept praying, until we finally spotted this red figure a few peaks away and realised that it was nic, helen and andre, our tour guide!

can you imagine my joy.

i got up and waved frantically, hoping they'll see us and make their way to the peak to get us. and soon enough, they did. phewwww. it was great to be back with people who knew how to get back. we followed them but they were super fast, but thankfully by then the paths were pretty obvious so we just followed all the way through. after sometime, we finally saw ying2 and berns again and i was super duper happy! seriously you know.

after that was just 4 hours of sliding down the same slopes i came up from, this time everything was scarier. there was hardly any control when i slid down because it was simply too steep, and i had to aim for the trees to break my fall. the pros actually slowly walked down, but i couldnt even take a step down because it was too steep for me, and i was too weak to actually move much.

i really had to slide. and you know when we slid and slid the trees at the foot of the mountain still looked like they were of the same size and it was super duper demoralising. it was practically never ending. my hands were hurt by the numerous abrasions from feeling for rocks, and butt was already hot from friction. i really ran out of energy and i just felt like giving up all the time. it was damn terrible.

after 3 hours of fierce internal struggles and garnering up every single bit of energy i had, while licking my lips to prevent them from drying up, i finally reached somewhere which was walkable. it was still another hour away, and this time we were low enough to meet thousands of mosquitoes. super sian i tell you. they were just biting me like crazy.

but you know, i had this weird feeling. i could barely feel my legs then and practically switched to autopilot mode. everything didnt seem to be in control. i found myself running through the forest and at other times, walking really quickly. in my head i was just thinking about the end point, about going home, about drinking water and filling up my empty stomach. i just ran and walked and ran and had this unexplainable burst of energy, as if i had started using my reserve battery or something. even though the trek seemed never ending i just somehow pushed on and eventually, we finally reached together, all 5 of us, safely.

that was really the only one thing i wished for throughout the past few hours.

and i'm really glad we all made it back safely, without any injuries even. we all slipped and fell many times, but somehow we were all okay. just some bruises and cuts. at the end point, ying2 and i hugged. like omg omg omg.

so in the end only nic completed, and he showed us his awesome pics on top. super amazing i tell you. haha.

waited another 10 mins or so then the 4 wheel drive came back with water!!! like OMG we just gulped and gulped and gulped. PHEW.on our way back, i talked to andre, the tour guide and he told me alot about russia! very interesting. haha.

okay, end of story. tired like mad from typing this long entry already. phew. check out the photo at the start of the entry which was taken at about 1300m up! :D awesome ttm!!! :D :D

+ guaishou's! :D