Soooo, went to the Connemara trip organised by climbing club from 6th to 8th Nov. It was a 4 hours journey (by bus approx 40 ppl) when we arrived it's almost 11pm. Pls allow me to curi pic from others/google.
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| Its kinda spooky at night coz it's pitch dark and all u can hear was dog barking. A lot a puddles too so my shoe kena abit right after I stepped off the bus |
Huh lemme show u the interior
living room
kitchen
the other side of kitchen
dining room
bathroom (ladies)
bedroom
I was in room 5, which consists of 6 beds. Shared room with Sarah, Niamh, Manisha, Nicholas and E Chin. Well I thought they're gonna have diff dorms for girls and guys at first but yeah. Those that went to the trip andddddd that I'm kinda close with were allllll guys, none of the girls went coz quiz is this Wednesday (yolo). Nic and E Chin are so adorable awwwwww, I feel so sweet seeing them together :3
6 of us are all in first year and Nic's the only guy.
OK so we woke up at 7.30 am the next day. Had our breakfast. 9am jiu start the most important part of this trip.
Our aim was to climb the mountain behind the hostel. As u can see, it's foggy up there
There's a lake opposite our hostel, it's a crucial landmark, you'll know why
James (the captain) said its gonna take arrd 7 hours for the whole journey. Jong, Kok Han, and Vincent were the first few who gave up. I think Kok Han regretted after that. I guessed it's because the seniors said once we're on the first peak, there's no turning back.
Anyway we later split into 2 groups, Group 1 and Group 2. All the geng chau ppl are in group 1 coz they're like so fast hahah seniors jiu shi seniors but there're juniors too la just not many. I was in group 2, the slower group, mostly juniors lol. We rested awhile when we're at half the mountain. Group 1 went up first, 5 mins later baru group 2.
I have to admit the starting part was tough for me. I'm bad at inclined surface. Almost ran out of breathe but luckily I made it. When we reached the foggy part there's a significant diff in temperature and the view. No more grass, but rocks.
macam ini
I was expecting a group pic tho but the first group were so fast that we lost them once we split lol.
Nobody cares for a group photo T.T so sad. The top part of the mountain was actually easier. It's rocky but not as steep hahah. So we walked from one peak to another, 3 peaks in total hahah. We saw a mountain sheep on our way up and it's moving so effortlessly that we felt insulted lol.Suddenly I just wanna become a mountain sheep and get rid of this place.
Then...lol at the 3rd peak. We couldn't find anyway out. It was so steep. And the fog actually made it worse coz we couldn't see a thing. It's more like a cliff than a mountain. Eva and Megan ( our leaders) asked us to wait there and started to survey diff possible paths. We were strangled for an hour. Sibeh cold since we stopped moving. Oh and we were cautious at first for not dirtying our shoes and stuff, but after awhile we just didn't care anymore. Basically you can say I crawled up all the way.
After making a few tryouts arrd the 3rd peak, Eva finally found a route. Less steep if compared with others....but still FUCKING DANGEROUS lol. I took a pic of it oh well, guess I have to describe then. It's like a freaking small lane, wide enough for one person. All of us had to squat down and walk in a super duper slow pace coz one we fall, thats it. We were leaning towards our left, trying to stay as near as possible to the mountain. On our right, we can't see anything, thanks to the fog. This was not the scariest part.
There's one point, where we had to move horizontally across the rocks. I would say the inclination was abt 60 degrees. Worst part, the rocks are those small rocks that doesn't stick to the soil. As big as a head. Everyone must focus lol. Niamh was in front of me and we both admitted later on that we're laughing and crying at the same time. 哭笑不得 ah. Laughing coz we kinda wanna pretend that it's not as scary as we thought but in reality it was really horrible. This is not hiking, not even close. It's literally climbing, rock climbing wtf. Now I know why the seniors are so good, they're so used to rock climbing which I only attended once. Niveta was behind me and she stepped on a rock which was so unstable that it fell. Life and death situation omg. The fog seriously made it worse coz we just couldn't see anything below us. Thank God all of us made it, Niveta was like : After this, I'm gonna tell my parents how much I love them etc. What kept us moving was simply because: we don't wanna stay up there.
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| Varman said we're like in Game of Thrones but since I didn't watch it, I feel more like the Hobbits in Lord of the Rings lol |
After that stage we started to see grass, felt much relieved haha. We were so worn out that we decided to slide down the small rocks, not the steep and dangerous one, but on a less steep surface. I guess this was where I dropped my phone, I went back up to find it but the sky was getting dark so I had to stop searching. There's a big groove between 2 mountains and a river along the groove. Thanks to geography and common sense, we followed the river. Eva kinda know where the hostel is but don't know the exact place. The map sucks.
We walked along the river for more than 2 hours, doesn't seem as far from top but yeah. We weren't afraid anymore since it's like a flatter surface with grass and sheep and river. It's very slippery so I fell down a few times, don't really care anymore coz I just wanna go back in one piece. Muddy too hahah my shoes and socks were soaked.
So yeah the sky was getting dark and we're nearer to our hostel. That's when the lake opposite our hostel was crucial. We basically just walk blindly towards the lake. Had to cross over 2 fences that gates the sheep. Passed through trees when we're getting close and eventually found our hostel.
That overwhelmed moment when we know we're safe and sound. T.T So glad that I'm alive. The first group actually split again, lets call them group A and B. Group A made into 4 peaks, which is the 2nd mountain de 1st peak jiu wanna come down le, but Group B (captain and the geng chau ppl) actually continued until they finished the last 2, so 6 peaks in total. Group A came home an hour earlier than us and they kinda use the same path which was the river one ( only one valley ma hahah) while group B reached an hour later than us but it was very impressive considering they did 6 peaks.
I went to the guys room (Jong, Kok Han, Vincent and Kong) to tell them abt my 'adventure', Kong was in the first group A, and he's like 'wtf it's fcuking dangerous, they didn't even do headcount'. The other 3 was those that gave up earlier so they couldn't really share the happiness of us staying alive hahaha. From 9am to 5.30 pm....what a long journey haaaah
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| this is our journey haha . 3 peaks XD good enough |
Anyway, hp aside, I had a great chat in their room. We brought our lecture notes along ahaha (yolo)
Chillin in there instead of the drinking party in the kitchen and the music session in the living room. Stayed there till 12am before I head to sleep =)
Told mom and dad that I lost my hp, both of them told me that as long as I'm safe thats enough...which is nice =)
After this I kinda appreciate life a little more, Hp really is a small matter when I see this in a bigger picture.
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| Thank God, I'm alive. |
