Misty Mountains horror trek

6 teams into TA3 in the last few minutes.

Orion, Blackheart, Merrell and McCain arrived together. Five minutes back to alpineepic.co.nz and CBD.

A lot of people in pain here. Everyone got dealt to by the stinging tree.
Orion not too happy, the track was so overgrown that they were beating a path through, as the teams behind them slowly caught up.

The treatment consists of applying a waxed strip, then pouring on hydrochloric acid, leaving it for 5 minutes then pulling it off. The acid is supposed to dissolve the silicone that the tree implants into the skin. When the acid is poured on, it's unbelievably painful. People are screaming in agony. The theory is that this treatment means that the pain of the sting will be much reduced after 12 hours. Otherwise it's likely to last for weeks, and be aggravated any time the areas get wet or rubbed. Hope it's worth it.

Blackheart are the only team from which I didn't see any team members go for treatment. I asked Rob why not, he said 'because we're Australians'. Hhmm. He reckoned they got their fair share of stings, but thought the treatment sounded worse than the remedy.

This wasn't in the organiser's plan. A local supposedly recently scounted the track and advised it was ok. Maybe he was on a different track. The later teams are going to be re-routed round that section of track, but not sure how many are already amongst it.

Dr Sonja's over there dispensing acid.
Blackheart just left (21:25).