Whilst traveling through China I tackled a 4,500m+ mountain near Decin, on the Tibetan plateux.

My girlfriend was on the back of a donkey whilst I jogged behind! (I was looking for fitness fix at the time). This ‘jog’ though left my brain feeling like it was being crushed my vision a little odd and gasping for air at 4000m.

I kept stopping to give my brain enough Oxygen but the pressure was colossal – but really stupidly I carried on. Stupid!

The worst decision I made was to keep going, and even worse again was that I insisted that my girlfriend carry on whilst I rested, and that I would take a more direct route rather than the winding path. I naturally made my way to the top, along the face of the glacier and waited….but she didn’t come up. We found each other after walking up and down the last hour of trail for quite some time, but how stupid can you get. Never split-up! Stupid!

Ever since that day I have had random nose bleeds, and could have put my brain at more serious risk.

Really, really, be careful at altitude, and stay together!

Ben, admin