Toenails and Foam – by Sheila

Toenail & paperclip

The mountain sounds like a fairly filthy place, without much opportunity to get very clean.  I know we get provided with water – “washy, washy” twice a day, and there are bowls for hand washing when the camp is set up, but it seems despite this, sand and dirt gets everywhere.

Some people advise not to take contact lenses, as almost certainly, it will be impossible to put them in hygienically.

I saw a recommendation by a female mountaineer that women should varnish their finger nails with a dark colour before setting off.  The result of that is that when the filth gets under your fingernails on the climb, you won’t get upset by it, as you won’t be able to see it!

When we met with Apples from Exodus, he warned us of yet another nail issue.  He advised us to bring some foam rubber to put in the toes of our boots during the downhill climb.  We come down very quickly in just a day and a half, after having taken just over six days going up.  We will never before have walked continuously downhill from such a height so speedily.  The result of this, according to Apples, is that inevitably, your toes will press down in your boots.  It is common for people to end up with septic blisters on their toes, which are extremely painful.

Apples told us that at the bottom of the mountain, there are locals ready to deal with this.  They break a paperclip in two, and hold a lighter under the broken clip until it is red hot.  They then quickly plunge the clip into the nail of the infected toe, which makes a hole right through it, through which pus can escape!

I will be taking some bits of foam along, I can assure you.