Heavens Ladder and the Hogan

As I said in the last blog, before the ice and after the ice seems a bit of a blur... after the constant .. "it's clear round the corner" from Peter our guide for about 30 minutes we did actually come to a path that has less ice on it ... Peter hadn't lied .. he just hadn’t told us what corner..

In front of us were rough stone steps that had been hewn out of the mountain side that led up almost vertically to the top. There was a handrail and we did stop for pics at the picnic area at the bottom but we all look worn out and knackered. By this point we had also officially become the back group.. award winning motivators and having the most fun possible whilst slipping all over the place. And so we approached heavens ladder. 200 plus steps.. hmmmmm

200 plus.. since when does 308 steps count as 200plus??

In that case I am a size 8 plus...

As a group we walked the steps together, ten steps and then a rest, ten steps and then a rest, with cries of “big step Karen” all the way.. we saw the end in sight and rejoiced, we felt proud, we had done it !! and soon we could stop and have some food and a drink and ..

WTF!!!

Yes, at the top of Heaven's Ladder stood a group of Chinese workmen with a bloody great bit of machinery... I would love to say that they did a Paul Daniel's and majicked it up there but no... I don't think they did...

They looked at us in a way that cannot be captured in words... with fags hanging out of mouths.. we must have looked a picture..

After more steps we came to the resting spot we had lunch and I experienced what can only be described as a spam experience..but more on that later…

I emerged from the bracken to be greeted by the shocked face of Harpic who took one look at my new red head scarf and sun glasses combo and commented

"Fuck me. With that headscarf you look like Hulk Hogan. All you need is the fucking yellow shorts and the tash now"..

Sadly, she was right as I have actually seen a picture of Hogan in an identical red head scarf and sadly he looked a damn sight fresher than I did it in at that moment... but I don’t think he ever appreciated it as much as I did.

And so that is how I became known as Hogan for the trek, Harpic, Hogan and High Society...