Day 3 – Towards 4200m
25 August 2005 8:00 AM. After a good sleep, we feel strong and relaxed. It seems that I am in top shape. We have our “continental” breakfast and everyone seems to be doing better this morning. Today’s target: To climb up to base camp 2 (4200m) and rest there for the night. The following day is the big day. Compared to the hike we had the previous day, we feel that this will be a pretty smooth ride.
The road is rough and dusty. We start getting a first taste of the mountain. Every one is quiet and gazed on the peak. The view is breathtaking. Ararat is still watching us from above. It’s watching every one. I start thinking about the events that took place here 100 years ago. People were probably fighting on those hills.
12:00 PM. We find a place to set up our tent. After some technical problems, the tent is up. The camp is very primitive. The tents are placed between the big rocks. Not far away from the campsite, the slope has a huge gap. The rocks are crumbling and falling apart in the gap. Each time the rocks are falling, it seems like a mini earthquake. Perhaps the land is warning us and talking to us.
Until that point my brother is feeling well and strong. But not for long. After one hour he gets in to the tent. He starts feeling sick. His head is burning hot but the rest of his body is cold and he is shivering. He has a high fever. He also has diarrhoea (like many of us at that point). I give him different medication that I have or that I collect from others. Aspirin, Imodium, painkillers, etc… I start preparing our stuff and our rack-sacks for tomorrow. I decided that I will start my climb with hard boots because I want to keep the rack sack light. My brother decides to start with soft shoes and put his hard boots in the rack sack.
We have dinner and tea. We have a team meeting and we deside that the next day we will go all the way down the mountain. The original plan was to rest for a night at base camp 1. It seems that no one is doing great. I still feel ok. But seeing my brother in that condition makes me very concerned. One of the very experienced guys went up to the start of the glacier. He came back to the camp but he is not doing very well. He has headaches and seeing him like that as well makes me even more concerned. I take some food to my brother in the tent. He can’t eat.
6:00 PM. The evening is beautiful and one more sunset on Ararat starts. Before it gets dark I enter the tent. We have to sleep and get some rest. I want us to be in top shape for the next day, and I know the night will be short. We have to start our climb at 3:00 AM. Our night is not a good one. My brother is still sick, and we can’t sleep. We feel the need to urinate constantly and he also has diarrhoea. I just think on how we are going to make it to the peak. The time is passing and my brother isn’t getting better. I realize that in a few hours he will not recover. All I can do now is to give him psychological support. “You will get better and we will go up together!” That’s what I keep saying to him and to myself. The rocks in the gap are still falling every 20 minutes. The mountain trembles. Inside the tent it feels that the rocks might be coming on you. I can hear voices from the nearby tents. It seems that not many people are sleeping.
