For three hours I walked up the steep mountainside through thick fog, the last hour with no track to follow or way to get my bearings, instead following my instinct. Just as I thought I must have gone way off my intended line of ascent, the sun broke through the fog and I saw the ridge standing out sharply against the blue blue sky just a hundred metres above. I whooped with joy and scrambled carefully up the scree and slick tussock that clung to the slope. At long last I took the final steps, emerging into brilliant sunshine on the ridge at 2100 metres. I stopped dead and my jaw dropped open.
Beauty struck every synapse of my brain, flooded my soul, eclipsed my understanding. Awestruck, I gazed in wonderment and joy.
