Day 58, 03 March 2016

The end of the road

After 2 days of rest we attempted to ski today, but there is a real problem with Hilary's lower back. We suspect either a herniated disk or trapped sciatic nerve. We now don't think it's muscle related. We considered the options in relation to the gravity of the injury and the only real alternative is to call it a day, rather than risk long term serious damage. Those that know Hilary realise this decision was not taken lightly. Ironically, as we were trying to ski this morning we were met by a skidoo that was rescuing 2 Americans who were at the hut we were heading towards! We certainly didn't want to get in the position of being rescued. We are both gutted, but it is the only decision. When you are attempting hard trips at our age there is always a risk of not succeeding. We have had a great run of successful trips, so we cannot complain. In our 63 expedition attempts only 2 have been unsuccessful (including this trip). On a positive note we have had an amazing experience skiing 1000km in the Norwegian wilderness and meeting amazing people. We saw a wonderful white mountain hare this morning, which was a fantastic parting gift.