Good preparation prior to the trip is essential and highly recommended. It does not mean that you will bring as many as you can - just to be sure you are neat and as light as possible. For winter climbing, warm cloth, glove, proper shoes with stockings are the must but for those who wish to do it in the summer then apart from mentioned above, a light jacket is replaced by warm one.

This time, I went with a big group, 40 climbers including me - the more difficult thing is the majority of participants are girls who are more or less increase the slow of the entire journey let alone some of them will withdraw after a short trekking or try to reach the first stop then stay there do not want to go to the final peak.

Fansipan was our last stop. It was also the most challenging. According to Mr. Nguyen Anh Binh, the general manager, who also accompanied with us and was an inspiration to the group, the trip would help us to bring out our ability to work together as team and to realize our personal qualities of bravery and patience... That was no easy trip.

Although we had been traveling together for 45 days the pending challenge of Fansipan made us all a bit nervous. It was going to be a big challenge..

The first day.
The jeep dropped us at the base of the mountain. Our enthusiasm masked our anxiety as we prepared our backs. And we went for the summit. We passed an ethnic village with the people in their traditional and colorful costumes. After 2 hours of trekking we saw no one else. Two hours later we met our first challenge,. a very steep cliff. We had to use handholds and be very careful of where we stepped. Beneath the cliff was a deep valley which we could not see the bottom due to foggy condition on the trails. But when coming back in clear weather we realized that it was almost 1000m to the bottom. After climbing the cliff we were in need of some food and water. We stopped for lunch at 11:30AM. Finishing our short half hour lunch we began our trek to the campsite. Arriving at 15:30PM we divided the duties of cooking and setting up the tents. It had been an exhausting day and we were all in bed ready for sleep by 20:OOPM.

The second day.
We woke up early prepared a breakfast of hot noodle, and soon were back on the trail upwards. The morning was clear and bright, we could see how high up we were and how deep the valleys were. We felt secure because our guide for the trip had been to the summit 74 times. At 2000M we had a wonderful surprise forest of trees with beautiful red flowers. At 2700M the forest changed to bamboo and at 2900M another change to smaller bamboo.

Here we stopped for lunch. We realized after lunch our water was in short supply but our goal of the summit was in sight and we arrived at the." Top" at 13:30PM. We were happy, excited and congratulated each other for our achievement. We took many pictures of the spectacular views and surrounding vistas which were well worth the 2 days of trekking. It felt like we were on top of the world. We stayed at the summit for 45 minutes and made it back to our campsite before dark.

The third day.
Although we were all very tired, it was easier going down the mountain. However climbing down the major cliff was more hazardous. The day was spectacular, the sun and our feeling of happiness seemed to cover our exhausting experience. We arrived at the foot of the mountain at 15:30PM. It had been a great trip and exciting adventure.

We are all young staff. We enjoyed our 45 days of travel together. It brought us closer as working partners with a greater understanding of each other's personal qualities. We hope that sharing this experience with the foreign visitors will add to their appreciation of our cultural diversity and greater awareness of the people and of Vietnam as a tourist destination.

• Fansipan Conqueror for 2 days & 1 night from Sapa