Kathmandu - Reintegration

As the bus pulled into the ‘quiet oasis of tranquillity’ that is the Hotel Malla I breathed a huge sigh of relief – we MADE IT!! 16 team members, digits all intact and everyone in fine form, good spirits, very much looking forward to a pizza and a beer with an alcohol content higher than 3%.

Summit Day - 8848m

This is an account of Summit Day, a day that I will remember for the rest of my life.

North Col - 7800m

Email update to Dave Pritt, Adventure Peaks, http://www.adventurepeaks.com/

ABC - Heading up the North Col

Email update to Dave Pritt at Adventure Peaks, http://www.adventurepeaks.com/

ABC - The most difficult decision I've ever made

I am awake at 1:30am listening to a hefty-wind blowing at my tent and I can’t get back to sleep as I know that I now need to come to terms with something I’ve known for the past 24 hours – in spite of my determination, there is no way that I will be able to go higher up the mountain due to the problems with my ribs and my current health.

ABC - Cyclone Laila

Our Summit Day has now been bumped forward a day to avoid Cyclone Laila which has reared her ugly head in the Bay of Bengal. This makes our new Summit Day the early morning of Sunday, May 23rd. There have been some rumours about Laila in the weather forecasts of the past few days but todays report was a bit too clear to ignore... I’ve included some relevant sections in the end section of this entry. Combined with the wind tearing away at my tent, the gargantuan of spin-drift blowing off of Everests' summit, and the unexpected layer of snow that fell again last night, the report makes for some nail-biting reading..

IC - ABC - Not easier, just faster...

I set out this morning at 8:30am in an attempt to be at ABC by about 2pm – early enough for the sun to still be on my tent so that I could enjoy a warm nap and a cup of noodle soup before the boys arrived from their 1-day-er. I still can’t comprehend the advantages to doing the BC – ABC trek in one day – 21kms, 1000m ascent, on scree...! Splitting it into two days with a relaxing stay at Interim Camp is much more civilised!

BC - IC - Team Montenegro

I set off this morning for Interim Camp at 11:30 sharp – about 30 minutes behind schedule but the sky seemed clear and the wind had not started to pick up so I felt quietly confident that I’d be able to make it up to IC relatively unscathed. The boys seem to have recovered from Man Day as breakfast passed fairly “quietly” with only a few chest-beating incidents to speak of. The mood was jovial yet somewhat more subdued as the Summit Day has now been confirmed for the 23rd or 24th. Summit Day is on everyones mind and preparations are well and truly underway with final packing in progress, emails and phone calls home scheduled, the final opportunity to bathe in the potato pan secured.... You can definately sense that everyone is getting more and more focused on the tremendous challenge ahead.

BC - Man Day

I was welcomed to the mess tent this morning by an entourage of chest beating, ape-like armpit scratching and the distinct scent of testosterone…. As soon as the boys entered the mess tent they were asked whether they liked ‘cats or dogs’ and whether they preferred ‘Forrest Gump’ to ‘Spartacus’…. depending on their answers some were relegated to the adjacent tent. I prepared for the worst as I poured myself an extra-strong cup of coffee. I was informed by my 16 testosterone fuelled team mates that today is ‘Man Day’, a day dedicated to all things ‘Man’.

BC - Groundhog Day

Waiting for the weather window feels a lot like Groundhog Day. The weather is generally the same every day (blue sky, sunny and windy), we eat meals daily and regularly at 09:30, 2:30 and 7:30 every day, and conversations generally revolve around the summit window, or summit day generally or the ever popular weather forecast. Somehow these conversations always degenerate into one or another toilet joke or a ‘silent but deadly‘ fart by a member of the team where the next 20-minutes are spent arguing over ‘who-dunnit‘ while the Mess Tent turns into a gas chamber.

BC - A Cultural Injection

I never thought I’d have the opportunity to model a Chinese military jacket in a Tibetan teahouse at the foot of Mount Everest but that’s just what I found myself doing today as I stood in the centre of the cosy and well-insulated teahouse aptly named, “Sunrise Hotel”.

BC - My Birthday!

I’ve celebrated my birthday in some unusual places over the years but think that I will struggle to ever repeat today’s festivities at 5100m, Everest Base Camp. 34 years old… young..!!

BC - Par-tay and True Love

Last night provided a welcome break from the usual Base Camp afternoon /evening routine and has since injected some ‘life‘ and ‘energy‘ back into the camp (not that we ever seemed to be lacking any to begin with..!).  We went to a party. Not just any party. An Everest Base Camp 7-Summits Club Party. Russian style.

BC - Broken

I’m not sure if it’s because I’m turning the ripe old age of 34 in 2-days time or whether I am well and truly feeling the stereotypical effects of altitude (up until this point I actually thought I was invincible - ha ha..)…
but this morning, my first morning back at Base Camp since my 4-days at 7200m, I am feeling like an old, dilapidated, broken down car…. an old VW similar to one that my Dad used to have on the farm that was in constant need of repair and just wouldn‘t give up even though pieces kept falling off of it. The car had body-parts from about 7 other old cars duct taped and welded to it... When we misbehaved my Dad used to threaten to drive us to school in it which would definitely have destroyed whatever little street-cred that I had left..!

BC - Food and Eating on Everest

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG….
It’s 14:30 which means that was our lunch-‘bell’ – I use the word ‘bell’ loosely as it’s really one of the Tibetan kitchen boys throwing rocks against the half empty propane tank outside of the kitchen tent….. (is that safe?!)

ABC - Base Camp

TBC - long boring walk back to Basecamp via the Moraine Superhighway

North Col - ABC

TBC - hot day and steep descent of the North Col and walk back to the comforts of ABC.

North Col - The weather comes in

TBC - attempt at trying to get out of the tent but and head up to 7500 but had to turn back on account of weather.

North Col - Sun and Snow

I woke up with the condensation from the inside of the tent dripping on my head. Confused, I checked my watch - 6:30am - and tried to get my bearings. I was inside a tent. In spite of what felt like Chinese water torture, I was warm.

North Col - Up, up, up... Avalanche!

“You’re going a little bit faster” encouraged Sonam over the dull thud of my crampon kicking into the knee deep snow which continued to fall heavily throughout the afternoon. We were back on the North Col - Matt (our guide) as well as Matt, Pete and myself. The ultimate goal of the mission was to spend 2 nights sleeping at the North Col and to make our way up to the 7500m ’marker’ as an additional altitude push and preparation for the tremendous challenges ahead.

ABC

I’m pleased to report that everyone has returned safe and sound and in good spirits from two very difficult nights at the North Col. Max was the first to arrive in camp this morning utterly exhausted, dehydrated looking ‘all the mountain man’ after blazing trail through knee deep snow down the Col and falling into a crevasse as he crossed the Rombok glacier.

ABC - Puja and Building the Throne

I compare the feeling of waiting for news from the North Col team while sat at ABC to waiting for a boy to call… One sits by the phone for hours, waiting for the phone to ring, buzz, beep…. Any sign of life.

So we sat - Pete, Matt and I - at ABC in the “Communications Tent” (now make-shift breakfast tent) waiting to hear news from the team at the North Col. They’d spent their first night at 7000m last night and today were due to make their way up to the next milestone - 7500m. I wondered however, whether the plan was still on schedule given that it was clear from the heavy wind and snow that we were experiencing at ABC that the North Col was experiencing some vicious winds, snow and extremely low temperatures.