Day 75

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Today was the day which Becky had been waiting for and which Camilla had been dreading!! The 19.4km Trans-Alpine crossing! Not wanting to waste a moment we boarded the bus at 6am and got off to begin the 2 hour hike across the 'flat' and up the evil Devil's Staircase to the South Crater! This is where we had the option to climb up the famous Volcano 'Mount Doom' from Lord of the Rings which having nearly died on the staircase was not even considered by Camilla! Elin and Becky on the other hand decided to take on the challenge/death trap, Becky drugged up on Ibruprofen and began the supposedly 3 hour climb whilst Camilla wrapped up like an eskimo sat and waited at the bottom! An hour later one of the other girls attempting the climb returned to the crater and informed Camilla that it was so hard that she was scared she would die and so had given up but that Becky and Elin were still heading up but on the wrong track!! The Volcano sides were falling down as Becky and ELin tried to climb up on all fours trying to scramble up to the summit! 2 hours later and with the life-saving help of some 80-year old hikers they reached the summit, close to tears but jubilant at having made it!! The views were luckily incredible but the worst was yet to come!! Meanwhile having taken lots of photos for tourists, scavenged some nuts and listened to 2 hours of music Camilla was getting ever so slightly worried about the girls' well-being having seen other people return from the top who had gone up after them! Realising that they were a little pushed for time and with 11kms of the trek still to complete Elin and Becky prepared for their descent and came up with an ingenious plan....sliding down the snow in order to cut out some of the falling rock! Unfortunately this was not the wisest move as unable to control their speed Becky whizzed down and flew off the snow into a rock landing on yet more shrapnel which tore her shorts open and scraped her legs!! Still very much near the top however they had to continue and after 4 hours they finally returned battered and bruised and barely able to stand! However we had a bus to catch and so while Camilla cleaned Becky's wounds they scoffed down some sandwhiches and prepared for the rest of the crossing which with only 3 and half hours left was going to be ever so slightly challenging considering the fact that it's supposed to take between 4-5!!!! The next hour was hellish as we had 2 more massive mountains to climb but When we finally reached the red crater the views were stunning and the Emerald lakes were glistening down below! Unfortunately however what comes up must go down and this was ever so slightly difficult for Camilla who screaming obscenities eneded up falling down several times before finally making it to some flatish ground! We rushed round the next lake and then began the 2 hour descent to the car park which with our time limit was extra straining on the knees as we practically flew down just in time to make the bus! Elin and Becky were elated, Camilla a lot less so, but we all felt we had accomplished something and we had finally made it! If a little sore!!! That evening it was straight to bed where we literally passed out barely able to move our achey bodies!!

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