The short version: 7:47 of climbing to reach the summit on our 3rd attempt this week. Great team work and excellent gear to make it through the icy parts towards the summit.

The long version: we wake up at 345am, finish prepping our gear most of the backpacks have been prepared last night. We start hot water, breakfast, get thermoses of tea ready, get dressed, avalanche beacon under shirts, harnesses high and tight, and we are off – listening to our team’s favorite Céline Dion CD who lives in this car.

Before 5am we are walking towards through the thick forest of birch trees to approach the base of the mountain. We have left the skis and split boards today, having learnt our lesson from the past 2 attempts, the conditions do not favour them. They slow us down and the grip in icy sections is poor.

Mountaineering boots and poles are our only tools for this first section up to 1100m. Patrick has decided join the ‘Yotei climbers in snowboard boots’ an elite club of climbers that Lars Akinbobola started last year, his feet remember this climb to this day.

Our rhythm is well oiled: 55minutes of climbing up, 10 minutes rest for water and snacks. We keep pushing, its overcast, somewhat cold but pleasant. 1200m, it gets very steep. We take out the ice axes to get more safety and self arrest if we start to slide down.

10am, we have been awake for 6 hours, climbing for 5 hours and it’s time for a proper break and sandwich. We keep going. We have found a good line to the summit, we follow a ridge, traversed an open area and are now climbing along small snowed in mountain shrubs which provides more safety.

1700m: the terrain is now lava rocks and ice. It’s becoming too icy for simply boots. We rope up, I am leading this push and as soon as I reach a ledge I call to stop. We need crampons to keep going. We get geared up. Pat struggles with the petzl crampons on his snowboard boots but managed to fit them on with some twisting and turning and pushing.

We gain a ton of confidence and safety with the crampons. It’s almost a bliss. We are nearing the summit, I feel deep happiness and satisfaction rising through my body. That’s it, we have summited in 7 hours and 47 minutes! Xav and Pat are 8 meters behind, the length chosen for our safety rope. We hug, high five and shoot pictures of this moment. I call Sarah briefly to share this wonderful moment with her, she is in the office and send us her love and support. Patrick manages a cool picture levitating with his ice axe to celebrate the summit push.

the way down: Pat is leading the way down, picking the best line down from the summit. Not an easy task. Xavier slips down and self arrests brilliantly 3 meters lower. All good we keep going. We pick up some of the flag poles that we had set on the way up as a safety to find our way down. (Can’t only count on a Garmin watch to get back safely!)

11 hours and 20 minutes later and lots of running down in the final forest section between Pat and I, we reach the end of the day. Exhausted but satisfied and deeply happy. The return photo: