Well after 40 years plus living within spittin' distance of the mighty mountain, the wife decided it was time for us to get to the top. Monday was the day, lots of planning to do as I have a morbid fear of being rescued alongside my other morbid fear of heights. Weather forecast was excellent so no way could I put any trust in that. Plan for arctic temps, fog, blizzard and a night on the mountain. Need to carry lots of layers of wool, good, broken in boots (well the gardening ones will have to do), wind and waterproof top cover, woolly hats, two fully charged I phones + spare Magellan GPS, a load of carbs and chocolate, a torch, a whistle and a space blanket. Left word of our E T Return and away we went. We really surprised ourselves, it wasn't half as hard as I expected,made good time and felt OK for the most part. In fact the only really tough bit was the last 10-15 meters from the train to the actual summit, really got the heart pumping that bit!
The views were spectacular and I would advise any doubters to give it a go. If I was going to do it again I would cut down a bit on the clothing cos those little train carriages are quite cramped and very stuffy. On the way up the wife commented that the path didn't look as bad as I had told her and that she thought that we should walk up next time. I pointed out to her that the walkers where not leaning forward into the wind but actually climbing a very steep path (there was no wind) and they were not actually waving at the train they where calling for HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP.
Jerry