Paul called us from Camp 4 after summitting, he said he was feeling good and going to make his way to Camp 2. However, a couple of hours later, I received news from Henry that Paul would have to stay at the South Col for the night, because he was suffering with bad snow blindness.
Snow blindness is a temporary (in the majority of cases) loss of vision caused by exposure of the eyes to bright sunlight reflected from snow or ice. The sun burns the covering of your eye - the cornea. Symptoms include tearing, severe pain, redness, swollen eyelids, headache, a gritty feeling in the eyes, hazy vision and most frightening of all the temporary loss of vision. The symptoms may not appear for a few hours and can last a good few days, although they tend to lessen after 36 hours. Treatment consists mainly of keeping the eye/s closed with patches, after instilling a few drops of special solution.
Paul had to have his eyes bandaged up, he was in excruciating pain and discomfort, but he had to try and stay calm and sleep after an epic climb to the summit. It was an extremely scary time for him and having just fulfilled his dream and goal he was now suffering big time.
This meant that it wasn't safe for him to descend to Camp 2 and this is when our celebrations turned to concern. But Paul's a fighter and his body fought back.
Paul woke up early this morning and felt well enough to descend. Only he will be able to truly describe what this epic 13 hour descent was like, but I can tell you what he said on the phone: "Coming through the khumbar ice fall was so bloody scary, I couldn't see out of my left eye properly and I could hear the movement of the mountain and ice cracking. I just kept saying, don't mess up now Paul, don't mess up now."
Paul finally reached Base Camp at around 1930 pm (his time) and receiving his phone call and hearing he was ok, was just magical and extremely emotional.
His favorite meal 'dal bhat' was waiting for him in the mess tent with a can of cola. His eyes are still giving him trouble, his feet are extremely sore and he feels a bit battered, but he's quite literally feeling on top of the world.
All being well he'll be in Kathmandu by tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon and home to us in the next couple of days.
A true hero x
Natalie
Snow blindness is a temporary (in the majority of cases) loss of vision caused by exposure of the eyes to bright sunlight reflected from snow or ice. The sun burns the covering of your eye - the cornea. Symptoms include tearing, severe pain, redness, swollen eyelids, headache, a gritty feeling in the eyes, hazy vision and most frightening of all the temporary loss of vision. The symptoms may not appear for a few hours and can last a good few days, although they tend to lessen after 36 hours. Treatment consists mainly of keeping the eye/s closed with patches, after instilling a few drops of special solution.
Paul had to have his eyes bandaged up, he was in excruciating pain and discomfort, but he had to try and stay calm and sleep after an epic climb to the summit. It was an extremely scary time for him and having just fulfilled his dream and goal he was now suffering big time.
This meant that it wasn't safe for him to descend to Camp 2 and this is when our celebrations turned to concern. But Paul's a fighter and his body fought back.
Paul woke up early this morning and felt well enough to descend. Only he will be able to truly describe what this epic 13 hour descent was like, but I can tell you what he said on the phone: "Coming through the khumbar ice fall was so bloody scary, I couldn't see out of my left eye properly and I could hear the movement of the mountain and ice cracking. I just kept saying, don't mess up now Paul, don't mess up now."
Paul finally reached Base Camp at around 1930 pm (his time) and receiving his phone call and hearing he was ok, was just magical and extremely emotional.
His favorite meal 'dal bhat' was waiting for him in the mess tent with a can of cola. His eyes are still giving him trouble, his feet are extremely sore and he feels a bit battered, but he's quite literally feeling on top of the world.
All being well he'll be in Kathmandu by tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon and home to us in the next couple of days.
A true hero x
Natalie
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