Our journey...

A selection of pictures from our journey. The piece of music is by Third Day & is entitled Mountain of God, a choice very personal to me. Hope you enjoy it!

Tim, for SLS, back home in the UK!

28.01.10 - 1.05am (7.22pm UK), ref Kathmandu limbo. One sleep to go.

As I sit here writing, what I guess, will be the last blog before our return home, I’m struck by a feeling of deja vue. It seems like only a blink of an eye since I was sat here, in the early hours of the morning, having spent frustrating hours trying to get a minimum allowance of kit in to a small kit bag ready for ‘the off’ in the morning.

Well, I have spent a few hours getting everything packed up ready for ‘the off’, but this time it has been into a somewhat larger bag & has been way way short of the previous stress & frustration. Only a feeling of sadness. Not sadness at the prospect of heading home - no way - but at the final conclusion to this journey we have undertaken.

We’ve come a long way each of us. From the ‘not knowing trekker from tourist’ on the journey here, the gradual trust & sharing of some of our most personal life experiences, the growing friendships, the shared pain & endurance of the journey, the comfort of relaxing in each other’s ‘isms’, to the ultimate farewells. More than just a journey of height & distance, this has been a journey of time - a three week extract from the busyness of ordinary life to share in an experience that will stay with us forever.

In the words of Soul 2 Soul from way back when, “Back to life, back to reality”. & so we begin our last phase of the trek home.

Our alarm call is set for 6.00am tomorrow morning (well, in a few hours now), the bus comes at 7.30am to collect us & we should be at Kathmandu Airport at around 8.15am. After that the times go all over the place as we lose time K > Delhi, then Delhi to UK. I think ultimately we arrive at Heathrow around 6.00pm, but don’t quote me on that…!

I’ll see what the blog prospects are on the way home, but if they’re anything like the journey here they’ll be slim pickings & I’ll probably do a ‘we’re home’ on Friday. I’ll endeavour to upload some pics too [famous last words] as I’m sure my upload at home will be far better than here - it took me an hour to upload 5 pics last night, so I gave up… contrary to popular belief I do have a life you know! LOL.

Today was a good day. We breakfasted at our leisure around 8.00am & embarked upon, would you believe, a temple tour between 10.00am & 3.00pm. The temples were pretty much as we left them before heading off to Base Camp, but this time they were in the ‘crafty’ district of Kathmandu which enabled us to do a bit of gift shopping as well as take in the amazing surroundings. Although still ‘templed out’, to be walking the backstreets of Kathmandu & experiencing it ‘in your face’ remained, for me certainly, magical.

Again we lunched at rooftop height, able to take in yet more amazing views & perspectives, before heading back to the hotel around 2.30pm. En route we stopped off at the Tibetan refugee centre where around a thousand refugees resided, having sought refuge in Kathmandu back in the sixties. The project had been funded & supported by the Swiss but was now self-sufficient due to the high quality Tibetan rugs manufactured on site. We took photos to try & show the high quality, but rugs were incredible with an average time of 2 to 3 weeks to make a 4ft x 6ft rug.

We all wanted to buy one, but sadly the high quality meant that the weight was considerable & I, for one, knew I’d pushed the limit on the way here as it was!

In some ways it was sad to see these oppressed people in seemingly ‘slave labour’, but they were very happy & openly showed they were pleased to have us visit. I suppose the sadness is that they no longer feel safe in their home country, so are effectively strangers in a foreign land doing the best they can to survive. For us, visiting from such a privileged country, coming face to face with such a situation makes it a lot more real than just watching it on the news from the comfort of our homes. Hmm, real food for thought.

Anyway, bedtime beckons. Rob is snoring away as usual - in fact he’s just made the weirdest ‘whinny’ & laughed, so I can’t begin to imagine what he must be dreaming about!

Last sleep then - yippee! It’s goodnight from me, & it’s good night from him. Catch you in the UK. Sugar lump anyone?!

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

A taster... more to come when back in the UK

A shop at the Monkey Temple, Kathmandu

Abadabalam

Nous arrivons at Base Camp! We've only gone & bloomin' done it!

John, right, on top of the world... nearly!

Oh yes, the Big One! We were there - right there - in front of it!

Flight to Lukla - 'Hira, Diamond Geezer' in foreground.

26.01.10 - 4.20pm (10.41am UK), ref Return Trek Day Five. Two sleeps to go.

There’s a bang on the door. The cheery tones of ‘Hira, Diamond Geezer’ penetrate my consciousness with the words ‘morning tea’. I open one weary eye to see the pane of glass 6 inches away from the end of my nose has ice on the inside & my breath is a cloud. I struggle with my sleeping bag zip as usual, still requiring much thawing, as Rob gets his undone with the speed of an Olympic athlete & bounds to the door before the second [& increasingly irritating] bang & elated cry comes…

It’s the last trek day. The official last trek day. In the words of the song, this is it - this time I know it’s the real thing. I want to shout at the top of my voice “I’m a Christian, get me out of heeeeeeeeere!”… but I’m too cold to do anything. So I sit there, upright in my sleeping bag, feeling sorry for myself.

As usual, Rob’s good humour is infectious & before too long we’ve slipped into the comfortably chummy banter - John’s joined in through the wall, coughing along in time with our tunes, Bob joins in from the other end of the corridor too with his cough that has a remarkable likeness to the mating call of a cuckoo & Mike doesn’t do mornings. It turns out that all is good in our world today after all!

Breakfast at 6.45am & walk up to the airport about 8.00am. The usual tight security measures seem to be in place:

“Do you have a lighter in your pocket?”, reply “no”.
“Do you have a knife in your pocket?”, reply “no”.
“What country are you from?”, reply “Tim”.
“OK, you can go through.”

??!! Is it me? I actually didn’t hear him properly, but even so…

Squash onto the plane, various chairs arms & bits fall off as we clip ourselves in, pilot’s foot goes down, we collectively pray, the plane drops off the end of the runway &… phew, we’re airborne.

45 minute journey, flying at around 3500m. Pah! We’ve walked higher than that! Tee-hee.

Back to The Royal Singi &, well, it’s like we’ve never been away - except everything seems so mystical! Oooh… chair, oooh… bed, oooh… person without beard, oooh… hot drink, not luke warm! We’re opening our little plastic wallets of valuables left behind before the trek like they contain precious diamonds! I switch on my mobile & have a charge & reception - result! Being the considerate husband I am - & bearing in mind it’s 3.45am in the UK - I immediately text Polly! Sorry love x

We’re given back our passports too - I think this may be to remind us what we should look like. It seems to work for everyone as glimmers of recognition go around the group - except Mike of course, who was born with a beard. & Judith of course, who doesn’t have one. & Ruth of course, who also doesn’t have a beard, but she does have a Norman.

Anyway, after we have the customary welcome tea, it’s straight to the room for showers & clean clothes! Sadly, the shower was only luke warm as the sun hadn’t been up for long & the solar heater was still ‘working on it’. However, it was great to be able to have a good scrub - & be warm when I got out - & to have a shave!

With clean clothes on Rob, John, Mike, Bob & myself headed into Kathmandu town on foot for a ‘butcher’s hook’. Wow, what an experience. Not only is the whole place awash with colour, the richness of sounds is amazing! Sounds prick your consciousness from every angle - & your eyes just can’t keep up with what they’re seeing. I’ve tried to take some photos which I intend to upload, but I’ve no idea whether they’ll communicate the overwhelming ‘being there’ experience. I have some other photos too which I tried to upload at Namche by the way, but they kept failing - I’ll try these again now we have a stable internet connection at the hotel.

As we struggled to blend in with the locals, we were inevitably bombarded by street sellers. We could have bought just about anything I reckon, probably even a child - they’re everywhere. We even passed children & young teenagers lying on the pavement, full length, just asleep.

There’s litter everywhere - huge piles of it. John read that there is a litter collection strike at the moment, but the problem looks beyond this. It seems more like a way of life.

We walked to the buildings formerly occupied by the royal family here, before they fled - I can‘t remember why now... I think I got distracted while I was being told! The building would have been magnificent in its time, but for now looks derelict & unkempt. We had some lunch at a roof-top restaurant from which we were able to gain a far better view & it was still very impressive. From our position we could also see a whole barrage of activity from drills at the nearby army barracks, a bridal selection parade, the hubbub of street commerce & a cow [a sacred animal in these parts] causing havoc at a three point traffic junction because it refused to move & no-one was allowed to move it!

Back at the hotel now, I’ve blogged up to date & our plan is to meet downstairs at 6.30pm (about 1pm your time) where Psang will be taking us to a local Nepalese & Indian Restaurant. Looks like the eastern wind may be following us from the valleys… as it were!

Anyway, signing off for now. I’m looking forward to a real night’s sleep - the first for nearly 2 weeks. Let’s hope the weather doesn’t keep us awake…

Catch you tomorrow. 2 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

26.01.10 - 3.10pm (9.48am UK), ref Return Trek Day Four. Three sleeps to go.

Well, I have a confession to make. I’m writing this - as you’ll see by the date & time - after our return to the Royal Singi Hotel. I asked the SLS if they minded me having a day off from the blog & they very graciously agreed. ‘Today’ is/was a monumental day for us all (second to the EBC landing of course), so I wanted to be free to enjoy the elation of arriving at Lukla safely first hand. So, I write this blog entry retrospectively whilst my room-mate dozes fitfully in our room upstairs & I await the arrival of my pot of strong, black, freshly ground Nepalese coffee, in the Royal Singi foyer… in my shorts & a t-shirt, freshly shaved & feeling on top of the world…!

OK, back to yesterday… it seems so long ago now…

Early start today, earlier than the last few return trek days. The last leg of our return trek lay ahead & although we would ultimately end up at around the same altitude, it was to be a steep down one side of the valley followed by a hard steep up on the other side of the valley before we would reach Lukla.

We sweated, toiled, laughed, joked, tripped, trumped, burped, poked fun at each other, sang, quizzed, trumped & burped some more… then finished breakfast & departed! No, only joking, we did all this on the trek.

We stopped for a break at around 11am, had lunch around 2pm, & arrived in Lukla around 4.30pm. Ruth, who had hurt her ankle quite badly the day before, had started the last leg (no pun intended) on a horse we had managed to persuade her to travel back on due to her pain, but after about half an hour & several close calls with mountainside rocks, she decided she would brave it on foot.

She did incredibly well & as we stopped for lunch she was only about 45 minutes behind us & managed to keep up pretty much all the way after that.

We made good time, as we had become accustomed to, but today was different - nobody really seemed to want to ‘take the lead’. It was as though none of us wanted it to finish & by not being at the front it would make it last just that little bit longer. Finally though, there at the top of the path, was the gateway to Lukla. We each shuffled over it & stood the other side, waiting for each of our friends - & they all are - to come through themselves. As we stood there, snow started to very gently fall & everything all seemed very still. It was a very special moment.

One by one each arrived until we were all there. We walked through the town to our lodge - the same lodge we had arrived at to eat out ‘packed breakfast’ of boiled eggs, sandwich spread sandwiches & fruit 12 days earlier. It felt a lot longer than that!

Greeted with the now customary hot black tea on arrival, we all congratulated each other with varying levels of hysteria at the fact that “we’d only gone & blummin’ done it!” - hugging, kissing, dancing around… but we told Mike that he’d have to calm right down.

Our rooms were very nice - or they would have been if a little heat had introduced - but by this time we didn’t care. We were just fixated [well, a good few of us anyway] with the fact that (a) there was real meat on the menu for dinner in the form of chicken - we hadn’t had meat for nearly 2 weeks, (b) there was red wine on the menu & it was from Spain! Bingo!

Dinner couldn’t come quick enough & boy did it taste good. Rob & I ordered an extra plate of chips we were so hungry! It was great to be able to invite all the Sherpa team & helpers to join us for the meal & sitting opposite Yak Man made a real difference to the way my chicken tasted. It’s not a taste I think I’ll ever be able to replicate, but that’s probably not entirely a bad thing… sometimes some things are just left as a fond memory…

After we had eaten, John gave thanks to the Sherpa team on our behalf for all their sterling efforts throughout the trek. John was sort of co-opted into this as no-one else wanted to do it - too shy you see - but I have to say, a better man couldn’t have been chosen for the job. He did a great job not only of summing up the journey on which we had all been - & not just literally - but in also picking out little details from the personalities of each of the Sherpa team, having taken time to talk with them throughout the journey & get to know them as people. As indeed he had with all of the group.

It is a great quality, John, & on behalf of everyone, thank you for your words & indeed capturing the pleasure of the time we had spent in each other’s company throughout our journeys.

Well, after this, I think you know what came next… yep, Psang’s eclectic iPod mix! Yak Man, of course, reacted like he had just been plugged in & made a bee-line for Trev to dance, Bob decided he was then going to teach Yak Man to Jive - only stopping when Yak Man’s face went pale at the amount of times his arm had been twisted around in its socket… & so it continued.

I must admit to having a ‘wee bop’ myself, to Boney-M, but I was not alone. I had trusty Rob at my side, flailing his arms around in a similar manner, Mike was moving his arms in a way I would imagine was once very familiar during his vetnary career as he delivered calves, John & Bob were piggy-backing each other at one point I think, & Judith & Ruth were all out going for it! It was a beautiful beautiful vision which I fear sadly would loose too much in translation if filmed. You’ll just have to use your imaginations…

Mike, Rob & I wimped out at about 9pm while the rest of the divas went on until very very late & retired about 11pm. Our wake up call was due at 6am the following morning & none of wanted to miss it!

Tonight is officially the last sleeping bag sleep. Tomorrow night, although far from home still, will be warm & insulated, & far from what we have become accustomed. BRING IT ON!!!!!!

Nite nite. Catch you tomorrow. 3 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

24.01.10 - 8.10pm (2.28pm UK), ref Return Trek Day Three. Four sleeps to go.

It was great to get online earlier today & update the blog. I’ve just been typing away each day & hadn’t realised that the last blog upload was day four! No wonder there were some concerned comments & emails - sorry all. Thank you for your continued & faithful prayer support - it has been invaluable & certainly felt from even this far away. Despite earlier assurances, our lodge for this evening doesn’t have internet - guess where the man with the key is…?! Not here, that’s for sure!

A late blog tonight as today has been a long long day. We arrived at Monjo at around 5pm, sitting at 2840m (9372ft), giving us a total descent for the day of 3600ft. The walking took about 7 hours, but in addition to this we stopped at Namche Bazaar for lunch & a rest for 2 hours - & also to upload the blog!

Underfoot was really unpredictable - hidden ice, fine dust that travelled straight down your throat into your lungs, loose rocks, obscure angled rocks, boulders… it was hard going throughout. Not without its fair share of steep uphills either! Sadly the uneven surface eventually took a casualty - the first of the entire trek miraculously - & Ruth fell badly. Fortunately she didn’t break anything, but she’s left with a really swollen ankle which we’ll have a better idea on in the morning. Maybe we’ll have to take it in turns slinging her over our shoulders for the last bit of the return trek!

Psang had negotiated a good rate for us at the lodge in Monjo, so we have ‘en suite’ rooms tonight (don’t get excited - I’ll have a photo to upload tomorrow to show you the level of luxury…). Of course, with my track record on showers it wasn’t long before our room had slipped into calamity with a flood! Rob had managed his shower successfully, but not me… oh no. As the bedroom filled up with water, due to the shower not draining away quickly enough, Rob banged on the door & told me to switch it off. I did - with my eyes full of shampoo - & waited for the water to subside, which it did slowly.

I then finished the shower to a small trickle & waited while the lodge owners descended on the bedroom to mop up. My towel, of course, was in the bedroom. It took them about 15 minutes to mop up, meanwhile my body temperature was quickly dropping in the shower room as the window seemed to be fixed ajar… & so it went on.

Fortunately, all ended well & actually the outside temperature here seems considerably warmer than previous nights - I assume this is because we have dropped down in altitude so much now. It just feels very cold when you’re standing there in your birthday suit, wet! It was not a pretty sight!

We’re all fed & watered now, after another banquet of eggs, potatoes, cheese… you know the drill by now! The only addition tonight - & last night actually - has been the introduction of alcohol! It seems to be so much more concentrated than when we first ascended. When we went up, we’d think nothing of ‘a few pints’ & be fine - now, wow, how potent?! Amazing.

I’m certainly looking forward to getting back to the hotel the night after tomorrow & relaxing in a nice warm (unflooding) shower, a warm room, a comfy bed & a decent glass of red! I’ll save myself until then for the booze I think! Although Bob’s ‘hot toddy’ was warmly (no pun intended) received last night by the rest of the group - visitors included!

Normal wake up in the morning, with set-off by 8.00am. The aim is to be at Lukla, where the airstrip is for our return, for around 3.00pm. We’ll stop for lunch on the way. We’ll stay overnight at Lukla & fly back to Kathmandu the next day (Tuesday).

Lukla, our final stop of the trek, sits at 2866m (9458ft) which although is higher than Monjo takes a lot of ‘upping’ & ‘downing’ to get to & will no doubt be a tiring final trek for us to remember our adventure by. I’ll let you know…!

OK, signing off now. Most of the group are dancing around the dining room now in a more & more exaggerated way - even Yak Man is giving it large. One of the kitchen staff has just joined in & John seems to have very elastic hips (not Foss, although I’m sure his hips are very nice Brenda). Dr Jess has now joined & is swaying her blond locks from side to side. All this to the tunes on Psang’s iPod which currently seems to be running through ‘The Best of Bollywood’. I have my face buried in the blog so that I don’t get hauled up for a boogie, Mike, Rob, John & Bob are sitting in a line with their arms crossed looking on in fine spirits, & Judith is talking to Ruth’s ankle.

The latest development is that Yak Man seems to be trying to get Trevor to dance… oh, no, Yak Man is sitting on Trevor’s knee… no it’s not worked. Trev’s having none of it. Looks like it’s the yaks again for you Bhim!

Right, I really am going now. It’s a crazy crazy world in which we live… nite nite. 4 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

23.01.10 - 6.00pm (12.17pm UK), ref Return Trek Day Two. Five sleeps to go.

Despite what we thought, last night was actually the best night we have all had by far since we started the trek what seems like so many days ago. We were warm, headache less (for the first time), & fully rested by the time we awoke. We even got a lie-in until 7.30am which was very very welcome. We shipped out at about 9.00am in very good spirits.

It strikes me that I haven’t introduced our fantastic Sherpa troup:

Psang (meaning Friday, Sherpas are named after the day they are born) - Our magnificent Sherpa leader, which we all want to bring over to the UK & keep!
Hira (meaning Diamond). Hira is a Hindu.
Lapka (Wednesday)
Pemba (Saturday)
Dandi Sherpa
Bhim (the Yak man, & very good he is too! Bhim is the name of a god, meaning strength)

So from now, I’ll refer to them by name where relevant.

Our trek today wasn’t long - & to be honest, wasn’t very hard either comparatively speaking. There where a couple of challenging & hard uphill slopes, but none lasted for longer than 30-45 minutes each. We trekked out of the cold wind path too, so by half way we were de-layering down to base layer & a fleece.

We trekked to Tengboche which was a drop of around 385m (1270ft) - it’s also the place I suspect I picked up my food poisoning (although I can’t be sure obviously), so I’ll be choosing very carefully from the menu tonight! We arrived here around lunchtime, had lunch, ‘refreshed ourselves’ (in various ways!) & made ready for the afternoon’s ‘entertainment’… an afternoon at the village monastery hearing their prayer chants.

Well, nothing had prepared us for the spectacle. We walking into the ’outer sanctum’ where there was a list of does & don’ts. The last item on the list was strictly no kissing - I was reminiscent of the old sign in the swimming baths stating ’no heavy petting’… do they still have those? Anyway, that nearly set me off, but I managed not to look directly at Rob so was thus OK - for the moment.

We then entered ’the inner sanctum’ where we had to remove our shoes before entering. You can imagine how pleasant that was after so many days on the road… the matter was helped by the fact that there was no heat, whatsoever, so the fruitiness of any potential aroma was stemmed somewhat - a bit like chilling a red wine so you can drink it with fish, but I know which one I’d choose!

Anyway, we settled down to watch. Then we were moved because we’d sat in the wrong place. So we weaved in between chanting praying Buddhist monks to the other side, nodding apologies, before settling again on the other side of the room. The room was incredibly ornate & very large. The outskirts of the rooms were empty for visitors to sit & watch, sitting cross-legged on benches running vertically down the room sat the praying monks, & at the far end was like an alter area contain a huge Buddha statue & some other random statues either side.

The authenticity & age old tradition was made complete by the PA system being used to amplify the chantings of the ‘lead monk’ who had his own microphone. This was totally surreal as everything else we’d experienced since our trek began had been - & continues to be - so basic, yet here’s a praying monk with his own sound desk living it large at nearly 13000ft! Sorry, I should show more respect, but it was funny.

Each monk had an instrument - similar to the ones in the music room at Fernvale - which were also used in the prayers. The prayers went: mumble, mumble, cough sniff, mumble, cacophony of all instruments, bang on big bass drum, tinkle on little bells, mumble, mumble, break for sip of hot yak milk (monks, not us), & begin again.

So you can enter into the feel of the prayers, drop your voice as low as you can & say, in the words of Harry Seycombe, Spike Milligan & crew… “ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong ying tong tiddle eye poh” very quickly, one after the other, 5 times. It’s very important to raise the inflection of your voice for “poh”. Then follow the list as above.

We each endured the bitter cold in out socked feet for as long as we could until we could bear it no more. The last of us came away to the nice warm dining room & reported that the only change to the prayer routine was that the buffet had come out & the monks had had a bite to eat during the proceedings. Thereafter the mumbles etc had continued.

We’re all still huddled in the dining room now & some other trekkers have joined the throng, although they’re only passing through & will be continuing their own Base Camp journey in the moring. One of them is wearing shorts & has been since landing at Lukla! It the lack of oxygen at these heights you know…

Tomorrow’s aim is Namche Bazaar for lunch & some shopping (3 hours), where I managed to knock myself unconscious in the shower last time we were there. I’ll be getting this blog uploaded up to date after lunch, so you guys will have a lot of reading to catch up on! After this the next will be Lukla where we stay on the last night of the trek before flying back to Kathmandu on Tuesday, so I’ll update it again there.

From Namche, we’ll walk to Monjo for our penultimate lodge stay. The day after being Lukla, the final port.

OK, signing off then. Catch you tomorrow. 5 sleeps…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

22.01.10 - 7.10pm (1.29pm UK), ref Return Trek Day One. Six sleeps to go.

Last night was the coldest night ‘on record’ for us since the trek began. Outside, temperatures dropped to -34c. Thankfully it was warmer inside the lodge, although not that we felt it at -9c. We all kept waking up with headaches & frozen noses (complete with contents) & each went to sleep with a feeling of dread that there would be a horrible nudge from nature at some point during the night…

I haven’t researched, but in our room, nature called once for Rob & twice for me - & yes, it was unbearable. To top it all, I ran out of loo paper & couldn’t find any replacement, then when I had eventually found it I was about to get back in to bed & realised I had the raging munchies! At the point Rob opened an eye to see what on earth was going on, I was huddled at the bottom of my bed munching away on a packet of Digestives I had bought to feed off a couple of days before! He said I looked like a little mouse! Although noisier though, obviously, as I had woken him up!

Nevermind. We were blessed with a lie-in today as it was the first day of our return trek & we had chosen not to take part in the optional trek to Kala Patthar at 4.30am - of course! & the brave soles who had chosen to do it weren’t due back until 9.00am - hence, we got up at 8.00am & prepared our yak bags for the first trek day back.

It was a steady trek all day, over very very loose rocks & uneven rubble which was very very tiring. It’s a miracle no-one turned an ankle or worse. We were also walking headlong into a bitter ice cold wind which was coming straight up the valley towards us - no prisoners. Our pace was good though, & although we’re not dismissing the continued wonder all around us, there’s a definite determination in our step now as we can see the next goal in sight - home.

We dropped 1000m in height today (3300ft) & walked for 5 hours (we had a break & lunch in addition to this time), arriving at our lodge in Pheriche at around 4.30pm. Sadly, Pheriche is right slap bang in the centre of the valley we walked though, so consequently there is a cold draught running down the corridor & the rooms of the lodge. As I type, we’re all huddle in the dining room in just about every piece of thermal clothing we own! The journey to our bedrooms is going to be a hard hard one - goodness only knows what the temperature will drop to tonight…

Anyway, only 6 sleeps to go - 4 in lodges - so it’ll soon pass.

Everyone very upbeat, health levels good overall.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

21.01.10 - 7.00pm (1.19pm UK), ref Trek Day Nine. EBC-Day.

WE DID IT! WE MADE IT ALL THE WAY - ALL OF US! WOOHOO!!!! What an amazing day. I could have blogged through all the details first, leaving the amazing climax until the end, but we’re all just too elated to hold back - & to be honest, there’s no guarantee I’ll still be awake at the end to type it! Wiped out doesn’t even come close.

Now I know in previous blogs I’ve commented on hard days, & how I’ve been mistaken about those days being the hardest having actually found harder days to draw reference to… & I know I’ve commented on long trekking days - & early ones - & how I’ve been mistaken about those being the longest &/or earliest having actually found longer &/or earlier ones to draw reference to… Well, hold on to your hats - today was the mother of all hard, long & early days! It was an immense day.

One of the party pulled out (lots of reasons, will fill you in when we get home), which left 12. Everyone was in remarkably high spirits as we prepared to leave at 7.00am - hours before sunrise. Down jackets, thermal leggings, lucky pants, warm hats, Michelin gloves… all were needed. As we stepped out of the lodge into a temperature of around -20c (it had been -6c in the lodge & a number of us had struggled to regulate our breathing as we climbed into our sleeping bags the night before - me included) the surroundings were quite surreal. Silence all around, except for the rise & fall of boots & walking sticks, no conversation - symbolic of the gravity of the task that lay ahead, & an almost ‘moon-like’ landscape - white dust everywhere, rocks, no vegitation & just huge mountains on every side. All the moment needed was 2001 Space Odyssey & it really would have been complete!

Our aim was to get to Gorak Shep for 10am, where we would have our ‘lunch’ before the trek to Base Camp itself. We reduced our back packs to a minimum & did the same with our clothing, as the trek that lay ahead, as well as being the toughest we had experienced all trek - & for the some of us the toughest of our lives - it would mean getting to Base Camp & back in the same afternoon. It was to be the final climb, to the 5360m goal, & what we had all come to achieve. We knew that in lots of ways, things would never quite be the same after this day was over.

We left the town of Gorak Shep (5170m/17061ft) at 11.30am & stepped out onto the broad sandy plains that led to the immense rock falls left behind by ice falls of many years gone by. The temperature was bitter, but helped by the fact that the wind was with us. We passed many frozen lakes & the noise our walking poles made as they hit the ground told us that sheet ice wasn’t very far beneath us.

It wasn’t long before we started climbing & as we rose above the plain, the landscape started to change dramatically. As we climbed nearer to our goal, huge tears appeared in ground in the valley before us, made as the ice beneath forced its way out into the open. With the dusty dirty top surface & the pure white of the ice exposed from beneath, the effect visually was that of a coconut that had been cracked open & just left on its side in the valley. They were vast too - far bigger than any of our photographs will truly show as we couldn’t get near to show the scale - but they were immense.

We continued to climb, & we continued, & we continued… & we started to flag. As each corner was turned & the elusive Base Camp was still nowhere to be seen, we each began to wonder whether we had enough in us to get us there. The Yfriday song ‘Strength will rise’ with those wonderful words from Isaiah 40 will never again sound the same to me - I sang that song over, & over, & over in my head. Mike & I were also looking to each other for strength & each spurring each other with the words from ‘Eagle’s Wings’ -

“Hold me close, let Your love surround me.
Draw me close, bring me to my knees.
& as I wait, I’ll rise up like an eagle -
& I will fly with You, Your spirit leads me on,
in the Power of Your love.”

Suddenly, Base Camp was there. Within touching distance. It had taken us 2.5 hours, which doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, we virtually crawled the last few meters. I, in actual fact, just sat down when I saw it. I had nothing left in me. I was completely spent. At that moment I could have sat there for an hour & been positive I still wouldn’t have had the energy to move. I just sat there & said to the Sherpa next to me “I can’t do it. I’ve got nothing left. I’ll just watch from here & see how I feel when they come by on the way back.”. But he had other ideas.

He stayed with me for a moment, then led me step but painfully slow step to Base Camp where, by now everyone had reached. It was all I needed. I found some energy from somewhere, because in a moment we were all hugging, crying, videoing, taking pictures, collecting souvenirs… it was magnificent.

We had achieved what we came here to do. Some of us would do something similar again in the future. I can’t speak for everyone obviously, but for two of us this trip has shown us just what we have been blessed with in this life & although this has been the trip of a lifetime in many ways, it has been the trip that has shown us that, in this lifetime, there is no place we would rather be than with those who make us complete. Rob & I are now counting the days until we return home.

In fact we daren’t ring home beforehand because we both know we’ll be uncontrollable!

Having spent 45 minutes at Base Camp, we trekked back to Gorak Shep, arriving at 5.15pm, a journey time of 2.5 hours again which is very telling of how tired we were as the journey back is usually much quicker than the journey there. We walked in to the wind all the way - & it was a very, very cold wind too. The only piece of my face that was showing was a thin line above my specs & the rim of my thermal hat & that was enough to give me a really bad headache. Our Sherpa leader very kindly carried my rucksack for me as I was just wasted & I really didn’t know where the energy was going to come from to get back - in fact none of us were really sure, but you know what? It came. Funny that…

Your prayers carried us today. Without a doubt. Without loving families & friends praying for us, we just wouldn’t have got through it as a whole. So it works. It really works. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We start our downward trek tomorrow. The majority of us have opted out of the bonus trek to Kala Patthar at 5545m, which would have given us the best view of Everest so far. But, at a 4.30am alarm call & a 3 hour hard trek, we decided that we had already achieved what we came here to do, the rest is just decoration - & we’re too wiped out for aesthetics! I know a lot of you will feel it’s a great shame to miss this part out - especially as we’ve come so far already - but hey, we’re not proud, just let us see your photos when you’ve done it!

My cold sleeping bag beckons, accompanied by Rob’s loud snores (he’s got really bad Claire), so I’ll bid you nite nite & God Bless.

Today is a day that dreams are made of…

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

20.01.10 - 7.40pm (1.55pm UK), ref Trek Day Eight.

Today, after the usual start/breakfast/head-off, a really steep ascent out of Dingboche was really the last thing I needed - I had managed to eat a couple of rounds of toast & a cup of boiled water for breakfast, but having eaten nothing nothing for 24 hours I knew today was going to be tough. & it was. Really tough. So tough in fact I was all for stopping & turning around to go home. But I didn’t, I kept going, & it felt like it nearly killed me, but it didn’t.

As I mentioned previously in the blog, some of the group are struggling in various ways & each day gets tougher for all. We’re all just focussing on tomorrow I think - the big one, the big cahoona, the icing on the cake: Everest Base Camp! But more on that in a minute…

The actual trek from Dingboche to Lobuche (4960m/16368ft) would, under normal circumstances, have been a very pleasant day’s trekking - & the fit sprightly young things amongst us breezed it - but on the back of varying levels of extreme fatigue & poorliness at various stages it felt a long hard day. Even though the fit ones are making light work of the treks, the conversation levels have dropped significantly, as everyone fights for the same low levels of oxygen - currently at about 50% less than we are used to. At over 16,000ft believe me, it’s very apparent - even putting our sleeping bags away is a real labour.

Along the route we came to ‘The Tombstones’ which is the burial place of many who have lost their lives whilst climbing & decending Everest. Many of the names of those whose pictures we had see at the museum as we left Namche Bazaar were listed there. It was a very sobering sight as these memorial stones stood out against the background of magnificent mountains like teeth.

There are no trees now. We left them behind this morning. The landscape is very barren & there are rocks on rocks on rocks, left from a time long ago when the glaciers above have melted & made giant slashes in the mountainside to make way for their water flow - with it have come the rocks. Now, as the waters have long ago ceased, all that remains is the huge & impressive rocky river beds.

After arriving at Lobuche at about 2.30pm, we were given an after lunch ‘option’ of climbing to a ridge at 5200m to see Everest Base Camp ahead of tomorrow & to see the Khumbu Glacier. It was a long walk & the group were able to see the sunset too - which I’m told was magnificent. Sadly I didn’t go due to ‘conserving energy’ for tomorrow…

Right, tomorrow - a monster day! Up at 5.30am, breakfast 6.15am, leaving 7am & walk for 3 hours to Gorak Shep. Quick rest, then 3 hour trek to Everest Base Camp! Back to Gorak Shep for around 4pm to eat & get ready to collapse! We will stay there overnight. We have been told tomorrow will be the coldest day yet - full thermals & down jackets required at all times!

OK, off to bed now, time’s 8.10pm - I need sleeeeeeeeep! Nite nite.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

20.01.10 - 7.25pm (1.45pm UK), ref Trek Day Seven.

Sadly, I’ve managed to get food poisoning. I went to bed feeling none too well last night & within hours was more than a little ‘worse for wear’. It carried on through the day today & when I wasn’t sleeping was ‘indisposed’. This carried on through the night too & after a steady stream of rehydration sachets (thanks Rob) & some tablets I was feeling very weak but certainly a chunk better by the morning. I’ve asked John to write today’s blog long hand for me to copy out when I have a moment as the other guys did do some activities which are well worth sharing.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

Written by John:

Today is designated a rest day, but for those who have acclimatised well there is the possibility of climbing Nangkar Tshang, at 5100m (16800ft) it overlooks the summer settlement of Dingboche. It’s an attractive proposition, not only for the great views, but also to employ the principal of climb high, sleep low. Dingboche is an attractive village set on a wide shelf above the Imja Khala River. Most villagers are at present earning a living in Kathmandu, but will return to sow seed in the small fields in March & stay until harvesting in September.

The fields are sometimes terraced but all are attractively bordered with dry stone walls. The other commercial activity is trekking lodges & the main season for this seems to be March to May & September to November.

So, at 7.00am two porter Sherpas knock on the door with ‘bed tea’, a ritual which goes back many years & expeditions. There’s now a frantic rush to dress for the climb & use the moderate facilities. There are two toilets, one conventional & the other the squat style. It’s a dubious decision to use the latter as the floor is concrete, somewhat damp & is frozen. One even needs to hack through the ice on the water bucket in order to ‘hand flush’ the toilet.

There is one sink situated at the foot of the stairs leading to the common room. The tap for the sink is frozen & so water is provided by a plastic container at the side. The common room where we dine is of a design found everywhere: in the centre is a stove, the fuel for which is either wood or yak dung. Needless to say there is competition for the seats around this feature!

Breakfast is served at 7.30am & at 8.30am we’re off, leaving poor Tim behind with his version of the Khumbu Quickstep!

We climb steadily past two stupas - Buddhist monuments - & by half way our numbers have dwindled from 12 to 6. It’s hard going, but the ever widening views are encouraging & the six make it to the summit; a rocky outcrop with a drop of about 200ft on its eastern face. There’s much photography of the surrounding mountains, particularly Lhotse to the north & new views to the east along the Imja Khola Valley. Island Peak stands alone in the distance & behind a beautiful ridge which has a perfectly symmetrical peak at its northern end, the Holy Mountain of Cho Polu. Behind the ridge in the far distance is another 8000m peak, Makalu.

The group returns to the lodge about 2.00pm & after lunch some rest in their rooms. It’s been an exhausting exercise, though bound to have done some good on altitude acclimatisation. The good news back at the lodge is that Tim is feeling a little better & for once takes advice to eat only dry biscuits. He’ll soon be back to his bouncy self.

Most of us go to bed at about 8.30pm. Tomorrow is another big day, along the terrace above the Lobuche Khola which flows out of the Khumbu Glacier. It’s getting very exciting!

JF, for Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

18.01.10 - 5.45pm (12.04pm UK), ref Trek Day Six.

I think I’ll give up commenting on when & where the next blog update will be uploaded. Having arrived at Dingboche guess what? The man with the key isn’t here…! Apparently that’s it now until we stop off at Namche Bazaar for lunch on the decent & I can’t remember what day that is - but I guess you’ll know because all of a sudden there’ll be days & days of blog info to read through!

The internet points from here on are only open in high season - which isn’t now - so my hopes to connect at ‘the highest internet café in the world’ at Gorak Shep have been dashed. Nevermind. On with today.

The usual 7.00am-9.00am schedule ensued this morning. We’re all getting really streamlined with our yak bag preparation in the morning now - so much though that we’ve got the ‘squeezing every last moment out of being in our nice warm sleeping bags’ off to a tee. This was particularly useful this morning as last night was one of the coldest so far, & they’re only going to get colder now as we approach our goal. Even the barrel in the loo with the water for flushing in it had a thick layer of ice on it when we went to use it this morning.

Today was a seven hour trek with only 2 stops - one for fluid at about 10.45am, the other for lunch at about 12.30pm. We started walking downhill along a very cold, very enclosed tree lined path which was barely concealed ice most of the way. There was a very cold wind too, so everyone had their warm hats on. I couldn’t help but feel we were undoing all the hard work of our uphill trek of yesterday, but it was necessary to get down to the bridge to cross the valley. After about 45 minutes we broke out into glorious sunshine & the temperature changed immediately. Although not ‘hot’, it was quite pleasant & we continued, now uphill, to regain the height lost by the start out.

It wasn’t long before we again split into groups & for some reason most found today a hard day - harder than normal - with many complaining of tiredness. A few of us have suffered with altitude sickness, a few a finding it just hard going & a few are struggling to sleep - which is a killer when you consider the massive exertion each day.

Out of all the mountains we have seen during our journey, the most picturesque by far - & one many of you would recognise if you saw it - is Amadablam. It’s a very distinctive looking mountain, but today we travelled around its perimeter & it totally changed its appearance! It was amazing. It now, as we look at it from our new dwellings, bears no resemblance to its former shape at all. It’s now no longer our favourite!

After a hearty lunch, we trekked on towards our next stop, Dingboche, which is where we will stay until Wednesday morning.

We arrived ahead of schedule, at 3.00pm, & were greeted with the customary cup of black tea. Many of the group have taken to drinking it at mealtimes actually, but for me it’s a no no. I’m just a bit too set in my ways - I’ve tried it & I’ll have the free one, but that’s as far as it goes!

Dingboche sits at 4260m (14,000ft), which is 400m (1320ft) higher than yesterday. The lodge seems nice - basic, as the others, but nice - & wait for it… it has a sitter loo! There was great excitement at this & suddenly everyone was desperate to go!

Tomorrow is a ‘day off’ to acclimatise. So, true to form, we’ll be leaving at 8.30am for a 2 hour trek to 5100m (16,830ft) which, if you do the maths, is an 840m (2,830ft) climb! We’ve seen it - & yes, it’s every bit as daunting as it sounds…

We’ll get back in time for lunch & then the afternoon will be our own… it is our rest day you know! I’ll let you know how we get on.

Anyway, back to today. After finding our rooms - & the sitter - some went off for a bit of an explore while others availed of the ‘facilities’ & spare time before dinner to wash hair/shave/unpack/prepare bedding/have a nap. Dinner was served at 6.30pm & for some, bedtime followed shortly after! I think the latest anyone has been in bed all trek is 9.30pm - the earliest 7.00pm. The days are just so gruelling, sleep is very welcome.

Well, it’s nearly my bedtime, so I’ll love you & leave you & catch up with you ‘tomorrow’. Night night.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

17.01.10 - 5.35pm (11.55am UK), ref Trek Day Five.

Before beginning today, may I explain something to those of you who, like me, haven’t got a clue what a meter is in terms of feet? The rough conversion, so I’m assured by my far more intelligent companions, is to multiply the metres by 3, then add 10%. Give or take, that’s it.

Anyway… on with the trek!

A 7.00am wake up with yak bags ready for loading by 7.45am. Breakfast immediately after followed by departure by 9.00am. A warm temperature greeted us as we began & the sky had not a cloud or blemish in it, it was beautiful. Today’s task: to trek to our next lodge in the village of Tengboche. Not a great distance away, but sitting at 3867m was 317m higher than our lodge last night. There was a high percentage - probably 75% - of hard uphill trekking. Again, we split into natural groups, but it was an enjoyable journey through woodland. The woodland cover was welcome actually, as the sun got warmer & warmer & the shade was welcome - albeit cold.

The expected eastern wind came, but the perpetrator(s) remained unidentified!

Walking isn’t straightforward. Because we’re on the go all the time - & because you just get used to snow being all around you, to the point where you stop seeing it - we forget the low temperatures we’re actually walking in. The majority of us are in just a base layer or thin fleece, but some of us (I have to say with pride that I’m one of them!) are even down to base layer t-shirts! However, we really feel the cold when we stop for a breather or go in to the shade. Anyway, back to the point, what we forget is that the ice along the trail doesn’t melt - even when the sun is on it.

So, as we walk along the dirt tracks, every now & then we’ll be reminded that lurking beneath the dirt is sheet ice as one of the group lets out a cry & goes A over T & lands in a heap, covered in dirt. Fortunately, no-one has been hurt yet & the damage has been limited to a dirty bottom, but it’s a reminder to us all to stay alert.

Arriving at Tengboche around 1.30pm, we sat down to our pre-ordered lunch (our Sherpa leader is very organised & had brought menus with him to enable us to order ahead). Some of us are becoming more adventurous with our choices, some (like me) are sticking to the old faithfuls, like eggs. I really am pushing my friendship with my room mate Rob to the max…

After lunch started our ‘free afternoon’… so we all wrapped up ready for our ‘300m (1000ft) in an hour’ optional extra, kindly proposed to us by our Sherpa leader! Boy, that was hard. I thought the other walk was hard, then the one after that, then the one after that… but this was hard. Lungs burning, every pore open, sweating profusely, conversation the furthest thing from our minds… we climbed, & we climbed, & we climbed. But we did it! A tremendous sense of achievement when we reached our goal, which was really just a prep for the altitude we’ll be reaching tomorrow. The view was spectacular - & Tengboche looked like a little lego town it was so small.

We were shown where we would be walking tomorrow - Dingboche at 4260m - as we could see the trail from our position. We could also see the Everest View Hotel which seemed soooo far away, yet we had only been there 2 days ago! The distance we had covered by foot seemed phenomenal, but I have to say we’re all making a really good pace.

The descent back to town was far quicker & we arrived back in good time to synchronise with St Luke’s morning service ending as the St Luke’s Six, plus Ruth, plus Elizabeth (see other trekkers list, 16.01) formed a circle outside to lift our prayers to our Maker. The start was delayed slightly as we waited for Bob to join us. After waiting for 20 minutes we went to look for him & found his room mate had locked him in their room. His room mate assured us he didn’t know he was in there…

Rob read Psalm 121 - a shared favorite & very apt - after which some of us prayed. It was a wonderful & reverent capsule of time & was made even more poignant by the towering Himalayan mountains, in all His glory.

Anxious not to appear religious nutters to the others trekkers who were just the other side of the window outside which we were gathered, Mike suggested we quietly place our arms around each other. We did this, at which point Mike broke into chorus at full blast with no particular song, but it included lots of hallelujahs! It was a priceless moment!

The lodges are getting progressively more basic each stay & this one is true to form. We keep saying the rooms aren’t cold, but I think that’s just because we’re becoming numb to it. Believe me, It’s cold. Very cold. Super cold. So cold that in the night, you’ll wake yourself up if your face is poking out of the sleeping bag even a little. The sleeping bags we’ve hired, combined with the thermals we’re sleeping in ensure our bodies stay warm, but any ‘pokey out’ bits get very cold. We each put off going to the loo until the absolute last minute (tonight’s is outside!) & so far we haven’t had ‘loo clash’, but believe me if we do it could get messy!

Oh, & the loos, let me tell you - it’s a hole in the ground! We were spoilt to begin with as a couple of the lodges had sitters (like we have in the UK), but they’re long gone. You either squat or not - & if not, you’re in big trouble. Sorry to be so explicit, but I have a responsibility as editor of this blog to keep it real & let you know what it’s like here on the front line. One of the hardest things to do - once you’ve got your head around the concept of what is required of you whilst hovering over the hole in the ground - is to stay like that until the job is done, with your thighs burning like they’re on fire & the cramps are setting in! Don’t these people know we’ve been walking all day?!

Of all the things good old Sir Edmund brought here, the very least I’d have expected from a fellow Brit would be to have introduced proper loos! An Englishman’s time spent there is, well, very British. Anyway, shall I move on… no pun intended!

As seamless links go I think this is up there with the best… more eggs, cheese, potato etc. are on their way shortly as we settle down to share food together, so I’ll sign off. Sadly no internet here at Tengboche - “the man with the key isn’t here” is a phrase we’re starting to hear a lot, I think it’s our equivalent of “the cheque’s in the post”. I’m assured Dingboche will have it, so I’ll try again there.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

16.01.10 - 7.47pm (2.06pm UK), ref Trek Day Four.

Welcome back! Thanks for all your comments, they’ve been great to read - a touch of home, here in the heart of the Himalayas, you’ve no idea how wonderful that is for us. We’re all having a wonderful adventure, but I know I’m not alone when I say how much I miss my family. I carry each of them very close to my heart, every day & night.

I’m going to just start today’s blog, if I may, by introducing you to the other members of the team. We’re a bit of a family unit now & we’ve come to know many of each other’s ‘isms’, which is making the trek even more enjoyable.

Ladies first, as is the correct etiquette: we have Dr Jess & Elizabeth. Guys: we have John, Trev, Mark & Chris. We can fill you in on their ‘isms’ when we get home!

OK, back to today. Up at 7.00am, bags packed ready for the yaks by 8.00am, breakfasted & ‘tally ho’ at 9.00am. Today, Saturday, is the official market day in Namche Bazaar & the route we took out of the village yesterday on our walk to the sunrise view & Everest View Hotel was full of market activity so we took an alternative route out.

This was nice actually, because it took us through an area which we would otherwise not have seen - an area where daily the local people sell their produce: yaks cheese, garlic, oranges, butter, rice, herbs &, of course, a small collection of western goods like batteries, torches, beer & - randomly - Horlicks! I really fancied stopping to buy some of that… you can’t beat it before bedtime!

The first part of our trek took us to where we would be lodging for the evening - Kenjoma at 3550m. It was a relatively uneventful journey with some fairly harsh uphill climbs, but they were short & on the whole the trek was kind to us. We stopped briefly to look around a Sherpa Museum, which was very, very interesting - it was an old Sherpa cottage that has been preserved & opened as a museum. It contained an array of original artefacts, the uses of which were explained & demonstrated to us in great detail. The owner of the museum - & as it turned out the last inhabitant while it was still a house - is a keen photographer, so after the museum we had a look around next door where he was displaying many of his photos. They ranged from historic images showing authentic Nepalese to scenic images pulling in all the great Himalayan mountains - the greatest of course being Everest, for which a whole room was dedicated.

As we left & continued on our way, the views continued to take our breath away & Everest kept getting tantalisingly closer. The mountain face on the opposite side of the valley to which we were walking was just so clear in its detail. We stood in awe of the infinite detail that was right before our eyes, feeling close enough to reach out & touch. We all took copious amounts of pictures, mine with every intention of joining them to make large panoramic spreads to show their awesome detail, but somehow I feel the true magnificence will only be able to live inside our memories.

After eating lunch, we headed off for the second part of the day: a trek to Khumjung at 3780m. The trek to it was hard I’d say - not as hard as the previous day, but it felt hard. The saving grace was that it only lasted for an hour & a half. Khumjung is a town built in an area that was once covered by a glacier. The glacier has since melted, leaving an abundance of rocks behind. Over many hundreds of years, the town has grown & until last year was a busy lodging town for trekkers on their way to Base Camp. For some reason (maybe down to the poor technological facilities), it seems that trade has now moved to Namche Bazaar (where we have stayed for the last two nights). As a consequence the town is now very quiet. There are many, many buildings around, & they are all very neat with their painted green roofs (a Hillary initiative last year), but a lot of them are now empty with the owners working away in Kathmandu.

We were supposed to be visiting the Khumjung Monastery, the Khunde Hospital & lastly the Hillary School at Khumjung. However, the Monastery was locked & the bloke with the key was nowhere to be found, so we moved on to the Khunde Hospital. This was excellent. Built in 1966 thanks to the remarkable efforts of Sir Edmund Hillary (who, I am finding, was a phenomenal man & who has done so much for the Nepalese people - changed their lives really, beyond any way they would have ever imagined. I shall certainly be reading more about him when I get home to the UK), this hospital receives zero funding from the Nepalese government yet serves thousands of mountain people.

We were fortunate enough to find the doctor who runs the hospital at home (the hospital closes on Saturday!) & he very kindly showed us around. This little brick walled, tin roofed building, has a consultancy room, a delivery room with incubation, a small lab, a drug store, an x-ray cum ultra-sound scanning room & a short stay room with 2 beds. In another building it has enough beds for up to 12 patients to long stay, should the need arise. Totally funded by donations & fund raising by the Hillary Trust, this little hospital in the middle of nowhere is amazing. I just wanted to donate all the money I had left to them!

Because the hospital visit took so long - because we had so many questions! - the sun had disappeared behind the mountain shadowing the village & the temperature started to plummet. Everybody layered up quickly & to be honest didn’t pay as much attention as we could have to the Hillary School - our attention was on (a) getting back before we froze & (b) getting back before it was dark because a lot of the route was ice underfoot & we were worried about our footing.

However, we had a quick look around the school & made it back to the lodge just in time as the sun set on the horizon.

Tonight’s lodge is good - sadly no internet, so you’ll be reading this a day later - but it has a television on which the Sherpas insist on watching tail to tail Bollywood at full blast! Television, humph - just what we’ve come to get away from. Nevermind, when In Rome…

The evening meal was yet another inventive combination of potatoes, eggs, cheese & vegetables. I’ve a feeling there’ll be another severe eastern wind this evening/tomorrow…

Signing off then. Hopefully I’ll get a good selection of pictures posted tomorrow as the internet is good at Tengboche & we have a ‘half day’. So, unless our Sherpa leader has any of his ‘optional extras’ planned, I’ll have some time to compile & upload.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.

15.01.10 - 5.20pm (11.37am UK), ref Trek Day Three.

Well, we must have found some energy reserves because…

An alarm call (bang on the door by a Sherpa) at 6.00am gave us notice that we needed to be downstairs for our cup of black tea in 20 minutes, fully abluted. 10 minutes after our tea we were on the trail, heading upwards at what felt an even more cruel angle, to see the sun rise from a 360 degree vantage point within the grounds of the Nepalese Army barracks above Namche. The sky was virtually without a cloud & as the sun rose, the summits of the surrounding peaks illuminated one by one. It was a truly awesome sight. We ‘saw’ Everest properly for the first time too, although shrouded by the clouds it generated of its own volition. As we descended, the view of Everest became a little clearer, but we weren’t too disappointed… read on :-)

We returned to the lodge for breakfast - which we were more than ready for - arriving around 8.00am & braced ourselves for the next part of our day of rest…

Leaving at 9.00am we headed for the famous Everest View Hotel at 3880m - 440m higher than Namche. Another killer climb, but surprisingly we all felt much better during the climb & were certainly a more ‘compact’ group. When we arrived at the hotel it was a bit touch & go as to whether we would be let in as a military helicopter had landed, loaded full of officials, & some special negotiations had to take place between our Sherpa, Pasang, & ‘the powers’ to get us through. We had watched the helicopter fly up through the valley beneath us & land too, which was amazing to watch.

Pasang did well & we were allowed through to the hotel’s rear outdoor area where we ordered our drinks & - let me tell you - we saw that the hotel lived up to its name. The view was breathtaking - & yes, there it was, the tallest mountain in the world! There, right in front of us! Little us! & believe me, we felt very little indeed. I’ll probably use the words amazing, breathtaking, awesome etc. a lot, but I have to tell you, until now I don’t think I really knew their true meaning. We certainly all do now!

A welcome hot drink later, we started our descent - a very steep one, very hard on the knees - & arrived back in Namche around 1pm. After eagerly devouring another very welcome meal, the afternoon was ours to use as we saw fit. Some explored the small shops, some walked around the market & some stayed at the lodge to write diaries/postcards/journals (delete as applicable). Some keen ‘haggling’ resulted in various purchases being made - the most obscure being a set Yaks, purchased by Bob, from a Tebetan lady!

Which brings us to now really. Dinner will be in about an hour - the being menu fairly consistent along the trail - where we will sit to digest an amazing variety of dishes whose base ingredients are eggs, potatoes, cheese, with the odd smattering of Yak meat, baked beans, garlic & spices. I can’t even begin to tell you the trouble we’re each having ‘keeping up appearances’… needless to say, none of us are walking too close to the person in front! I personally don’t think I ever want to see, let alone eat, another egg in my life! I can’t even begin to think how I’m going to make it up to poor Rob, my room-mate!

Signing off then for now - the battery is very low on the laptop, so I’m going to charge it up gthen see if I can upload some pics later on.

Tim, less bruised & swollen, for SLS, signing off. GB.

15.01.10 - 4.45pm (11.03am UK), ref Trek Day Two.

What a day. We were briefed that the day would be a hard one, but I don’t think anything could have prepared for what lay ahead. We started with a breakfast call at 7.00am, followed by breakfast at 7.45am (day bags, yak packs & ablutions to be completed before breakfast), ready to leave Phakding at 8.30am. We all wrapped up warm & set off - within a very short space of time we were sweating & had to stop for the first de-layer! We walked for 4 hours before stopping for lunch, through some beautiful wooded pathways & stopping briefly only once for a liquid break (both kinds!).

By lunchtime we had steadily climbed from 2640m to 2840m, at a town called Monjo. The scenery around was probably the most surreal I have ever eaten in - mountains on all sides & some of the most breathtaking views I’ve ever seen. Another surreal aspect was that Elizabeth, one of the trekkers, got a reception on her Vodafone Blackberry! A text was duly sent, but bt the time it was passed to the next trekker the signal had disappeared. Boo hiss!

The trek after lunch hit us all between the eyes like a bull dozer. We climbed full on, at what I can only describe as a killer tangent. Thighs & lungs were burning within what felt like minutes & even though I kept looking at my watch praying for the time to pass quicker, the following 4 hours dragged by agonisingly slowly. The group soon split into the annoyingly irritatingly smart arsily super fit, those who very sensibly paced themselves, & those who found it really tough. The latter were admirably supported by trekkers who held back to spur them on - well done John & Ruth, you are to be greatly admired.

Barely able to speak through lack of air in our lungs from the immense physical exertion of the last 3 hours - plus the fact that we had just climbed at an average of 200m/hr (666ft/hr) for the last 3 hours - we arrived in Namche Bazaar, sitting at a height of 3440m. A very impressive town, sitting on ‘plateaus’ cut out of the mountainside. Here we were to stay for the rest of the day, plus tomorrow, to acclimatise & recover… or so we thought!

We checked in to Khumbu Lodge & went to inspect our rooms. Sadly the rooms were even colder than outside - & outside was cold - but the highlight was the fact it had a proper ‘sit on’ loo! Deep, deep joy I can tell you!

Internet, a phone to call home & - wait for it - a shower too! In the words of Monty Python, ‘Luxury’!

After a little accident in the shower - where I managed to knock myself unconscious by slipping over & landing face first on the floor - we all sat down to eat. After this came news of an ‘optional extra’ which, to be honest, we couldn’t refuse but we all wanted to! More of that in tomorrow’s blog.

Tim, with a bruised & badly swollen right cheeck bone, for SLS, signing off. GB.

13.01.10 (again) - 6.20pm (12.40pm UK), ref Trek Day One.

Landed at Lukla Airport safely at 7.15am after a 5.15am alarm - boy that was loud! The plane journey was amazing - a twin engine Otter that we really couldn’t see how we were all going to fit in to, but we did! It was tight - very tight - but we got in. Rob’s left leg was up Mike’s right nostril, one of the new guys - Mark - was nearly on my knee (& he‘s a well built guy) & I can’t begin to report what position John & Bob were in! We made it though & to watch the mountain tops passing by beneath us, to see the mountains through whose valleys we would be walking pass by the windows & to watch the minute runway approach in front of us was absolutely exhilarating. Jude recorded the landing, so hopefully can get it uploaded.

After landing we headed off to eat our ‘packed breakfast’ - which was amazing, even though it wasn’t. We were sooo hungry! Once fed & watered off we set! We had officially started our trek to the base camp of the largest mountain in the world - it was a very exciting moment. I, for one, just kept giggling to myself inside - I just couldn’t believe what we had embarked upon.

The temperature was ideal. Although below freezing when we landed, by the time we headed off it was ‘in the teens’ & some of us went down to short sleeves & remained that way for most of the day. The scenery, as you would expect, was amazing. The snowy mountain tops in the distance, the clear water glacier stream, the tree filled foothill slopes… fantastic.

We arrived at Phakding around 2.15pm & unloaded our packs. Rooms are basic but comfortable. There’s a shower, broken internet, a very basic food choice & a hole in the ground… that was an experience too!

‘Eating in’ tonight. The night is promised to be a very cold one, so thermals at the ready! Won’t get a chance to upload this until tomorrow, so will report on our first night then. For now though, we’re all huddled in the ‘dining room’ - which has a wood burning stove in the middle - trying to keep warm. Power is getting low on this little laptop, so I’m going to sign off. Various layers keep appearing & everyone seems to be getting bigger by the minute! Off to Namche Bazaar tomorrow where we will stay for 2 nights to acclimatise. Being the largest village on the trek, internet access should be good so I’ll upload this there. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to ring home too - maybe we’ve already spoken to you - which will be great if it’s possible. We’re told it’ll be an early start to N.B. & a tough ascent - from 2640m (here) to 3440m (there) - so I guess we’ll be pretty tired by the time we arrive.

We have a great bunch & everyone’s getting on famously. It’s going to be a great journey, in more ways than one I’m sure.

Tim, for SLS, signing off. GB.