It's much harder than it looks. I swing my axe as hard as I can into the ice but it just bounces back at me. I try and stick my crampons in the ice as hard as I can but barely make a dent. It's going to be much harder than I thought.
I slowly make my way up the 30-metre ice wall scrambling where I can't find any indents to put my feet. My left arm becomes useless after a while. 'Gummy' arm is what happens after swinging the axe repeatedly (in vain). Three quarters of the way up I've had enough of this ice wall and ask to be lowered down.
As the guide belays me down I swing around and somehow land on my ice axe. The guide has never seen this before. I'm so cold I can't feel anything but the guide insists on looking. I have a rip in my waterproof trousers where the axe has torn through. I assure him I'm ok although I have no idea, but to be honest I'm not keen on him looking at my bottom. He tells me to let him know if I suddenly have a boot full of blood. I'm not the only injury of the day. One of the guys' ice axe bounced back leaving him with a bloody mouth.
After climbing four ice walls I'm truly knackered. It's been great fun (even with the ice axe incident) but it's much harder than it looks and very tiring. Back in the privacy of the hostel I check and discover I do have a puncture wound.
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