The lung burner

After taking a few photos I jumped back into Chops2 and headed a bit further round the rock to the Mala car park. This was the car park at the foot of the climb. Since it was sunny but baltic I felt the conditions for climbing were pretty good as I thought the air would heat up quickly in the strong sunshine. I figured that by the time I got to the top it would be pleasant and hoped I could be back at the bottom before the sun got too strong.

I was fairly confident about the climb. There were already a large number of people making their way up the side of the rock and some of those people looked pretty old. I've not stopped walking since I left home so I was sure my legs could take the punishment without too much trouble so I set off.

I deliberately ignored the sign at the bottom of the climb as I had a rough idea what it said. It was placed there by the Anangu, the traditional owners of the rock. I had been told that they would prefer it if people didn't climb the rock although I wasn't sure why. I was slightly concerned that I'd think their reasons were valid hence I decided to climb the rock first and find out the reasons afterwards. If I felt their objections were fair then I could feel guilty later.

I started to climb and the first forty or so metres went fine. The slope was getting ever steeper and I had to scramble the last five metres pretty much on my hands and knees but now I'd reached the part of the climb where there was a chain I could hang on to and use to pull myself up. I was convinced this was going to be fairly straightforward.

It really wasn't.

A big problem was the wind. As I got higher it got stronger and stronger. The morning air had been cold enough at ground level without the added chill of the wind. By now my hands were freezing and the cold metal chain I was using to pull myself up the slope didn't help matters. The wind also meant I had to crouch low to avoid being blown off balance and measure every small step with a great deal of caution. By this point the slope was such that if you started to slide and picked up a little momentum there was very little to stop you until you hit the bottom.

The other problem I facing was my breathing. I couldn't seem to climb for more than ten or fifteen metres before I collapsed in a gasping heap with my lungs burning. Obviously the cold air, wind and altitude would have had a slight bearing on this but to be honest I think it was more an honest reflection of my cardiovascular fitness. The rock was kicking my ass!

By now the strengthening wind was starting to force people to abandon the climb. A large number of people who quite clearly didn't make it to the top were starting to retreat back down and I didn't blame them. My hands were baltic, I could barely breathe and the wind kept threatening to blow me off my feet. I was starting to consider whether or not I should give up too and try again the following morning.

So what made me keep going?

There was this little kid with a family who was climbing behind me. He must've been like ten years old and it didn't look like he was stopping. Hell, it looked like he was gaining on me. I certainly wasn't going to let him overtake me let alone climb higher than I was. Sure his shortness meant that the wind wasn't affecting him quite so much as it was me. He was like a car driving across the Forth Road Bridge on a windy day. I was an HGV. But that was no excuse, he was just a little kid so I kept on climbing.

About five minutes later the little guy and his family seemed to have given up so I needed a new goal. I decided that I'd rest until someone overtook me and then I'd try and keep pace with whoever that was. It seemed like a sensible plan but it failed miserably.

I swear to God that the next guy that passed me was the Six Million Dollar Man. He wasn't even holding the chain and just jogged passed me. It took about twenty seconds of trying to keep up with him before he disappeared into the distance and I was once again reduced to a gasping mess.

After regaining my breath I noticed a guy around my age who was climbing on his own. He'd only passed me during my last stop and he had paused for a breather about ten metres up from me. Since he clearly wasn't superhuman I decided that keeping up with him might be an achieveable goal. I actually overtook him and cleared him by about another ten metres before I had to rest then he leapfrogged me and paused about the same distance in front of me as he had before. This continued all the way up to the ledge about halfway up the rock where the chain stopped.

After resting briefly I realised that the platform I was on allowed me to take in the view of the surrounding area for the first time since I started the climb. It was beautiful.

All that was visible for miles around was the flattest land I'd ever seen and in the distance the sun was shining down on Kata Tjuta, another large rock formation. I was wondering how spectacular the view from the top was going to be.