Happy Birthday Dad!

This is my dad. 71 today! And if he doesn't look a day older than 51 , it is probably because that is how old he was when that picture was taken.

That's the year he took me climbing with one of his colleagues from work.

The three of us shared the one tent, with our heads out, looking at the stars. Travelling light essential for the trip.

The ascent started early. At around 4 in the morning. We made good progress and by mid morning we had reached the glacier.

My dad showed us how to make little holes with our boots, making a kind of ladder to negotiate the glacier.

His friend asked to try on the crampons my dad had in his backpack. He said that had used them before...

But he didn't tie them properly on. When we were nearly at the top, we heard a scream and saw him slide backwards the entirety of the glacier. He smashed his back (only a miraculous partial turn around stopped him from smashing his head) against some rocks. The speed of the fall unbelievable.

My dad raced his way down, using his ice axe to slide safely and telling me to get down slowly using the steps I had made earlier.

By the time I reached them, my dad had administered first aid to him and he was conscious although in a lot of pain. No other mountaineers were around to help.

So my dad and I carried him down. It took 9 hours to get back to where we had camped. At some point, I was so tired that I asked them to leave me there and refused to move.

My dad didn't get angry. Spoke to me very sweetly and managed to persuade me to carry on a bit longer. He never panicked.

We all made it back safely. To this day I know I'll always be happy to have my dad with me in an emergency.

Happy Birthday, dad! xxx