Everest climb draws near for all-women team
TRAINING continues to intensify for four South African women as they prepare to summit Mount Everest next year as the first all-women team from Africa to complete the climb.
The four mountaineers, Lisa Gering, Alda Waddell, Deshun Deysel, and Tumi Mphahlele, all of Joburg, with Ronnie Muhl, mountaineer and founder of Cape Town-based Adventures Global managing the logistics, will take on Everest in April.
As part of their preparations Gering and Waddell climbed Mafadi in the Drakensberg – the highest point in South Africa – earlier this month.
In August, Mphahlele and Waddell completed the South African 9 Peaks Challenge, summiting the highest peak in each of the nine provinces, which included Mafadi.
At a summit of 3 451m, Mafadi is a long hike of about 47km and requires the negotiation of a couple of serious passes, Waddell said.
“It’s rated as a difficult hike. We started up Mafadi from Giant’s Castle at 1pm on October 10. We started very strong and walked until 6pm to Bannerman’s Hut. The next morning, a very misty Bannaman’s Pass greeted us and it was a gruelling couple of hours before we reached the top of the pass,” Waddell said.
“Saturday became a 12-hour hiking day, and hiking for long hours can become almost tedious at times, and one should never lose concentration. One foot in front of the other…
“Our water was running low and we had to go to collect water from the pools. We walked for the entire day until 7pm. Our resting place for two nights was Injisuthi Cave – there is something very special about sleeping in a cave. Early on October 12, the team and I summited Mafadi with elation,” she said.
Gering said as the Everest climb draws nearer, the team was working hard and remained focused on getting as much simulated training as possible to stand them in good stead for Everest. Gering has just returned to the country from two weeks in the Alps with Mphahlele and Muhl, where they did invaluable ice, crevasse and snow training.
“Last week in the Drakensberg, we had two tough days of many hours up and down Banneman’s Gorge and then across the vast, beautiful plains of the Drakensberg to the Injisuthi Cave where we stayed two nights, all with heavy packs on our back – again great training for strength, stamina and power in our bodies and minds,” Gering said.
She will be in Cape Town in December for more rock-climbing training and then off again to Argentina to climb Aconcaguac in late December and January. “I am getting both excited and nervous as our goal moves closer,” Gering said.