IN a split second I made the decision - not to go on. I was in pain and exhausted. If I continued and could not make it - the whole team would be brought down. They needed this summit.
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I sobbed as the team of eight girls and two guides disappeared over the ridge to summit Cerro Oportus, a 2073-metre high glacial mountain in Patagonia, southern Chile.
A week earlier in the Atacama Desert, I was stopped in my tracks and crippled with stomach pain, halfway through a seven-kilometre acclimatisation hike (3200 to 4000 metres).
The same pain had came back to haunt. After five hours of bushwhacking, mainly uphill, it stopped me again.
At 1300 metres, where a guide would stay and set up a relay communications station - my Oportus ascent ended.
I spent the next six hours resting under a makeshift shelter, until fellow Novocastrian Melinda-Lee Harvey, took her last couple of steps to the summit with me - on the radio. At the top she said, "We made it. Two Aussies are now at the top of Oportus."
My name was then drawn in the snow and a photo taken with Melinda-Lee.
This was the third mountain of 3 Peaks in 3 Weeks in South America expedition.
We had climbed Huayna Picchu (2720 metres) that towers over Machu Picchu in Peru.
The second peak - Licancabur at 5916 metres in Bolivia - was a disappointment. We made it to 5300 metres before the guides decided not to summit, and put us in danger. However, the team worked together and made it down and now it is just a good story to tell.
It was here I realised the trip for me was not about the peaks but the people.
My fellow travellers, guides, charity workers, and the many more people we met along the way taught me about different cultures, ideas and challenges.
I also learned a lot about myself as I was pushed beyond my comfort zone - physically, mentally and emotionally - as we traversed landslides, thousand-metre drops and high altitudes.
But my proudest achievement is making a difference in the lives of others.
The Newcastle trio - Sonja Duncan, who did not make the actual trip due to sickness in her family, Melinda-Lee Harvey and myself - raised more than $US12,000 ($14,500).
The team raised more than $US80,000 ($100,000) for four not-for-profit organisations supporting women, children and conservation grassroot programs in South America.