This diagram shows the altitude reached each day during the expedition. The blue line shows my progression, while the green line shows the first bid made by Serge and PO to reach the summit, they will succeed lately on November the 24^th with the other members.

It is interesting to note that, between the 7^th and the 9^th of October, I have had slight but persistent headaches. From the beginning of the approach we were going 500 meters higher each night, which is slightly more than the recommended 400 meters, and it was too much for me. The other members usually felt the altitude sickness effects lately. However, my acclimatization went on and after the 11^th of October, I had absolutely no headaches at all.

My own experience is confirming the usual recommendations to avoid altitude sickness:

• Take your time: Walk slow !
• You can go high during the day, but then, go down to sleep and try not to go more than 400 meters high between each night.
• If you have to go faster and you start feeling some headaches, immediately take some aspirin or paracetamol and prevent other people that you're experiencing these problems.
• If you feel more seriously the altitude sickness, the only remedy will be to go down.
• Acclimatization takes some time and people usually don't get well fitted to the altitude before 10 days, even when respecting a slow pace.

Above all, do not forget that everybody reacts differently. It may take you more time than other people to acclimatize yourself, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be able to acclimatize !

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