Everest 2005 News

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Jake has been trying to raise money from this climb for his nominated charity The Children's Wish Foundation. We would like to aim for £1per foot (so a total of £20,035). We have a long way to go.

Now is the time to dig deep and make a contribution towards this fantastic charity. Jake managed to fulfil his lifelong wish. Lets all help others, less fortunate, fulfil their dying wish. If you would like to contribute something, and please, it does not matter how big or small a donation, please send you cheque, made out to Children's Wish Foundation, to Jake Meyer, Trull Farm, Tetbury, Glos GL8 8SQ.

Jake Meyer date of birth 20 th Jan 1984 , making him the youngest British Ascent, now safely back at 8300m

All have now returned safely to camp at 8300m and intend to drop to at least 7800m. Congratulations for a fantastic summit and for keeping us all waiting. A big thank you to our Sherpa team on the mountain and to Surendra Gurung for keeping the team well stocked with great food and for the help in carrying to the North Col between meals. Thanks also to the team back in Kathmandu led by Iswari.

Well, you might have already heard, but if you didn't:

WE ALL MADE IT!!!

At 6am on the 4th June 2005; Di, Jake, Mingma and Aneil reached the summit of Mt Everest 8850m, the highest mountain on earth. Jake completed his 7 summits and became the youngest Briton to summit, and the youngest male in the world to complete the 7. Di became the first British female guide to get a client to the summit. Mingma summited for the 3rd time and Aneil for his first. Wow, what a bunch of superstars!

Now for the tedious narrative of the last few days (I don't want to ruin the ending; but it's a goodie!).

Day 61 (1st June)

An early start for launch of our summit attempt. A quick brekkie and weather round up (same as before) and then up the hill we went. We had the fantastic idea of walking up in our trainers and carrying our boots to the barrels. In case I haven't described this route march before, the barrels are where we leave a barrel (hence the name) of our crampons and ice axes at the start of the snow and ice. However to get there from ABC you have to clamber through this myriad of boulders and scree which 'lubricates' the ground between the south facing slope Changtse and the glacier which runs of the North Col. It's not as if it's steep, it might only rise 50 meters in it's 1km length, but there's just something evil about it. It is the Devils skid mark on the mountain. I think that it must be something about walking across that kind of terrain at this altitude (6400m). It is an unpleasant assault on your ankles, and seems to go on forever. Anyway, enough of my bitching, I think that you get the idea that it's not pleasant.

As we were leaving the camp, we came across Tim (British KE), who had summited the two days previously, and had just got down the evening before. It was great to see him, and many congratulations were in order for him, and he gave us a few precious gems of information about the route. It was 7.48 when we left him, and we got up to our tent almost exactly 4 hours later. We were the only climbers going up the fixed ropes as it was still early, and the going was easy. The first ladder could now be missed out as a snow bridge of sufficient strength had built up alongside it. We met two Russian climbers coming down, at least one of whom had summited. The second had lost one of his crampons, and as he was abseiling down one of the 90 degree sections, he slipped and fell. If it hadn't been for Di's quick thinking, as she dived across and grabbed the end of the rope and pulled it tight, he might have hit the floor with quite a thud! What a hero (again)!

So we arrived at the North Col (7100m) at about midday, and immediately started brewing up and eating as much as we could. Now that we were making our final summit bid, it was imperative that we ate as much as possible to maintain our strength and drank constantly to keep hydrated. The sky was a wonderful clear azure blue and the sun hovered above us like a hungry vulture. At about 2pm, Jamie (Project Himalaya) appeared coming down from the 7500m camp in his Down suit. We gave him several cups of hot juice whilst he told us what had happened. He had made a summit attempt that morning, but had turned round at the second step with his British 'client' Paul. Apparently the winds had been too strong, so they had binned the attempt. Paul had stayed up there with his Sherpa and had managed to get extra oxygen and was going to make another attempt in a couple of days when the weather would hopefully improve. Wearily Jamie pulled on his incredibly heavy pack and continued over to his tent.

So, like a couple of mountain couch potatoes, Di and I spent the afternoon eating wine gums, Asda's finest Carrot cake cookies (v. good!) and then our boil in the bags. As the sun continued in its overhead arc and turned the sky from cobalt to a fiery orange as it began to sink behind Pumori in the West, we did our best to savor every last joule of warmth before burrowing deep into our sleeping bags.

Day 62 (2nd June)

I was dreading this day. The endless snow slope up to the 7500m camp had defeated us once before, not only with its incessant boredom and ceaseless laboriousness, but its treacherous exposure. Not only were we going up this, we were going to continue on to our 7800m camp, stopping only briefly in 7500m to collect oxygen. As I stuck my head out of the tent early that morning, I could already see a few figures struggling up the icy incline. I made sure that I ate as much as I could to give my legs the as much energy as possible in preparation for this arduous task ahead. As we set off (dressed in our Down suits and high altitude gear) there we already about ten climbers on the ropes.

The climb was long and to start with we moved quickly and efficiently, overtaking several climbers and even a couple of Sherpas. We would pause regularly to catch our breaths, but only for a few moments before setting off again. On our left we looked down on the birth of the East Rongbuk Glacier, emerging pristine and faultless from the base of the North Col and the East Ridge. To our right the splendor of the west Everest region lay unfurled into the distance. The jutting incisor-like Pumori (7147m) in the foreground, and towards the rear of this vista lay the colossal behemoth of Cho Oyu (8201m, which Di climbed in 2004), its tremendous summit plateau shimmering in the morning sun. After several hours of trudging up the slope, and just as the angle began to increase, I could feel my energy slowly being sapped. The wind, the slope angle, the monotony; it all seemed to contribute in an effort to wear me out. False summit after false summit wore me out mentally, and I was having to sit down after every twenty steps or so. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, the welcome sight of the camp came into view. With this multicolored cacophony of tents as my target, I found renewed strength to reach this checkpoint. As I collapsed exhausted into the camp, I wished that this had been our end objective for the day, as I thought that at this altitude, my legs would go no further. However, help was at hand! Two bottles of O2, with Adventure Peaks scrawled in black marker upon them were lying in the centre of the camp. We hunkered down out of the wind behind a couple of J/G tents for protection. I attached my regulator to the oxygen bottle, and tied the bottle to the outside of my rucksack. I turned the regulator up to 2 litres per minute and we started back into the wind. If I had been faltering before the O2, suddenly I had a new lease of life with it. I was now breathing normally, rather than my previous constant hyperventilating. My legs no longer burned with fatigue. My body was suddenly and miraculously working and responding to my will. It was like a sudden boost of power being supplied at 2 liters a minute. Oxygen is the climbers' elixir, and it worked well! Di had decided to keep going from 7500m to the camp without the O's, so that she didn't have to carry the heavy (3.5kg) bottle.

The topography had now changed from the odious snow slope to a scramble now that we had reached the rock bands. We were still following the fixed ropes, which now led us through the rocky terrain. It picked a sneaky trail through the seemingly impenetrable maze of rock-strewn territory. Di was finding it hard going without the oxygen; unsurprising at this altitude with a heavy pack on her back. The going was made especially tough by the fact that we were constantly having to clamber over obstacles and scramble round obstructions, following the line exactly like some type of umbilical cord. With the oxygen however I was feeling fantastic. I can't stress what a difference it made at that point, especially considering how close I had been to total exhaustion only a few minutes earlier. The obstacles posed no problem; they were even an enjoyment after the tediousness of the snow. We slowly weaved our way up through the confusion of broken strata. Wearing the oxygen mask and goggles I felt like Darth Vader, and kept on saying things to myself like; 'Luke, I am your Father' and breathing extra deep! I certainly felt invincible with my life-giving O's.

The sight of the tents at the 7800m camp was a welcome one, and as we neared them we were caught up by Mingma, who seemed to scramble over the rocks with his heavy pack as though he was merely out for a Sunday afternoon walk! Finally, some 7 hours after we started, we arrived at the tent. Our heavy rucksacks hit the ground with a thud, and we sank to the ground. Anil arrived a couple of hours later (after Mingma had gone back down to help him with his load). So like a happy little family, the 4 of us settled down for the night, very cosy in a 3 man tent! To fit in we had to sleep across the tent, rather than along it. This is fine, I suppose if you are five and a half feet or less like Di and the Sherps, but not great if you are over 6 foot like me! Also, somehow I managed to draw the short straw and was wedged between Di and the back door of the tent (the short straw being the back of the tent rather than Di, I'm not being rude!). The wind was still gusting hard outside and the back of the tent (and therefore me inside) was being continually buffeted and pounded. We all slept on oxygen, and at least that afforded us a night of low altitude simulated sleep; relatively fitful and filled with vivid dreams. The only problem was that my designated 6 inches width of sleeping space wasn't quite wide enough (!) and meant that occasionally I did wake up with my legs locked with uncomfortable stiffness!

Day 63 (3rd June)

Somehow, despite the abnormal circumstances of our sleeping arrangements, I awoke refreshed and raring to go. Maybe it was the benefits of sleeping on oxygen, or the fact that I knew that in only a few hours we would be leaving the high camp to make our summit bid. We had a quick breakfast, packed up our sleeping bags, strapped on the O's and set off early. We wanted to make good time up to the high camp in order to have the maximum amount of time to recharge, rehydrate and relax before the final push. We were all on O2 now. Even Mingma, who had already been up to 8300m without oxygen, was using it to ensure that he remained as strong as possible for the summit. We set off at a slow but steady pace, and before long arrived at the 7900m camp site, where the J/G and HimEx 'B' teams were staying. We stopped briefly to say good morning to Ian and Neil and that lot, before continuing on up the mountain. It was reassuring to have the fixed ropes, even on the easier terrain, as it gave an obvious line to follow. Once clipped on with our jumars, you would get into a familiar and methodical routine of taking a step, moving the jumar up, taking a breath, moving the other foot up, ad infinitum. Rather than a tiresome and repetitive action, it became a straightforward and systematic means of making your way slowing up. The most important thing was getting a rhythm going, and trying to keep going for as many steps as possible before stopping to rest. A slow and gentle trudge was all that was needed on the easy terrain. We worked our way up the lines away from the 7900m camp. The rope was soon heavy with climbers and sherpas; all gradually making their way along the trail. By about 11am we started seeing climbers coming down the ropes as well. They were all those who had attempted the summit the previous day, and a few of the faster, stronger ones from this mornings attempt as well. Throughout the morning I saw the J/G 'A' team coming down, all successful in their attempt. Dave, Alex, Tores and, as I got into camp, Sibu. Fred had binned his attempt the previous day, and we had seen him descending as we were making our way up to 7500m. They all looked knackered yet elated at having done it. It was fantastic seeing our new friends, especially having been successful. Their trip was full of stories of past triumph and failure. Alex finally had done it after 2 previous unsuccessful trips. Tores had attempted the mountain before and not made it, and hadn't been that well on the way up. Sibu, who had summitted on the south in 2003 (being the first black on to summit) had now succeeded on both sides. And Dave had done a fantastic job as leader, managing to hold his team whilst waiting for the weather. They had had several pretty horrendous nights up high by all accounts, yet they had done it. Eventually we pulled ourselves into the camp; a desolate series of platforms on a 20 degree talus slope. Our tent wasn't erected as yet, for fear of it being destroyed by the winds, so we struggled in the still quite blustery conditions to put it up and secure it, tying it to what rocks we could. The camp was a like a camping shop mass grave, with the tattered remains of tents flapping in the wind.

Even the worlds best designed and strongest tents cannot survive for long up here. The exceptionally high UV degradation eats away at the fabric, and the winds constant buffeting snaps the poles likes they are twigs. Anil arrived soon after we got the tent up, and he, Di and I climbed inside the shelter and started boiling water (from our water bottles) whilst Mingma went off to collect our summit oxygen he had previously cached and snow to melt. When he returned we once again all crammed into the tent, a tangle and muddle of limbs, half buried under a mountain of Down clothing.

We spent several hours eating and drinking as much as we could with the stove gently roaring away in the porch melting snow. The plan was to leave at around 10pm, so at about 5pm we all huddled down in our sleeping bags for a few hours rest before the big event. With the oxygen on at a flow of 1 litre per minute, we nervously tossed and turned in our bags, our excitement and apprehension devoiding us of the instant and exhausted passing out that would usually pursue the morning's strenuous work out. I went over our summit attempt over and over in my head, my mind imagining every conceivable situation. What if we didn't make it? What if we did? What if something went wrong? What would happen after the summit? How hard was the 2nd Step? What if the oxygen stopped working? What if the weather changed? I tried to consider multiple circumstances, especially the worst-case scenarios to ensure that I might be prepared for them in the event that they happened. As I lost myself in an over imaginative maelstrom of potential situations, thoughts turned to dreams, and amidst the gentle hiss of the oxygen, I feel asleep.

The first thing that I remember thinking when I awoke is that it wasn't very cold. I had taken off my Down suit and was sleeping only in a few thin fleeces with my sleeping bag fully unzipped (and once again next to the drafty and flapping rear door on the windward side). I suppose the fact that there were 4 of us cozily crammed in, and that the extra oxygen kept our extremities warm. It was about 9pm, and the stove went back on so that we could have another hot drink before we left. As we struggled back into our Down suits in the dark and cramped confines the adrenaline started to flow. This was it!

After two months of patient waiting here we were, poised at the high camp, preparing to enter the unknown in our attempt on the summit. We quickly and quietly went through our pre-summit preparation, like soldiers preparing for a final attack. Tensions and nerves were high, but as we went through the well practiced routine of getting our boots, harnesses and finally crampons on, there was an air of excitement present. Sitting in the porch I finished tightening my crampon straps, making sure that they were fitted tight and correctly, and crawled out into the night. Our headlights cut a swath of light through the inky darkness, yet the supposedly familiar ground even around the tent seemed alien and inhospitable.

Mingma did a sterling job preparing all our oxygen for us. For the summit attempt we would be using the 3 litre bottles rather than the 4 litre ones. Although they were of smaller capacity, they were lighter, an attribute that would be important to Di and I, as the lighter our packs, the stronger we would be. Mingma however, like the ox that he was, would be carrying four spare bottles for us. Once we were all ready we set off, following Mingma into the unknown. There seemed to be remarkably little activity in the camp. We were the first team to set off, which meant that hopefully we could travel at a comfortable speed, and not have to queue for the difficult sections. From the camp we rose rapidly up towards the ridge, following the ropes as they traced the safest route up. Before long the trail turned from a straightforward track into a scramble up complicated off-sized rock formations. This problematic terrain often threw up arrangements that required intricate and careful moves. All was silent bar the sound of crampons scraping painfully over the rocks underfoot and your own labored breathing in the masks. At that moment the ridgeline and summit pyramid protected us from the ferocity of the midnight wind, and we were glad to be out of its impeding cruelty.

Day 64 (4th June)

As we gained height we looked back down in the direction of the camp. Even though we couldn’t see the camp itself, a small snake of torch-lights wiggled its way slowly up below us. Although the sky seemed clear, there was little moonlight to add ambient light to aid our navigating of the ropes. Our vision was confined to the strength of our headlamps struggling to pierce the gloom. It was hard to focus on the stars, with the light pollution from our own illuminations reducing our eyes appreciation of their radiance. Above our heads, silhouetted against the gloom, we could make out the towering bulk of the ridgeline, which was slowly getting closer. We started to notice that the fixed ropes were becoming more of a jumble. Rather than one or two clean and new ropes, there were many lines, some not more than a few strands thick in places, worn thin by the ravages of the mountain. Mingma would climb up ahead of us to check the quality of the lines as it wasn't always clear at one end which ropes would maintain their worth to the next anchor. Our familiar blue 7mm Bluewater cords were now not the sole identifiable safeties. It might be follow the black and yellow rope for one section, then a red one from last year for the next. It was lucky that Mingma was being thorough. A number of times I might have considered clipping one line as my safety; only to find that after twenty metres or so it was reduced to a few mangy strands of its core as it rubbed against a jagged rocky corner. We came to one tricky section of the climb, where we were reduced to scrabbling up a sheer rock face, in a style that would have made our rock climbing mentors cringe; grabbing handfuls of ropes, crampons scraping ineffectually all over the rock, our bodies flailing incompetently as we struggled up this wall.

It's not as though it was a blank and sheer face; but with the crampons, big boots, bulky clothing, depredation by the altitude and the horrendous tunnel vision created by the mask and goggles meant that we were reduced to mere shadows of our former low altitude rock climbing prowess. Oh well; at least it was dark and nobody was watching! When we collapsed exhausted over the top having surmounted this apparent White Spider of problems, Mingma proudly announced that that had been the 1st Step. Hold on; if that was the 1st Step, then we've still got to negotiate the harder second step. Uh oh, that'll be something to look forward to. We had now reached the ridgeline, and so we traveling in more of a horizontal direction along it rather than vertical one up it. This certainly gave a little much need respite for the legs, but now meant that we were following some pretty narrow ledges. The crampons worked well and gave confidence underfoot on the snow and unconsolidated scree where they could bite, but on the solid smooth rock sections they would scratch and scrape insecurely. Even Di, who as an experienced Scottish winter climber, would make tentative steps out onto these 'slippery' sections, and I would follow even more hesitantly, anxious that my feet might slide out from underneath me at any moment. Several times my foot placements were either mistaken, or in my caution I didn't put enough pressure on them, and they would shift ever so slightly. These movements, of mere millimeters, would make my heart jump, and after overcoming these sections I would realise that I had been holding my breath throughout; not an action that is recommended at 8600m!

At one point we were edging around an exposed section when I saw a pair of plastic boots lying on a buildup of snow next to me. At first I wondered why there would be a pair of abandoned boots up here, and then I noticed that they weren't abandoned; there were a pair of legs sticking out of them and leading into the snow. My first thought was one of pure horror and revulsion, but as I carried on walking away from the grizzly scene I realized that actually I had been expecting so see bodies. The higher slopes of the mountain are littered with them, and it is part and parcel of the summit experience; a constant reminder of the inherent risks involved with climbing Everest. At least someone had had the decency to bury this particular body. With a little imagination and a lot of denial, you could tell yourself that it was just a pair of boots and nothing more. Di hadn't even noticed it, and as we carried on climbing the morbid scene soon left the forefront of my mind.

By this time several of the torch lights following us had caught up and were trailing close behind. I was rather concerned because maybe this meant that we were traveling too slowly, but whether this was due to our overly cautious nature in checking and selecting the ropes, our incompetence in getting over the harder sections quickly or just fatigue, I could only guess. We later discovered that the people who had caught up with us had been on a flow rate of 4 litres a minute, twice our oxygen feed, so it was unsurprising that they were traveling slightly faster and had managed to catch up. I was so wrapped up in my concern about our speed that when Mingma and Di stopped I nearly walked slap bang into the back of her. When I looked ahead of her to see why they had stopped my torch beam met a wall of rock. I looked up and saw it just continue up. It was the 2nd Step; a series of platforms and ledges separated by bulbous blank sections and rounded off-width cracks. Lying snaked over this bastion wall of rock was a tangled snare of ropes; like unkempt creepers obscuring a damaged fortification. Even from the bottom, with out the benefit of testing any of the sections, it looked like it was full of exasperating and complicated moves; and that would have been at sea level in normal conditions! My fears were confirmed as I watched Mingma struggle clumsily up the first section. For a moment I actually thought that he had got stuck and he tried several times, seemingly without success to scramble up the first chimney like crack. Eventually, and not without considerable effort he managed to find a minute crucial lip with the tips of the front points of his crampons and with great exertion manage to lever himself onto the first platform. Once he set off on the second section Di started on the awkward first section. As Mingma disappeared off over the top, this time a little more smoothly, Di was scraping her way up the rock. No style was possible for this kind of climbing in these conditions, just brute strength and determination. As she gradually made her way up onto the first platform I carefully made my way up the slippery slab into a position from which I could attempt the problem. Part of the conundrum was which rope to clip the jumar onto. The supposed safety rope wasn't actually in a very good position, but no matter which line you clipped you invariably ended up tying yourself in knots. As I struggled up the rock, crampons scraping in a most ungainly fashion as I timidly tested various combinations of locks and braces, I had to be careful not to get caught up in the ropes. This was made nearly impossible as I had my walking pole hanging from a leash on my wrist, and like a novice's fishing line it had this unerring ability to try its best to get tangled in everything. I felt like a fly in a spider's web as I struggled upwards in my quest to get free of this vertical dilemma. Somehow, and I think that it involved a great deal of usually unethical pulling on the ropes; I managed to haul myself onto the platform.

I stopped briefly to catch my breath, and then continued up through the next section, where the quantity of ropes seemed to intensify and compound the problem, and again after a lot of huffing and puffing I managed to heave myself onto the top platform. Phew! My lungs were screaming, and I couldn't seem to draw enough oxygen from the mask to satisfy them (most people turn the flow rate up to 4 litres a minute for the 2nd Step, but for whatever reason we didn't). Just as I started to get my breath back and when I thought the horrific exertion was over I heard the sound of metal banging against rock, and I looked up to see Di half way up a twenty-five foot aluminum ladder. Oh God, I'd completely forgotten about that. Confident that Anil was happy enough scraping his way up the rock face below me I changed rope and started plodding up a short snow ramp to the base of the ladder. The existing Chinese ladder that was bolted onto the rockface was hidden under an even greater chaos of ropes, but a newer ladder had been brought up the previous year and stood relatively clear out on the exterior of the nylon wall. As Di left the top of the ladder I started to climb it. Even though I was literally climbing a ladder, it was no easy task; the fatigue in my legs causing my crampons to keep catching on the rungs. The most difficult thing however was moving off the top of the ladder to safety. The rope anchor points (where I had to unclip one line and clip the next) seemed to be in just the wrong places and the changeovers made for anxious times, as for a few seconds I fumbled around, with no safety as I changed ropes. Had I fallen at any of these points, I probably would have bounced and rolled off into the abyss as I plummeted 12,000 feet down the North Face. After even more ungainly slithering up over the last rock section I eventually made it safely onto the top, where Mingma and Di were waiting patiently (probably glad for the chance to rest). When I got there the three of us moved along a little further to a safer place where we could sit down and wait for Anil. A few other climbers appeared, including Mark (J/G), but still no Anil. Mark and I chatted as best we could through the masks, and I stamped my feet on the ground in an effort to keep them warm. Eventually Anil turned up and we could see the problem that had kept him, his head torch batteries had run out and it had died. It turned out that he had had to climb the whole of the second step without his own light, trying to rely on the ambient light created by the other climbers. Not an easy task as you can imagine, and so by the time he arrived with us as the top he was mentally as well as physically drained. He was so despondent that I had to change the batteries for him.

We paused for a few moments to give Anil a bit of time to recover, but the cold quickly started to seep through our clothing, and we soon started walking again. The trail had now started to flatten out along the top of the ridge, and in the first light of the morning I looked over the ridge to the south for the first time. It dropped very steeply off down the precipitous Kanshung Face. Being this close to such a sheer drop gave me an eerie thrill, and I was glad that we were protected from the wind; I probably wouldn't have been so blasé about the abrupt drop-off had I been struggling against a gale that threatened to put me over it! The sky was rapidly lighting up with the approaching sun. The cold and impersonal gloom around us was hastily being replaced by an early morning warmth of colour, as greys became blues. Below us a sea of cloud floated thick at over 7500m, with only the highest peaks emerging triumphant above it. Once we were clear of the 2nd Step we were back to simple terrain again. In fact we didn't even bother to clip to the rope now that we could see the surroundings clearly, and we covered the ground quickly. Ahead of us the snowy summit pyramid loomed massive; the supposedly elusive goal within ones grasp.

At that moment the whole situation seemed all rather bizarre, be we were ambling (and that’s almost how it was) along at 8700m, with the top of the world no longer enshrined in clouds miles above our heads, but on a relative level with us... equal if you will. Then we saw him. The sight got worse the closer we got, and somehow as we passed the body of Marco, the Slovenian who had perished only a week or so earlier, I was inexplicably drawn to study the gruesome and sinister spectacle in my morbid curiosity. If the first body I had scene earlier left the disturbing sight for you imagination to dismiss, with this one there was no such luxury. Lying on his back with his legs in the air, his arms outstretched with his now gnarled bare hands clutching at some imaginary surface. His face was waxy and sun bleached and twisted in a grotesque scream of agony. He reminded me of Lenin's Body in the Mausoleum in Moscow; but where Lenin lies peacefully, this repulsive sight lay locked in an eternal last brace of torture and suffering. The ravages of the wind and the sun had already started giving his skin a marble like look, and if it wasn't for his modern clothing, you would assume that he had been there for years; however in a matter of days he was becoming mummified, destined to remain in such a state for years. It was his position that made the sight the most disturbing, he had obviously been clutching at the snow as he had died, but somehow (or more likely someone) he had been turned over onto his back, and now he eyeballed all who passed him with am accusing glare, as he was condemned to spend eternity only a few metres from the summit. Granted, it might be one of the most beautiful final resting places in the world, but unimaginably harsh as well; constant retribution by the wind and the sun would probably strip the clothes from his body over the winter and leave him exposed and without discretion. I don't know why I was so fascinated, maybe it was the morose thrill of seeing a body that close up (he was literally on the path), the grim fascination to see what the mountain was capable of should you let your guard down for even one second. It was certainly an effective warning and reminder of the dangers of not having enough energy or oxygen for the return journey.

With this admonition behind us we continued onto the steep snowy slope of the pyramid. With Mingma hurrying to catch up from behind after helping Anil back at the Step, we began forging our way up this final hurdle. Suddenly, and almost exactly simultaneously we both began to falter. Our legs turned to lead and lactic acid instantly made them burn with a conflagration that had been unfelt thus far. Our lungs screamed in response and our hyperventilating came in hurried yet labored gasps. We had run out of oxygen. The effect was instantaneous and intimidating, and was not helped by the fact that we were on such a precarious slope. We both shouted for Mingma at the same time, but as he was next me he quickly changed mine first before heading back down to Di. I asked him to turn the flow rate up to 3 litres for this last section, and as the life-giving gas started to course through my system and revitalize my body I could once again carry on going. Di in the mean time was waiting for Anil to come up, as he was carrying the other spare bottle (Mingma had cached the final two earlier for the return journey). The ropes on the slope traced their path over to the Northern edge, when I had to begin a tentative traverse along an exposed face. When I had looked through the telescope in ABC at the summit pyramid I had assumed that the route ran straight up the snow slope to the summit, and hadn't realized that it skirted (albeit high) around it to ascend the North face. Here the ropes lay slack and tatty, and it was the most I could do to concentrate on finding the secure foot placements on the minute ledges, and not to worry to much about the 12,000 drop to my right. After 50 metres or so the line stopped traversing and started ascending once again. It opened out into this wide open gully filled scattered with unconsolidated rock underneath, and the occasional patches of snow and ice. There were several climbers who had overtaken us at the 3rd step and whilst we had changed the oxygen. I waited patiently and watched carefully as one of the Kiwi guides from HimEx gradually made his way up this final rock pitch. Although it wasn't terrifyingly steep (by sea level rock climbing standards at least), it was exposed, and one slip, one careless crampon placement could cause you a nasty crash. This was not the place to twist an ankle or break a leg. When it was my turn I slowly and cautiously made followed my way up, methodically testing every foot placement and grateful for the security afforded by the jumar on the rope which I kept at a reassuring tension. I final pulled myself over the top onto a snow platform littered with several oxygen bottles, glad to be back on the flat. Just a couple of metres above me lay a snowy crown; my ultimate goal? I considered continuing on up to it, but then neglected that idea; the others weren't that far behind and as we had climbed as a team, we would summit as a team; all together. I asked the New Zealander who was also resting on this convenient plateau if that truly was the top, and to my horror he replied that it wasn't, and that the top was in fact another 10 minutes walk along a ridge. This surprised me, as in ABC I had asked someone it Everest had one of those unending final top ridges full of false summits just to really finish you off, and the answer had been no. Well never mind; here I was sitting nearly on the roof of the world, the final rafter if you will, only minutes from my lifelong goal.

As I thought that the others might be a few minutes I decided to ring my parents in the UK. I reasoned that I had the time now, and that it might be too windy on the actual summit to attempt such a procedure. I had warned my Father the previous afternoon from the high camp that today was the day, and to have his phone on his bedside table (it was 1am in Britain). With cold and hesitant fingers I dialed the number on the Sat phone. It rang twice before he picked it up, obviously this was a call he had been waiting for! 'Hey Dad, I'm here, I'm on the summit' I lied; well it was in the bag really, and hopefully no point denying it now. He was thrilled, over the moon, completely ecstatic for me, and I think probably the proudest father in the world at that point. We chatted for several minute, well, I say chatted; I had emotional verbal diarrhea whilst he just listened excitedly. He told me to be careful and to call him as soon as I was safely back in high camp. I then rang my Mother. Mikey, my stepfather picked up the phone, and for a spilt second I couldn't work out whether he had been expecting to be woken up, or was momentarily angry at whoever this was ringing at such a time. I told him the news and he passed me over to Mum. 'I'm so proud I think I'm going to cry!' she said. At this I just burst out into tears. Tears of joy, tears of excitement, tears of homesickness.

Suddenly all my emotions that I had kept pent up for the last two months just camp flooding out. Even after I had put the phone down I just sat their blubbing away like a baby. My face was screwed up in a half embarrassed smile and half emotional grimace. Tears were streaming down my checks and welling up in the seal of my mask. As more climbers started to appear I put my goggles on to hide my embarrassment. After pausing briefly for a few minutes they carried on over the false mount onto the final ridge. As Di and Mingma appeared over the top I was still shaking almost uncontrollably as wept. Di was funny; she said 'Those will freeze if you're not careful, and then you be in trouble' I had to laugh at that. Somehow I managed to pull myself together, the three of us (Anil was just behind) started up to the summit. Just over the first false mount we could see the summit, some hundred metres or so along a relatively flat ridge. Well, at least this was no long and exposed Denali ridge, or endless Cho Oyu summit plateau. We started walking carefully along it, with our iceaxes in our hands for the first time on the trip. This was it, the final victory parade.

10 minutes later we stood on the top of the world. 8850m/29035ft above sea level. The gateway between the earth and the heavens. It was incredible! There were probably about 15 people on the summit, including Mark and Jens from Jagged Globe. The actual top is probably about the size of a full size billiard table and festooned with prayer flags and various paraphernalia, and with all those people up there it was quite crowded, and you had to fight to find a place. Below us the sun had just risen from the horizon, and was basking Nepal and Tibet in a warming orange glow. Only the most majestic and prominent of the world's mountains emerged from the cloud cover, in meek honor to their sovereign Everest and her conquerors. Cho, Shish, Makalu and Kanchenjunga all lay in humble admiration at disreet distance, and Lhotse and Nuptse sat bowing at her feet to the south. It was a beautiful and poignant moment; to be the highest humans on the earth.

June 13, 2005 (Grantown on Spey): It is very hard at this stage to convey our emotions about our success on Everest. We have just spent the past 2 and a half months living as a small family in an inhospitable environment. We have made friends and formed relationships with individuals that we would normally not meet. There is only one thing that needs to be said now, but sometimes words just don’t seem enough. We, the successful Adventure Peaks 2005 Everest North Ridge Expedition, wish to say THANK YOU, to you, for absolutely everything. All the kind words that individuals have sent us has been absolutely amazing and it would be unfair to single out anyone in particular but you know who you are and that’s what important. Simply put, “thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou”. However, (there’s always one isn’t there?)…… I will say thank you personally and publicly to one person. Jake Meyer. Jake, thank you from the deepest part of my heart. You have been an absolute gem to work for and I cannot think of anyone better to share such an experience with. I will think back to all the good times (there were no bad times – as long as you don’t count the murray mint episode!) we have had with fondest memories. Jake, big hugs **hug**, and I raise a glass to you **clink**. Good luck with all your future plans and don’t be a stranger.

The Adventure Peaks 2005 Everest North Ridge Expedition were:

Jake Meyer, the youngest Brit to summit Mount Everest and the youngest male to complete the seven summits

Di Gilbert

Mingma Nuru Sherpa

Anil Bhattarai, the first Bhattarai to summit Mount Everest

Surendra Kumar Gurung

Tundo & Kasang

Summit Success Congratulations to Jake for becoming the youngest British person to summit Everest, we recieved a call to confirm Jake, Di and Mingma sherpa were on the summit at around 0050hrs on Saturday June 4th. Well done and a safe journey down. We hope to update at around 0900 hours

Summit day starts in 3hrs (at 3pm UK time on 3rd June) heading for a summit on the 4th June 1am!

Congratulations to Jake and Di, they are now at the top camp resting with Mingma Sherpa and our Sirdar Aneil. They aim to set off arond 10pm today Nepali time (5pm UK time) and all going well summit around 8am Nepali time (1am UK time on 4th June). If succesful Jake will be the youngest Brit to summit Everest. Log on at around 1am for a progress report.

Good progress has been made today and we are pleased to confirm Jake and Di have been able to reach Camp 2 at 7800m despite high winds. This was an important day, they had to progress up the North Ridge in strong winds to enable a summit bid to be made on the 4th June when the winds are forecast to decrease. Tomorrow, Friday will see their firat day on oxygen. For most people the first two hours of using the oxygen and wearing the mask is Phychological difficult as you struggle getting your breathing in on a regular basis, quite often you see people ripping the mask away thinking they can do it better without........it soon gets put back on. Provided they can stick with it, they will get into a rythm, so wearing it from 7800m - 8300m is a valuable day of practice for the summit day. It is also difficult to see your feet past the mask. We hope tomorrows news at around 3pm will be that they have reached top camp at 8300m, the summit push would start around midnight.

Unless you have already heard Jake and Di are now finally under way and have arrived at the North Col. Tomorrow will be an important day, they need to progress up to 7800m against the winds that have not yet reduced. Groups who were working 1 day ahead of us appear to have been stopped today, likewise those 2 days ahead were not able to progress from 7500/7800m to the top camp at 8300m. Hopefully more news will be posted around 3pm UK time tomorrow.

Day 60 (!)

3, 2, 1, THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!!!

It's the final countdown; Da da da daaa, da da d d daaa! (don't even pretend that you don't know that that was Europe...!) Tomorrow, we leave the luxury of ABC to commence our final assault on this mole hill that we see before us. In true Jake and Di style, we are going for the last day of the last window. Nothing like keeping you all in suspense. I imagine that you are all so near to the edge of your seats that several of you have fallen off. Well, dust yourselves off and keep reading. Having said that, we may have just had major team dynamics failure, as Di has accused me of conning her into eating a 'Bassets Murray Mint', under the premise that it had a 'soft centre'. She now has one most of a packet of Basset's Mint favourites in mouth in her search for the allusive 'soft centred' mint favourite. It is lucky that we are typing and not dictating these dispatches, as our teeth are all stuck together! She has come to the conclusion that it is the 'Murray BUTTER mint' that has the aforementioned supple core. As with all scientific tests, she has ensured that it is fair, by constant repetition of the experiment. Oh, dear, there I go again, I've come to a fork in the narrative, and as usual gone on off on the wrong literary tangent from which you wanted to read about. Ummmm, maybe I should write for the News of the Screws when I return!

Well, before I express how excited we are that it is time (my feet are so itchy I feel like I'm standing on an ants nest!), let me lead you through the tedious journey that was the last few days.

Day 57 (28th May)
The morning routine has now happily settled into; wake up at 6am. Put sun cream on. Open the door of my tent so that I can bask for 3 hours in the morning sun till breakfast. Boring day. Although I nearly forgot to tell you about Mighty Maurice the Mountain Mouse our really resilient resident rodent who lives in our mess tent and regularly survives Surendra's salacious saucepan slaughter attempts. An ample and adequate amount of alliteration, I think! Anyway, he's rather nice, looks like a hamster but the size of a guinea pig, and he scuttles around the floor whenever we are quiet. Not at all like those rascal rats we encountered in Nylam.

Day 58 (29th May)
Another day of not doing very much; sunbathing when the weather allows, building snowmen the rest of the time. Abusing J/G hospitality as usual; eating all of their Quality Street. Endless games of cards/Minesweeper.

Day 59 (30th May)
This morning was a potential leave date, if we wanted to summit on the 2nd of June; the supposed start of this last weather window. So I was up early packing my gear and clearing up my tent, all ready for the off. Di got the weather at about 6.45am, and we realised that the end of the window (3rd/4th) was going to be clear, whereas the 1st and 2nd had pretty high winds. Well, no point summiting in high winds when we could have a perfectly still day. From the excitement in the Indian Camp next to us there second team had summited (none of the first had made it). We went up to Russell Brice's team at the top of ABC to look through their telescope at people summiting. It was amazing, you could very clearly see about 10 people on the summit pyramid. You could clearly pick out the colours of their clothing, what they were doing; crouching down changing an oxygen bottle or clipping onto the fixed ropes for the return journey. So, having watched the excitement unfold on top we wandered back to our camp to settle into our own exciting day. Ha ha, the perils of sunbathing without enough sun cream! This morning has been literarily sundrenched, and like the sun-deprived fiends that we are, we have spent every available minute basking like a couple of lethargic lizards on the rocks around camp. Now, whilst I regularly applied the factor 35 and am now a wonderful brown, Di failed to keep her self topped up (either that, or her factor '60' came from a market stall in
Camden!) and has now assumed the looks of a panda (and a red panda at that!)! Take your pick; 'Bronzed Adonis' or a rather crimson endangered mammal with a fondness for bamboo. In her defence, Di has now regained the beginner and intermediate high scores at Minesweeper. I suppose she had to do something in her tent that afternoon whilst she was still gently smouldering! 'Salon Jake' had another happy customer after quite a long quiet period; Kari Kobler's Sirdar ('French' Pemba) now has a very fetching blonde goatee and highlights. This afternoon, in an effort to remind us of its fickle nature; it snowed. T-shirts to Down jackets before you can ask 'who's responsible for that Yak who just left a steamy heapy in front of my tent?' Talking of Yaks (and their 'steamy heapies'); we had the pleasure of their company (about 50 of them) and their even less hygienically concerned herders for the night. Not only are they extremely light-fingered (the herders that is; the Yaks are in fact incredibly high-moraled creatures), they had effectively built a blockade between us and our toilet tent with their tents and carefully positioned beasts. At that point Jake regretted not having 'been' in the morning, and spent a rather uncomfortable night! This was not helped by the noise of the Yaks (or more precisely the bells round their necks) making us feel as though we were spending our night in the bell tower of Notradame. I think that even Quasimodo would have shared our exasperation. Oh yes, Jagged Globe left this morning, so we've no one to play with at the moment. Having said that, just as I was about to go to bed (at the oh so late hour of 7pm) Julian turned up in his down suit, fresh from the summit. He had gone from 7900m to the summit and back to ABC in one push. Wow! The really impressive part is that he had managed to get all the way down from the summit back to ABC (it took him 12 hours!). He also confirmed that Tim (British KE) had summited with two of his team (Stuart and Ian). This was all fantastic news, as Tim and Julian were two of our really good friends and members of the 'Adventure Peaks Afternoon Cheese and Gossip Club'! We went to bed that night under the 'threat' that if it was nice in the morning, we would go for it, and try for the summit on the third.

As you can probably work out, it wasn't nice the next morning (this morning), so we will leave tomorrow (finally). Not only is this a relief for us, it means that Mingma is less likely to mutiny and run away! He was becoming a little frustrated with our constant stalling due to the weather, especially as he saw his friends summiting with other groups over the last few days.

As I said, this is a last ditch effort before the monsoon new season comes in (that is the big scary summer snows rather than the clothes shop's summer range!). All or nothing, the be-all and end-all, all of our eggs are in one last icy basket... and whatever other clichés I can think of to convey the importance of this attempt. If we don't make it, no more chances this year, these two months will have been for nothing. It's like Custer's Last Stand or the Alamo, or the Charge of the Light Brigade. Actually those aren’t such good examples, as the goodies all died. Errrm, maybe it's like putting that last defaulting mortgage repayment on the blind horse with three legs; it's a long shot, but muchos big payout if he comes in! Lets hope that this one is pumped on oats and steroids! Don't worry Mum; I'm still referring to the equine analogy, you know I would never touch performance enhancing oats.

Right, so hopefully we will be updating you with news (good or bad) on Sunday or Monday. Tomorrow, we march: Union Jack held high, singing about roses and thistles, into the Stratosphere. Rahh!

>From Jake Julian Barrington Meyer Esq. (no tittering at the back thank
you) and Diahanne 'where's my soft centre' Gilbert (Yeah, computer won't believe that that's not a typo either!). Your loyal and dedicated soldiers on a mountainous mission, reporting from the front line on the eve of the final assault. (Whistle sound) Right chaps, over the top, and let's give Gerry what for...

Well this morning is proving to be quite stressful. We were 60% poised to head off on our summit bid today (to summit 2nd June) but were waiting to see the early weather as there was some indication that it should be blowing 30knots until the 3rd when it comes down to about 5kts on 4th/5th and -22 degrees C. Looking up the mountain it is very hard to imagine that there is any wind and it looks as if there has been another lot of successful summits. I suppose the only consolation is that this window - early june - has been on the cards for over a week now so it looks as if its sure to happen, just a case of fine tuning the days. Mingma (Sherpa) is absolutely gutted that we are not leaving today. I even showed him the weather and that it wasn't a conspiracy to keep them on the mountain longer than necessary. Jagged Globe are leaving today - summitting 2nd & 3rd - I don't think david could keep his Sherpa's at ABC any longer - let alone his clients! I think that is only leaving Kari, Himex and AP's left to summit - all going for this 4th/5th window. Little (2mm) snow coming on 5th but no sign of significant snowfall. This weather window has moved forward slightly - winds decreasing on 3rd now as opposed 4th and as a result we might end up leaving tomorrow if 3rd looks good after todays weather. Jake doing welland is pretty happy that we're waiting the extra day. Anyway a stressful times at ABC.

Day 56 (27th May)

'The Phantom ABC Thief'
WARNING: This passage contains explicit toilet humour. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Members of expeditions have been asked to keep vigilant, as a number of 'poo barrels' have been going missing. Several climbers have been going for their early morning evacuations and finding themselves 'barreless'! Obviously this has been the cause of great embarrassment, not to mention discomfort. As it turns out the prime suspects are the local Yak herders, rather than any expedition members with secret agendas. Apparently these barrels are in high demand by the indigenous people for brewing 'Chang' in; the local alcoholic beverage. It makes you wonder if the natives allude to all of the infused ingredients when serving said drink! For all we know, a dash of diarrhoea, or a pinch of poo might be just what the locals use to give Chang its allusive aftertaste and potency, not to mention vital for the fermentation process. I will have this in mind next time I am swilling a nip of this around my mouth and straining it through my teeth. Right I think I am now actually going to be sick. Remind me never to go around minesweeping at a Tibetan party; cigarette butts wouldn't be your only worry!

Apologies if you were eating or (especially) drinking whilst reading that crime report.

So, what else happened over the last few days since Di disappeared up the hill?

Day 53 (24th May)
The nice thing about the early hours before breakfast (6-9am) is that once the sun hits the tent, is that the incessant shivering of the night is replace by a languid content dozing in the sun's revitalizing warmth. The only problem is as the weather god turns up the gas mark on the mountainside oven, the tent gradually changes from pleasant conservatory to scorching kiln, and you are forced to emerge from your drenched sleeping-bag which unfortunately unleashes 14 hours of insidious aromas! Anyhow, this one morning, I was gently snoozing; minding my own business and waiting for my tent to reach boiling-point, when I was rudely disturbed by the (rather uncouth) 'Wakey wakey, I'm back, time to play!' 'Oh God', I thought to myself 'The Mountain Mischief has returned'. What the hell was she doing back down from the North Col at this ungodly hour? It wasn't even 8am for Christsakes! Well, now that my lie-in has been well and truly written off, I might as well go and entertain her. Dressed still in my Jim-Jams, I staggered over to the mess tent, where Di was in the process of wrenching off her boots. 'Morning' she said. 'Barely' I thought. I grunted some reply, and then asked her how her night at the North Col had been.
This is her adventure:

Di - mmm, not quite sure that I can compete with Jakes big words and fancy paragraphs.... So, it'll just be plain di talk. It's very hard to stay motivated for every day of an expedition, especially when the expedition is as long as a long thing. The day that Jake spent the evening on the North Col, and I only got as far as the fixed ropes, I couldn't have been any more unmotivated if I tried - I think part of the problem was that I had already spent 2 nights at the col and had no problems sleeping. I do have a handy knack of being able to sleep anywhere. However, walking through the moraine back to ABC I had a bit of a guilt trip and thought that since it has been so long since I've been up to 7000m it could do me no harm but to return. The previous evening I had mentioned that I might leave early so if I wasn't there in the morning not to worry. As Jake has already mentioned, once the sun hits the tent in the morning it is very hard to sleep in a -40 bag, combined with the fact that we are getting potentially 11 hours sleep each evening it is very hard to lie in. So, at 0637 I woke to the familiar phlemming sounds of my next down neighbour and thought no time like the present. I managed to get out of our camp just after 0700 and starting the familiar route up the north col. It's amazing how many people are up and about at that time - think it has something to do with being a good time to take photos due to the low light. Anyway, I hated it - the first 40 minutes up the moraine is anything but pleasant and if anyone says different they're lying. However, as soon as you put on crampons and hear the familiar sound of the glacier crunching underfoot it becomes a more familiar place to be. I soon reached the fixed rope and, trying a different technique, started moving up the headwall. Every now and then, we have moments. You can't describe them. I had one of those moments and it lasted all the way up to the familiar sight of the first tents situated on the north col. I'm not going to describe it, or even try to. It was a di moment and one that will drive both of us to the summit - if she'll let us. On reaching the col, much socializing took place before I managed to located our tent and relax. If it is a furnace at ABC, it is a furnace in a furnace at the north col when the sun is out. With both Jakes sleeping bag and Mingma's sleeping bag, it was going to be a warm night. The beauty about getting to col before lunch is that you have the rest of the day to chill out (or heat out as the case may be) and watch the world go by. The Chinese had summited the previous day and there was much activity next door as tents were being dismantled and the mountainside been cleared. Anyway, things started to quiet down and it was time to get a brew on. Meanwhile, next door I was aware of a Sherpa arriving at a lone tent and collapsing in a heap obviously exhausted. I let him be for a while and then shouted over "tatopani di?", which means "water brother?" (I could digress here and explain that di in nepali means brother and hence the reason that all the sherpa's look at me funny when I tell them my name. dee dee is sister so I always end up getting called dee dee di.) Anyway, to cut a long story short, Phurba, from Thame near Namche Bazaar, who not only was pretty knackered but had the beginnings of snow blindness, and I spent the next couple of hours blethering away and drinking lots of hot tang. Once we had gone our separate ways ie he staggered the 5 metres to his tent, I settled down for the night. It is a very special place, the north col, and as much as I love having Jake for company, just sometimes, it's nice to be alone. I suppose I had another moment and I felt very privileged to be scuttling around 7000m with all but my thermals and inner boots on taking photos. Only one other exciting thing happened that night and that was that there was a Chinese Tibetan porter who was in difficulty high on the mountain and I had to lend my oxygen regulator to a Sherpa who was going up the mountain to help him down. Anyway, a peaceful sleep was had and with no surprise with another 12434787 hours sleep that night it was hardly surprising that I woke up early, tidied the tent and decided that a cheese omellette was so much more appealing than a cereal bar for breakfast. So, off I tottled back down the fixed ropes knowing that the next time I would ascend them it would be for the summit.

Wow, much more exciting than Aneil's and my night! She's a veritable Florence Nightingale (and my hero)!

Day 54 (25th May)
Weather weather weather! 'Rain rain go away, come again another day'. Or whatever the mountain equivalent is! Everyday seems like the weather windows change, and we have to reassess our summit bid. The most annoying days are those which were forecasted as being bad, yet we sit in the glorious sunshine in ABC hearing about and sometime even being able to watch climbers making successful summit attempts. Very frustrating as you can imagine! We get Swiss reports from the land of Yodeling, so you would expect them to be able to analyze and evaluate mountain weather. Actually, on a whole they have been pretty good, and we compare them to free weather reports from the net sent in by Karl (our very own STAR news and weather man!). We then often go on covert operations to see if we can beat weather reports out of other teams; again to compare and contrast. ABC is a very secretive place, obviously with all the teams vying for the best weather slots, so tit-bits of information are exchanged as if they are national secrets. Anyway today's news was that Di was abducted by the Indian Airforce Team (our next door neighbours). I think at first they thought that they had captured a Kashmiri rebel; although I've never seen one with blond pigtails, have you? Anyway, I circled the wagons and reluctantly went to her rescue. Actually, we had a great time, comparing the differences between our two countries/mountains etc. After several hours we managed to extract ourselves and continued up to our original destination, J/G (as usual!). In terms of the Indians, it was their first time on Everest (the Army go nearly every year), and I have never met a more hospitable generous team. In fact every time we walk past their mess tent there are shouts of; 'Di, Jake, come in!' Anyway, we had heard on the grapevine that J/G were expecting a 'delivery' from BC. Ha ha; they had (in fact it was Torres who had just come up that morning). There lying in the corner of their tent (or as near to the corner as a round tent has!) was a crate of Budweiser! Bathed in sunlight, this 'king of beers' was on the throne that it deserved. Dave very kindly offered us a beer, and we took them with much gratitude and salutations! Ran was due to give a live interview to BBC Breakfast on Friday, so he and Ian were out trying to do a practice run. Ran was sitting very patiently whilst Ian tangled himself up in wires and tried to get someone in London to tell him what to do. It turned out that in its infinite wisdom the BBC had supplied him with equipment that was probably already out of date by the '53 ascent, to the point where one of the (huge) batteries said; 'WORKING TEMPERATURE; +50>+5 C'. Honestly! So with Ian practically in tear of frustrations, and Ran just sighing patiently a lot (I guess he's probably used to these 'technical
hitches') they returned to the tent unsuccessful (and with Ian cursing the BBC!). Nevertheless they did manage a triumphant practice the following day (and a very successful interview on the Friday)

Day 55 (26th May)
Today we have reasserted ourselves as King and Queen of Everest Socialites (rather than socialists). This morning we went up to the high end of ABC to see Tim from the British KE team. They are moving up the mountain tomorrow, so, throwing caution to the wind, he brought out a stash of goodies he had been saving (or was it just not sharing with the others?!), and we had a rather over indulgent elevenses. Haribo, the last packet of their sponsored beef jerky, Lindt chocolate and Pink Grapefruit Tang. Yum Yum! The problem with eating with Tim is that it is hard to chew when you are laughing so much (at him and his stories!). I hadn't expected that laughter induced choking would be such a hazard on Everest, but with Tim's wildly gesticulated anecdotes and tales; it was nearly the end of us! Eventually, we managed to escape, with our sides aching, our jaws stuck together with Jelly Bears and on some kind of outrageous sugar high, and bounced back down to our camp. After lunch, Tim came down to us (to raid our cheese and cracker supplies) and no sooner had he exploded a chunk of crumbly stilton over himself (some even went in his mouth!), Julian (obviously attracted to the dairy products like a bloodhound) from Project Himalaya arrived. This little gathering turned into a little Teddy Bear's picnic, and out came the café lattés, the Maryland Choc-chip cookies and the Smoked Edam. Julian was also going up the mountain the next day as well, so it felt like a bit of a farewell party. When they had both left we went up to the J/G tent. They are in a huge luxury Mountain Hardwear Space Station tent, however the black awning that they have over the top make it freezing inside, and thus everyone is either crowded round the heater or wearing their down jackets. We spent about and hour and a half in there exercising our jaws and drinking (tea, not alcohol). A 6pm we hurried back to our camp for supper, and then believe it or not, returned back to J/G after supper! There was a bottle of whiskey floating around, but it was Jamiesons so Di only had the one dram! I of course declined; only
the finest Regimental Port for me!

Day 56 (27th May)
Today has been a lazy day (surprise surprise!) In fact, Di and I have only emerged from our tents for meals. 'What have you been doing in your tents all alone for all that time?' I hear you ask. Well, Di has been snoozing and reading her book. I finished my book, and then worked out that due to the (east/west) direction my tent is aligned, with doors and flaps open I can wriggle myself into a position where I can sunbathe with protection from the Baltic assault of the katabatic winds. 'Fabulous Darling, just like St Trop.!' I think as once again the sun destroys my epidermis and threatens to turn me the colour of a Number 52 (At least I'll match my Down Suit!). Oh, and yet again I unfalteringly devote several hours to the interminable task of giving an overly long winded SitRep of our latest mountainous series of adventures. So I hope that you haven't been speed reading this in your coffee break. It deserves at least half an hour of inward digestion (and probable highlighting of the important facts) during a time that you feel that your concentration levels are at a high (i.e. not during Neighbours). As a recompense for my enthusiastic electronic rantings, I scoffed two Dairy Milks whilst I was writing this in my tent. Well, I think that I am entitled to a small reward every so often! We have come to the conclusion that although most people lose weight when climbing (ultimate crash diet girls!), Di has to challenge convention but putting it on. Not only does she have to undo her trousers after supper (or the eighth
biscuit!) - (now come on Jake, I only had to undo them once :)), the other day I was happily minding my own business reading when suddenly there was this 'pop' and her trouser button flew across the room like a tennis ball from a Philippoussis serve! I thought that this was Everest, not Beirut. In true courageous fashion (and considering my military
training) I dived for cover and hid under the table. Di - Now I am led to believe that one of the keys to success on big mountains is the ability to maintain a healthy diet and keep churning the calories in. I'm quite sure the 4 day diet starvation foray onto the big mountain for the last time will trim me down - and if that fails, the final stay in KTM will finish me off.

Anyway, it is now time for Di to add her 6 pence worth of additions and editing. That probably means that this will be halved in length or even worse (di - little does he know ha ha ha). She's a modern day Yossarian of Censurers and you're lucky she doesn’t cross the whole thing out and just put; 'Mary, I yearn for you as always, yours ever R. Shipman'. (Apologies to Heller if misquoted).

So with that fantastically obscure literary ending, 'That's all Folks!'

>From Wing Commander J.J.B. Meyer, Defender of the Faith and all round
thoroughly Splendid Chap, and his idol;
Her Majesty Dee Dee Gilbert, Queen of All, and Beautiful Belay Babe (and ex-member of the Ramones!). (Di - oh dear jake, one thinks that you've been in the mountains too long. You're gonna wonder what's hit you when you return to the Lizard Lounge and see all that posh totty floating around!) (Jake-you have obviously got to know me too well! That will be gobbeldy-gook for anyone who's not from Bristol!)

Day 52

'The Waiting Game'

I like games; Monopoly, Buckaroo, Kiss-chase and even Boggle, however there is one game that I am getting a little tired of. The Waiting Game has lost its novelty and just isn't any fun anymore. (Whoever invented it probably also invented that interminable Saturday night trash; 'The Generation Game'!) However much I might have enjoyed rest days, you can have too much of a 'good' thing (I assure you!). Especially as some nit-wit left the DVDs down in BC (Oh, that was me, I'm afraid!). I am now reading Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' for the third time. I can now instantly recite incredibly useless facts off the top of my head, and every time I do, Di either groans or just looks at me blankly. We are both becoming gurus at Minesweeper on the computer (I got the best score today at intermediate with an unbeatable 157 seconds; so better that Di! Ha ha, vengeance IS mine!). So if all else fails and we return to the UK with our tails between our legs, the Royal Engineers will have two new hot shot electronic Sappers at least! In fact, it has become such a drag doing sweet FA in ABC that we have both taken to randomly walking up the hill...separately...read on!

So, let me fill you in on all our excitements over the last few days (somebody please put me out of my misery!)

Day 48 (19th May)
Today not much happened. At all. We planned that tomorrow we would go to the North Col. The end. Whoopee! (If only getting though the day was as easy as writing that kind of a report!)

Day 49 (20th May)
Up at 8am, but to our horror (and my secret hope!) it was incredibly cloudy. You couldn't even see the tents at the far edge of ABC, let alone the North Col. So with 'bitter disappointment' we called off the day's exercise, and went back to the warmth and comfort of our sleeping bags! For the rest of the day we spent most of the time trying to better each other at 'minesweeper' on the computer, or reading in our tents. Unfortunately Di had beaten my score of 279 seconds by 10 seconds. A fact that she wouldn't let me forget for several days! However, vengeance will be mine (evil cackering, and imaginary lightning!) sooner or later! Our evenings are getting quite interesting now that we don't have the distraction of the DVDs (although don't let my mother hear that, I'll never be allowed to watch TV again!). After we have all had our supper, Aneil, Mingma and Surendra (when he's finished the washing
up!) all come into the dining tent and we all crowd round the fire like witches round a cauldron. All sorts of topics of conversation come up, mainly comparing Nepal/Tibet with the UK. However today, horror of horrors, it now turns out that Mingma's brother 'Mingma' (just stick with me!) isn't his brother after all; he's his cousin! Ahh! That explains why they look nothing alike (not to mention why they both had the same name!). Mingma in fact means Tuesday, and refers to the day that said person was born. Phurba is Thursday and Dawa is Monday; all names of other Sherpas. I think that Surendra might means Saturday, but it might be from that famous French phrase uttered so often (je surrender)! Sorry, that's a mean joke. However, I have a better one! 'French rifle for sale; never fired, dropped once'! Ha ha! Sorry, again that's not fair...but I'm sure I can think of some better ones! On a serious note, although today had the first ascents of the mountain (about 15 from our side), two climbers were reported missing.

Day 50 (21st May)
Right, weather was better today, so there was no escaping it. A leg stretch was in order! I was still convinced that I might spend the night at the North Col, but Di was adamant that it was only a leg stretch, and that she would go as far as the North Col and return. I jokingly announced to Aneil, that since Di wasn't going to sleep there, he would have to keep me company instead. There was a nervous laugh from him, and a high spirited mocking one from Mingma and Surendra. We left early, about 9.30am, and got to the base of the headwall at 10.40am. Di then announced that she was going to head back, as her legs were 'suitably stretched' (Di - lets be honest, I had a complete and utter motivation failure). Oh no, what do I do? Although I wanted to get back and do 'fun things' in ABC, I still thought that a night at the North Col would only do me good. Sensibility jostled briefly with indolence (sorry I mean
R+R!), and in the end won. Up the hill I would go! God, I never thought
that I would ever choose the hard work of slogging it up a hill over dossing around. Hang on a minute, that argument doesn't work, I opted to climb Everest, Doh! I suppose I was thinking more in the terms of the desperation of trying to get off games when it was inter-house cross country. N.B. (To all you big house sports captains) 'Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I can run'. I imagine that in the San, on the morning of a cross-country run, it must have seemed as though the plague had remerged with all the 'unexpectedly dying' coming in! An 'off games chit' was treasured more than a winning lottery ticket, in those circumstances! Anyway, I digress! So up the hill I went! I took me 2hours 20 mins to reach the top of the fixed ropes; a new personal best! The often precariousness of the route and my Ipod took the boredom out of it, and at 1pm I collapsed at the top. I wandered over to our tent (unfortunately at the far end of the camp), and lethargically climbed in and started to sort my self out. I tried to radio back to ABC that I had arrived safely, but the radio was playing up. I spent that afternoon melting snow for water and reading Lance Armstrong's autobiography (very
inspiring!) At about 5.30pm, I ate my 'beef stew and dumplings'. Just as I was thinking about battening down the hatches and preparing myself for the night, I heard a tentative 'Jake, hello?' It was Aneil, come to stay the night. Because he hadn't arrived earlier I had assumed that he wasn't going to come up. However now that he was here, great, let the party start! He clambered in and I got some bacon and beans on the go for us to share. That evening was great fun; it felt like a Bronze D of E overnight camping trip (although at 7100m and -20!). We were very childish and chatted till late (8.30pm!) before the warm embrace of exhaustion finally won over and willed us to sleep.

Day 51 (22nd May)
I hadn't slept too badly; relatively restless, but no headache. I think that Aneil had a bit of a headache, and seemed to be tossing and turning all night long. It had obviously been a really cold night as the inside of the tent was coated in ice. Somehow, my watch had reset itself during the night. 'Happy New Year' I said to Aneil! He looked at me with a somewhat pained expression of pure pity. Obviously the altitude had affected his sense of humour. I couldn't be bothered to stay up here any longer than I needed too, so I started getting my kit on to return to ABC. 'Don't worry I'll catch you up', Aneil said, as he disappeared back down into his sleeping bag. I hopped around a bit trying to get my big boots on, in the same way that one might bounce around whilst trying to take off their trousers with their shoes still on. 'See you in a minute', I said to Aneil. There was a muffled reply from inside the tent. So, off I trotted, only bothering to clip onto the ropes in the camp to cross the ladder over the 10 foot wide crevasse at the lower end of the camp. I got to the top of the steep section that leads into the camp, ready to clip onto the fixed rope so that I could abseil down. However it was nowhere to be found. It had snowed several inches in the night, and had buried the thin 7mm blue rope. This was rather a predicament. I was certainly not going to try and downclimb the 70 degree (freshly snow covered) slope, especially as I didn't have an ice axe. So, like a pig searching for mushrooms, I started digging around furiously in the snow (although not with my snout like the aforementioned truffle hunter, t'was a tad cold for that!). Eventually (and not before I had worked up a thin film of perspiration across my
forehead) I managed to unearth the line. Giving my end a fierce tug, it ripped up through the snow and finally I could begin my descent. As I rappelled quickly down the headwall, pausing only to change ropes, I met several Sherpas on their early morning load carries. One even had skis attached to his rucksack, which he explained were for one of his clients. I arrived back at ABC about 1.5 hours after I had started, completely exhausted having not had any breakfast, and only a few sips of water. I conveniently ran into Di at the J/G tent (socialising no less!). We went back to out camp so that we could fill each other in on the recent events on the mountain (gossip). About 15 climbers had summited that morning, mainly from the Chinese team (remeasuring the mountain). It turned out that of the two climbers still missing from the day before; the Slovenian had been found at the second step. The French-Canadian was still nowhere to be seen (he was later found safe and sound returning to the North Col, exhausted. Dave (J/G) and Julian (Project Himalaya) came over to discuss the events on the mountain as well. After lunch, Tim from the British Karrimor Team came over for chats and gossip. Aneil eventually appeared at about 3.30pm. Apparently he had gone to one of his friends tents at North Col for a social; I reckon that he just had a lie in! Tim announced to me that he had a question that had been keeping him awake at night; 'how, if I was at University, was I taking 70 days off during exams to climb this hill?' Well, talk about red rag to a bull! I dutifully filled him in on my 'glorified' history at Bristol, especially the part about them being so disappointed in that my extra-curricular activities seemed to have preference over my studies, and that now I was here, they were my best friend; producing press releases and all! After several hours (and 4 hot
chocolates) Tim left, and as he did so, he quietly whispered that he had one packet of Maryland Choc-chip cookies left and that he would bring some over in a couple of nights. I told him that we still had crackers, Smoked Dutch Edam and Creamy white Stilton hidden away. Upon hearing that (you could see his mouth visibly watering!), he announced that he might be able to bring the cookies over sooner. Simple pleasures! We got the weather reports, which were incredibly dire and indicated that we might be waiting in ABC for even longer. Upon this, knowing that she would have time to recover afterwards, Di decided that she might go up to the North Col the following morning, probably to stay the night as I had done. After supper we taught the Sherpas to play 'Old Maid'. Apparently they have the same game in Nepal, but taking 3 of the Jacks out instead of the Queens. It just wouldn't be the same ending up with a nice Knave rather than the 'scabby old bitch' would it!

Day 52 (23rd May)
I awoke this morning to find Di had disappeared. Hopefully she had just had an early start and had gone up the North Col as agreed. Otherwise, she's had enough (with the mountain or me, who knows!) and is currently on her way to Kathmandu, Lhasa, Tesco's, Mexico or anywhere else better than here. If by any chance she has gone to Tesco's, can someone please ask her to get some fresh milk (the powdered stuff has lost its appeal) and some of those really nice Crème Caramels that they do. Oh, and a copy of the Mirror, cause it has a two speed crossword that I can usually complete (with the help of a thesaurus, an encyclopedia and a couple of high IQ friends). Can you tell how bored I am yet? Oh wow, someone outside is hitting one rock against another, and it sounds just like somebody knocking in a cricket bat (don't worry girls, ask a boy!)! Ah, the sweet sounds of summer...I close my eyes in a self-indulgently lost way. 'Oh bugger' (as Pooh would say), I'm still on a desolate mountainside, a million miles from the kind of summer and the sound of leather on willow I want! And once again I digress! Talk about not appreciating someone till they've gone! It's been really lonely here today without my esteemed leader. I've actually had to be proactive in my activities, which, as I'm sure my Bristol flat mates will attest to, I'm not very good at. So, I spent 2 hours writing this (and you thought this kind of quality prose just flowed from my fingers!), spent several hours in the Project Himalaya tent gossiping and then have been to visit my friends at J/G to gossip some more and borrow their Sat phone (so I could get more credit for ours!). Ran and Ian had just returned from a jolly up the North Col, where they had seen Di. Bugger, that means that she hasn't gone to Tesco's, so I'll have to wait a bit longer for my Crème Caramels! Nevermind, at least now I know where she is! Meanwhile, over supper, Aneil was teaching me rude words in Nepalese, which he encouraged me to shout out all over ABC!

So there you have it. Actually, I suppose it doesn't sound really as bad as I make out. Either that or I have an incredible knack of making the most mundane things seem like a R.L. Stevenson adventure. Maybe I should become a Maths teacher and create a new wave of fascinating kids who like more interesting things than throwing bricks though windows. Apologies to Andrew Richard, my housemaster and (I imagine reluctant) maths teacher, who got me through my maths A-level and made me the bored (in mind rather than shoulders) character that I am today! Andrew, just remember what the Great Lobachevski would say... You and any other Tom Lehrer fans will understand! Answers on a postcard please.

Anyway, I think that that concludes today's lesson on how to climb Everest. There will be a short quiz at the end of the trip, so I hope that everyone has been taking notes. Tune in next time for your unmissable hearsay from the hill. Now get back to work/study/flying the plane or feeding the baby/cat/hippo you idle creatures (delete as appropriate)!

All the best from Professor Jake and his beautiful assistant Di!

Day 47

Well, we've arrived safely at ABC. One step closer to our Goal. There is much activity on the Hill, with several teams leaving for their summit attempts. We have chosen to remain in ABC for the foreseeable future as our weather predictions don't show a suitably long enough window for quite a time. It will be interesting to see what happens to these teams who have left today. The window in the next couple of days looks incy wincy and not quite substantial enough for our team.

Anyway, back to the ongoing saga that you've all been waiting for; what have the elite special forces of Team Adventure Peaks been up to since the last update ended in such a cliff-hanger?!

Day 44 cont. (15th May)
No, she hadn't gone to play horseshoes, in fact, she'd only made it as far as the J/G mess tent where she was doing what she does best; gossiping! Sorry, what I mean is that I found her deeply involved in incredibly highbrow and intellectual tête-à-tête with Ran and Mark. Probably about politics and world affairs; the type of conversational exchange in which I would be way out of my depth! As I arrived she immediately stopped the scholarly dialogue (in case I should hear her and use it as embarrassing ammunition against her), and declared; 'Right, who's coming down the Tea House for a bevvie!' 'Hurrah!' I exclaimed, 'I could do with a nice cup of Sherpa Tea'. I think she might have been implying something with a slightly higher alcohol content, but the destination was the same. There was actually a remarkable show of enthusiasm to this suggestion from the J/G team (who the previous day had been too engrossed in a game of cards; the lazy buggers!), and Ran, Mark and Alex answered this call to arms. So we then wasted several hours nattering in the tea house (Di stooped to this inferior form of conversation for my benefit!). So as Ran was describing to me, in minute detail the logistics involved in his '7 marathons in 7 days in 7 continents' over a coke and a tea, Di and the South Africans were chugging back the beers with the Canadian cook of the British Karrimor Team. Well, at least she was taking this BC chill out time seriously!

Day 45 (16th May)
So, after 10 days of doing sweet Fanny Adams (as Ran put it!), it was finally time to dig our legs out of our bags, try and put them on the right way round, and hope that they would do their job of carrying us back up the hill after such a long and lackadaisical period of rest. Somehow our Quads and Calves hadn't completely forgotten how to work, and after an incredibly generous brunch ('Just a light lunch please Surendra'!), we hoisted our rucksacks onto our backs and for the third (and hopefully last) time, and started to wander back up towards Intermediate Camp (IC). With our headphones in, we were soon both lost in our own little musical worlds as we meandered our way back up the valley. We soon left the moraine alongside the Rongbuk glacier, and started to gain height as we forked off up towards IC on the East Rongbuk. The trail was much quieter than before, and we encountered only the occasional and sporadic individual or pairs coming down. Almost exactly 4 hours after we set out we arrived in IC. Aneil and Kasang (Tundo's brother and our present 'Tibetan Boy') arrived shortly afterwards, and joy of joys, produced a brace of cokes! Fantastic, just what we needed to quench our thirst. Thus followed a 'burping competition' (the bubbles are much more potent at altitude, I promise'. Di, who at first, was understandably horrified (she is a lady of course), soon cast her female principals aside, and joined in, with impressive results! I think even the Tibetans were in awe of our gastric vocalizations, but we soon stopped when we realized that we might set off an avalanche! How embarrassing! We soon had the tents up, and we had a delicious supper of mixed momos (cheese, tuna or vegetable, a veritable Russian roulette!), chips and fried eggs. Yummy! With the two of us in the tent together, despite it starting to snow outside, it soon turned into a sauna. It was in fact so warm that we had our sleeping bags unzipped and had trouble getting to sleep!

Day 46 (17th May)
After a fitful nights sleep (albeit a warm night!), we awoke refreshed and raring to go. Well, as raring as a pair of children reluctantly about to take an exam! There was nearly an hour of, 'we'll get up in 5 minutes!' I think that the deciding issue was the fact that both of our bladders were about to pop! Aneil whipped up a delicious brekkie of
(sweet) scrambled eggs and toast. This was followed by another half hour of delaying tactics, before we eventually conceded that if we didn't get up, we'd never get up the mountain! So, after a somewhat leisurely start, we were gone by 10am, naturally being forced to wait for the tent to dry rather than our own idleness! After 25 minutes we passed the J/G North Col team, who we had noted, had left over 30 minutes before us! There was a chorus of 'Morning', 'how you doing' etc, as we swept past them, leaving them in a cloud of dust. A suitably similar analogy might be a tortoise being left in the cloud of dust of a slightly 'faster' tortoise! It was their first time up to ABC, so they must be praised for their steady approach. We carried on up the moraine underneath Changtse, with the rows of towering 50ft Penitentes to either side. Aneil caught up with us as we stopped for lunch. Once again, like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, he produced more cans of coke. I would say what a chump for carrying them for two days, but it was most appreciated. This time we refrained from the uncouth and vulgar behavior of the previous evening, as Westerners could have come round the corner at any moment! After a very long and leisurely break we continued up to ABC. We arrived just short of 4.5 hours after leaving IC. I am ashamed to say that I had to take two quick breaks in the last 30 minutes as the previous 10 days lethargy began to get the better of me. Di, as ever, continued on like a trooper, but she didn't have any hot juice ready for us when we arrived (the real reason for our stalling!). No, unfortunately Mingma was nowhere to be seen (he'd gone for a 'jolly' up to the North Col for the night), and he'd hidden the matches for the stoves! Aneil meanwhile had been ambushed by some friends, who invited him in for a cup of tea, so poor Di and I were left all alone, our throats parched from the long and arduous quest up to ABC, and no hot juice. Honestly, you just can't get the staff these days! Eventually, when he had finished catching up on the past weeks gossip, Aneil sauntered over, produced a box of matches and got some water on the boil. All we needed were the matches; we could have boiled water ourselves! Anyway, it was good to be back at ABC, I think that Basecamp lassitude had certainly set in back in BC, and we'd begun to forget the real reason we were here. At least back in ABC, with the cold, the snow flurries and the rather miserable look that seems to be a permanent feature on everyone's faces; the grim realization of why we were here came flooding back! Lucky that Team Adventure Peaks had arrived to brighten everyone up again with our good looks and infectious sense of humour. Let's just hope that that was all that was infectious about us! Surendra arrived at about 5.30pm, having come all the way up from BC. Aneil in the meantime had been getting very fidgety about who was going to cook us supper (as we didn't know when Surendra would be arriving), and in the end had resorted to cooking himself. It was a sterling effort; the dish water soup had a delicious hint of Fairy Liquid in it... No, I jest, he did a fantastic job of egg fried rice and chips (made all the more better by finding the secret supply of Soy sauce!). That evening, he and Surendra were ordered through into the warmth of our dining tent (out of the frigid wastelands of the Kitchen tent), and we sat around the gas fire like contented fat cats!

Day 47 (18th May)
I slept really badly last night. No headache, but just endless hours of tossing and turning trying to get to sleep. I think that it is change of situation rather than altitude problems. Di on the other hand seemed to sleep well as usual, much to my envy! This morning we had a couple of guests; Dave from J/G filling us in on the ABC gossip (and we him on the BC scandals!), and then our new crazy Brazilian friend Victor, who was leaving today for his summit attempt. He and another are attempting it oxygenless, and if that isn't enough of a challenge, the weather is crap, there are no ropes above 8300m, and all they are taking is a 15m rope; 'just in case'. Pure unadulterated madness! Very brave, and it will be amazing if they make it. Let's just hope that these guys have the foresight to call it a day if it all gets a bit much.

Anyway, as you have now gathered, we are safely in ABC. It looks as though we might be here for a good few days, so we will send another update with all the exciting goings on in ABC in a few days. Needless to say, like the unscrupulous gossip hunters that we are, we will tirelessly hunt down the scandalous tittle-tattle (completely disregarding fact from juicy fiction) to fill you in on. Right, I better go, Di still has to proofread and edit this (I bet you don't get half of the good bits!), and several of my fingers have gone numb. God I love the tender warmth of ABC! I am now going to go and stick my deadened appendages through the grill of the gas fire until Di complains about the smell of burnt flesh.

Bye quiens & loons,

Jake & Diddly Di

Day 34 (I think)

So, here we are back at base camp. Just when you think you are nearing your goal...you go back down! Such is the nature of climbing big hills!

Since the last update:

Day 32 (3rd May)
We were going to go straight back down to BC after our foray up the North Col, but in the interests of team support, we stayed up in ABC with the Sherpas. Mingma Sherpa did a load carry up to our top camp at 8300m. Yes, 8300m, from 6400m. In one day. Carrying gear. This man is an animal! (for all we know he probably popped up onto the summit to have a look whilst he was there!). No, seriously, we are incredibly lucky to have probably the fittest and strongest Sherpa on the mountain on our team. We naturally spent the day bumbling around camp, eating, playing cards (Di has such a big handful she looks like a Geisha Girl!). We went to visit some of the other expeditions, but everyone seems to have left and returned to BC in preparation for the big storm. We have copies of the weather printouts and the Jet stream has moved sufficiently to cause majorly high winds (70knots+ at 8000m), which we obviously don't want to be on the mountain at the same time as. We made friends with a pair of Brazilians who are going for an oxygen less ascent. They are always wearing their (very fetching blue and yellow) Down Suits, and look like a pair of big cuddly teddy bears! There is another pair of Brazilians (husband and wife) who have come to the mountain every year for about the past 4 years to climb the mountain. They never want to use Sherpas. This year they have already lost all (3) of their high mountain tents and loads of gear in the winds, oops, poor them! It seems as thought the South American contingent has started up a charity kit bag for them.

Day 33 (4th May)
So, back down to BC! Although a wonderfully picturesque trek, it gets a little dull after the 4th time. All 22kms of it! With a net drop of 1200m, you can really tell the difference from start to finish. One of the things I noticed this time was that at ABC (6400m) when you are walking around, you are always breathing out of your mouth (panting and gasping for air!), but by the time you get down to about 5500m, you can quite happily walk around just breathing through your nose. Although it certainly hasn't been the case all the time we've been here, it just shows the effect of the successful acclimatisation. The interesting part of the walk (just wait till you see the pictures!) is the lead up to ABC from intermediate camp, where you walk up a narrow belt of moraine (glacial rock deposit) overlying a giant glacier. On each side of you (perhaps no more than 60m across) are giant towers and pinnacles of ice, some over 40/50m tall. I can imagine that an antelope might witness a similar sight with its head stuck in a crocs jaw; all sharp white teeth running down each side as far as the eye could see! I don't like crocodiles, they scare me, although if you are ever unfortunate enough to be in ones mouth, they poke it in the eye as they don't have proper eyelids apparently! Ha ha, what a design fault! But I digress!
We walked as fast as we could with the storm nipping at our heels. (So that's why everyone else is back in BC!). The storm clouds were gathering overhead and we stayed just on the periphery of the snow and sleet. It took us about 5 hours to get back down to Basecamp, hopping from rock to rock, dodging Yaks (and yak poo!) and stopping briefly for a packed lunch of boiled eggs and chocolate. The sherpas arrived just after us (although they had set off later and it probably only took them 4 hours!). For those of you who had a personal email from me, then you'll know what happened when we got down! For the rest of you; BEER AND BOILED EGGS! Very glad to be back in the (relative) comforts of BC! Managed to get hold of a crate of beer (hic!) and the novelty of alcohol is yet to wear thin! Had boiled eggs for tea, so have designated this meal (beer and boiled eggs) 'Climbing Tea'. It's a lot like Hunting Tea, but with Premium (3.4%) Lhasa beer instead of Tesco's finest Whiskey! We paid $10 for 12 (big) bottles of beer and 5 cans of Coke. So I think that works out at about 25p per Beer. The boiled eggs on the other hand proved a little more difficult to produce (that is the boiling of, rather than the fault of the chickens!). Apparently eggs and pressure cookers aren't the best of kitchen buddies, and Aneil went through about 6 exploding eggs before he finally resorted to a more mundane process of simply putting them in a normal pan! Let's just say that even though it was weak beer, the altitude has obviously affected our tolerance. I have to say that we weren't running round naked in the snow letting down each others tents, but it probably wouldn't have taken too many more glasses! As you can imagine, we slept very that night!

Day 34 (5th May)
Emerged incredibly clear headed and well rested after a full 12 hours sleep this morning. I was awoken by English voices, so I got out of my tent in my pyjamas (fleece thermals, not my Spiderman PJs!) to investigate, and found a party of 10 Brits all shivering in big down jackets, wondering around the climbers graveyard (memorials right next to our camp sight). Once they got over the shock of seeing the scantily clad, bearded mountain beast, they got me to take pictures of the group in front of some hill. I thought of doing a runner, with ten posh cameras around my neck, but didn't think that I'd get far with bare feet in the snow! Anyway, as one of them pointed out, 'we know where you live', (yeah, the little green tent 30 yards over there!). Answered lots of questions they had (should open up my own Everest tour guide
business!) about the mountain and climbing it. Mildly aware that they started taking pictures of me as well as the mountain when they found out that I was climbing it. Can picture the front cover already 'Everest Climber caught in his PJs!'. You heard it here first! Once they disappeared I rapidly got the gas heater going in the mess tent to coax the blood back into my extremities (had pretended I was warm to the tourists, I think they fell for it!). Di and I spent most of the morning playing cards and writing emails. David came over with some of his group and invited us for supper (in return for us having him the other night). The Times journalist has turned up (Stephanie, very pretty, hope she'll interview me later).

Due to the fact that we are now unemployed mountaineers whilst we wait for the storm to abate, we are going to find new ways to amuse ourselves. This is where you, the armchair (or maybe office chair) traveller comes in! We are going to start up a 'Climbers Question Time', yes, just like 'Gardeners Question time', but with more crampons rather than chrysanthemums. Less trees and more tents. I'm sure that you get the idea.

Question: What heights are all the camps on the mountain!

Answer: IN ascending order interesting heights:
Kathmandu 1,300m (4,300m)
Last village we stayed in before the mountain (Tingri) 4,300m (14,100ft) Base Camp (BC) 5,200m (17,100ft) Intermediate camp (IC) 5,700m (18,700ft) Advanced Base Camp (ABC) 6,400m (21,000ft) North Col Camp (camp 4) 7,100m (23,100ft) Camp 5 7,500m (24,600ft) Camp 5a 7,700m (25,200ft) Camp 6 7,800m (25,600ft) Camp 7 (High camp/summit camp): 8,300m (27,200ft) Summit 8,850m (29,035ft)

N.B. Some teams use a variation of camps (hence 5, 5a and 6). We have a tent at camp 5, which we have supplies, but will only sleep at camp 4 and camp 6 - maybe camp 5 - (although we might sleep in camp 5 after the summit attempt on the way down).

Also, what do climbers often do a lot of in the mountains (apart from throwing snowballs and having headaches!); they read. Here are Jake and Di's Everest reading lists:

Di:
Marian Keyes, 'The other side of the story'. Trashy girlie novel complements of Mandy (yet completely engrossing by her own admission, to the point when asked what she would be if she wasn't a climber; 'I'd be a rich bitch, have a diet of fags and cab sav, drive fast cars and fast bikes and most definitely be a complete man eater!) Jamie Andrews, 'Life and limb'. Horrific true story of a survivor of a mountaineering accident who lost both hands and both lower leggs. (nothing like having an upbeat book to read related to the hills, in the
hills!)
Ian Mitchell, 'Mountain days and bothy nights'. Classic Scottish book on adventures in the (Scottish) hills. She giggled like a girl all the way through! John Hunt, 'Everest 1953 Expedition'. Self explanatory. We all breathed a sigh of relief by the time she'd finished that tome.
Lance Amstrong, 'It's not about the bike'. Cancer, brain surgery and cycling. Terry Pratchett, 'Time thiefs'. Typical Pratchett humour.

Jake (reads too much!):
W.C. Bowman 'The ascent of Rum Doodle' Fantastically un-PC classic fictional ascent of the world highest mountain (Rum Doodle, 40,000.5ft). Giggled like a girl all the way through! Terry Pratchett, 'Monstrous Regiment' Giggled like a girl. Bill Bryson, 'Notes from a small island'. Giggled like a girl
Joseph Heller 'Catch 22' giggled like a girl (even when I probably should'nt have!)(Now understand why it is your favourite book, Alex!) Jeffrey Archer 'Twelve red herrings' trashy boy novel from before he was a guest of Her Majesty. Bill Bryson 'A short history of nearly everything'. Nodded knowledgeably at the things I remembered from school, and sat there with my jaw on the floor at everything else.

Anyway, hope that will amuse all of you for the time being as much as it has amused me writing it. Certainly a good way to occupy myself here at BC.

Lots of love, Jake (di too engrossed in trashy novel)

P.S. My Ipod matches Di's pink sheepskin lined cold weather boots! (in that it's pink, I haven't got a sheepskin lined Ipod, that would be stupid (although the batteries might last longer in the cold...I look into it!)) P.S.S. Happy Birthday George, big 21 today. I would include your email, so everyone could congratulate you personally, but remembered that you're still evading bail, and the police would probably be able to trace you! (Don't worry, he's not really...yet!)

Day 31 (I think!)

Well, eventually managed to get back into my tent the other day,
obviously the 'Guard Yak' with the pink nose got bored and went to
pester somebody else. (n.b. did you know that only the male yaks are
called yaks, females are called 'naks', or Brenda or Tracy or some
such).

Anyhow, enough idle chitchat. What on earth have we been up to for the
last couple of days?

Day 28 (29th April)
Rest Day, again, hurrah! Obviously as we didn't update then (as
offered), no majorly exciting events occurred. Another day of furious
playing card action between the two best looking blonds on the mountain
(PS mine is NATURAL). I'm very annoyed that Di is still beating me (68
rounds to 65 (but who's counting)) in a game that I taught her
(s**thead)! We watched the DVD of the 'Incredibles', which we were both
very disappointed by, not up to the standard set by 'The Aviator' the
night before!
Felt like the ultimate social team by having guests round for supper.
Dave and Fred (a doctor from the US) supplied the wine and the after
dinner biscuits, and we supplied the pizza, pasta, fruit salad, creamy
white stilton and the good company. Revelries continued almost till 8pm
when everyone had to make their excuses and make their way carefully
back to their respective camps. I say carefully, not because of the
alcohol consumed (our mothers would have been proud of our restraint),
but because the copious and liberal amounts of yak poo, makes any
journey like a blindfolded dash through a minefield!

Day 29 (30th April)
Now for some real mountaineering action!
Another trip up to the North Col (7070m). This time with heavy packs on
our backs, as we were going to spend a couple of nights up there for
acclimatisation. We got a relatively early start, and found ourselves
alone (bar 2 Americans & 1 Kiwi) on the fixed ropes. Obviously Sherpas
were having the day off, as the only two that we encountered we ours;
Mingma and Surendra. Both were looking pretty damn smart in Clic
goggles
(Thank you Shona at www.clicextreme) I apologise for blatant product
placement, but they are very popular with our sherpas. However Surendra
was moaning a little about the fact that he had to wear Aneil's boots,
which I think are a little too big for him!
We got to our tent in about an hour quicker than our first foray up the
fixed ropes, and were quick to get all our gear sorted out, and some
water on the boil before the temperature plummeted. The tent was
certainly very snuggley by the time we had both of our huge sleeping
bags and all of our paraphernalia out. Several hot chocolates/soups/hot
juices later and an attempt at the boil in the bags (my Meatballs and
pasta slipped down a treat which is less than could be said for Di's
Beef stew and dumplings - now in the bin) and we were ready for bed.
The
temperature had dropped dramatically and the wind was howling at our
door, but we were tired, and weren't going to let the elements disturb
our fitful sleep.

Day 30 (1st May)
Unfortunately it wasn't the elements that kept us awake, but our
pounding heads. The jump of nearly 700m from ABC was enough to shock
the
body into some attempted defence (trying to get us to retreat lower)
and
I think that we probably got about 3 or 4 hour sleep in total (in 5
minute stints!). Eventually when the sun warmed the tent sufficiently
to
coax our tortured heads and bodies from our sleeping bags, and we
started the stoves up for breakfast. Once again I wolfed down my bacon
and beans, whilst Di was less convinced and opted for a couple of
breakfast bars.
We struggled into our down clothing and we out of the tent by about
11am. The plan was to try to go up to the next camp at 7500m, to
stretch
our legs and for acclimatisation, and then return. Although the sun was
warm, the winds icy tendrils ripped at us as we battled up the fixed
ropes. We carried on for nearly 2.5 hours before it got too much for
us,
and our frozen fingers persuaded us to turn around and return to the
relative safety of our tent. We had got as high as 7300m.
Once back in our tent the stove went straight on, and we watched as
other teams and individuals struggled back out of the blizzard. A
supper
of chocolate bars and soup followed and at 6pm we resigned ourselves to
another night of headaches and zero sleep.

Day 31 (2nd May)
Somehow, despite our dehydration and the altitude, we managed to get a
decent nights sleep. By all accounts we shouldn't have, but somehow
once
the (torch) lights went out, we both slept relatively undisturbed till
7ish. Call it efficient acclimatisation, or maybe we were just much
more
physically trashed than we thought we were. The tropical rainstorm as
the sun melted all the ice on the inner of the tent acted as an all too
efficient alarm clock, and we slowly and lethargically started to sort
all our gear up for the return to ABC.
There is something about having to share a tent that turns people very
rapidly into the ultimate married couple. Obviously being able to share
a confined space in one of those factors, but you have to wonder, when
'your partner' asks you to turn around so that they can have a pee in
the tent (don't worry, in a bottle, we're not animals). A serious test
of human relations! Come on Jake, it was only a pee and not a poo!?
That will be next time. Tee hee
A very fast decent of the fixed ropes and we were back in ABC by lunch
time. Well, I say very fast, if we hadn't have stopped to talk to all
of
our new friends. Di has come to the conclusion that acclimatisation
might make you climb faster, but being two of the most sociable people
on the mountain, we take twice as long to get anywhere as we stop to
talk to everyone we meet along the way!
Note to Di: next time I ask if there's loo roll in the toilet tent,
after not having any bowel movements for the past 4 days, 3 sheets does
not constitute a "yes, there's plenty". What next followed next was
some of the most initiative use of materials found in and around Jake
and the toilet tent.
Finally back to (relative) civilisation: good food, Pringles, Jacobs
Cream crackers, email and DVD.

Keep sending your updates, for all we know the UK has sunk slowly into
the Channel!

Lots of love from

Jake and Di, mountaineers extraordinaire!

Day 27 (of 68 potentially!)

Although update 8 was only a couple of days ago, we've been very busy. Di and I are presently sitting by the gas fire like a pair of OAPs (apologies to any real OAPs!), she's reading her book and I am typing away furiously!). Di interjects here : "hang on mateyboy, there's nought wrong with sitting infront of the fire reading my book - infact wish I had some toastie warm slippers on".

27th April (Yesterday)
Finally the time came to do a load carry from ABC (6400m) to the North Col campsite (7070m). It is nice to move on to another camp on the mountain, especially as neither of us went there when the North Col group had their 'summit day'. I also broke a personal altitude record, as it is over 100m higher than Aconcagua (6962m). Di's record is 8201m on Cho Oyu, so she's got quite away to go! Although it didn't feel like any kind of barrier, it is certainly an impressive height to have achieved, as there is nowhere else in the world apart from Asia that you can get this high.

The day started early with a big breakfast of porridge and eggy bread, and we left ABC by 8.15am. We were carrying some of the kit that we wouldn't need till higher up on the mountain and would leave at the North Col. After about 1.5 hours we arrived at the edge of the ice field below the Northern Flank of the mountain and put on our harnesses and crampons. We also met up with Dave Hamilton, Sir Ranaulf Fiennes, Sibusiso Vilane (First Black man to climb Everest) and Ian Parnell
(Famous Mountaineering Photographer/Super Alpinist). We all trundled
up to the start of the fixed ropes at about 6700m. Seeing a number of black dots already part way up this huge 350m head wall put it all into perspective, especially on the steep sections. So we clipped on our ascenders and started to climb.
We were actually quite relieved for the small queues moving up the fixed ropes, as it meant that we were forced to go very slowly (not that we could have gone much faster at this altitude). However every so often a Sherpa with a huge rucksack would storm past us. There were two sections that were very steep (nearly 90 degrees), and trying to pull yourself up these sections on a thin strand of 7.5mm rope (with 5 or 6 others on the same rope) was quite hairy. There were also two sections of ladders laid horizontally over crevasses, which again certainly got the heart pumping! I eventually arrived at our tent at the North Col at about 2.30pm. Di arrived soon after and we sorted out our gear before heading back down. The North Col Camp site is a higgledy piggery, mishmash of tents all crammed into a tiny area. It looks like a shanty town! I counted about 70 tents in the area of probably 70m x 20m. Even worse than a D of E bronze expedition!

Coming down was a lot faster, as most of the climbers were sleeping up there, and all the Sherpas had been up and down before lunch. It was like one long 350m abseil, so a lot of fun. We met our Sherpas, Mingma and Aneil who were load carrying up to North Col and beyond, they had had a lie in, and hadn't started till 1.30pm. At 4pm, they had got as far as it had taken us nearly 5 hours! We were back in ABC by just after 5pm, very tired as you can imagine! We have to confess here, that our cook Surrendra had gone to special efforts making salami pizza and apple pie. Needless to say, that after a wiff of pizza we retired to bed most apologetic.

28th April (today)
Well earned rest day! Finished off the DVD of Alexander, and played cards for most of the morning. Delicious lunch of pizza (yup, last
nights) and chips! This afternoon the weather changed, and we have had about 3 inches of snow (still hasn't stopped). I can't even get into my tent as it is being guarded by a very fearsome Yak, who had decided that my porch is a very comfortably place to lie down. He is now covered in several inches of snow, but still has a very pink nose! We have been listening to the radio (CB, not Chris Moyles and Radio 1!) all day, and it sounds as though there is going to be a storm higher up on the mountain tomorrow, so we are both glad that we are safely down in ABC!

Andy, Mandy and Di returned back to Basecamp from the North Col to be reunited with Pam and Jake who had returned to BC the day before. It is quite a hike from ABC to BC in 1 day, a distance of 22km, and although a vertical drop of 1200m, still a hard yomp! Everyone understandably arrived completely knackered (apart from Di who skipped in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed).

romantically white scene in the morning. Di and I set out at 9am as Aneil and Tundo broke camp.

A day full of emotions.

As you may have gathered by the previous dispatch from the boss things had not gone well at ABC. Appetites had gone, sleepless nights a plenty. Pam and Jake both took the decision to walk back down to Base Camp as they weren't acclimatising to the new surrounds. Di, Mandy & Andrew were up bright and early, thankfully not suffering any of yesterday's illness. It had however been one of the coldest nights experienced, at 17:00 the previous day the temperature was dropping below -7 it continued to drop so cold that the tomato sauce exploded. The team ate as much as they could force down before setting off at 8:00. Good progress was made through ABC and towards the point of kitting up, the sherpas, Mingma and Aneil left later but soon caught us up. The group crossed the glacier to the head wall and were confronted with the main route of very steep fixed lines up to the North Col, later vertical and overhanging. The angle of these should not be underestimated. It was time to get the jumars out and jugging up the route. Mandy found this difficult and after persevering decided that she had gone as far as she physically could and returned back to ABC with Di having reached an impressive 6700m.

Andrew continued on route with Aneil confronting crevasses that needed traversing via ladder, definitely one for the concentration at 6900m.
Finally a push to Adventure Peaks North Col Camp (7056m) and a very ecstatic and happy Andrew and Aneil, they had made it! Sadly, because of the snowy conditions that had started earlier in the day they missed out on the fine views. It was then high-tailing it, as best one could, back down ABC, strangely ignoring the altitude that we were at. Finally appearing back at ABC to warm welcomes some 9 hours later.
Tuesday April19th

Dispatch from the boss..

Things had been going so well up to now - as you have probably gathered from the last dispatch. However, this morning looked very grim for a couple of members of the Adventure Peaks Team. Last night, our chirpy as a chirpy thing, Jake was definitely not himself and missed dinner for the first time. He still came to keep us company but the smell of the food was turning his stomach. In fact, we knew it was bad when he only watched one DVD and not his normal two after dinner. Speaking about last night, Di, Andy and Jake did look very pathetic as we sat in our dining tent watching 'National Treasure' fully clothed in nearly all our summit down gear with Jakes sleeping bag over us for extra warmth - its mighty cold up here - infact Andy's thermometer isn't even registering. So, this morning not only did Jake (who had been sick during the
evening) look a little bit worth for wear but poor Pam came in looking if someone had been hitting her over the eyes with a baseball bat all evening. Oh, the joys of altitude. So, a team chat was in order this morning over breakfast and it was decided that Pam and Jake were to have a relaxing morning around camp - and this didn't include lying down in their tents all morning - whilst Mandy, Andy and Di walked up the glacier to the kitting up point for a closer look at the ground leading up to the North Col. Lots of "oohs" and "aahs". Back down to camp for lunch - which was enjoyed by some - and an afternoon of practice with ascenders, descenders and other jingly jangly bits. Needless to say, they are all in their tents, familiarising themselves with the sharp metal things that are required for tomorrow (hopefully not the crampons). The North Col Team are going to head up the mountain tomorrow with Di, Mingma and Aneil, weather permitting, whilst Jake is going to take it easy until he gets his strength back. Di, cold at ABC

"puff puff puff.......sigh...puff puff puff"

All is ok here at the Adventure Peaks advance base camp. Our final day at Base Camp saw us up early for the yak weigh in of our luggage. The yaks were loaded up and our trek to intermediate camp began. People started to feel the altitude in the last couple of hundred metres, eventually reaching intermediate camp at 5730m. People erected tents and soon collapsed only to awoken by a nice hot cup of tea from Aneil. That evening food was served in tents, as people were starting to feel the effects of the days climb. Having spent the last two days climbing, approximately 6hours per day, through stunning scenery of the Rongbuk Glacier we are now camped at Advanced Base Camp at 6410m.

Everyone is quiet today after approx 900m climbing yesterday and from the first views of the North Col. Word from teams higher up in ABC is that a 10 crevasse has opened which will be the teams first obstacle on the journey higher. On the trek up Jake tends to be at the front, arriving in good time to help put the tents up. Mingma was already camped at ABC and so the kitchen tent, complete with dry stone wall cooking platform, was already in operation. The views were spectacular on the walk up, though we all felt that it was best to keep plodding and take pictures on the way down. Mess tent and toilet tent arrived today so all is well.

An early start from Tingri was made for the journey to Everest Base Camp, but not too early to fit in another of those fine Tingri breakfasts! The journey to base camp was made in two Land Cruisers over three hours. We steadily climbed through the rugged landscape passing small permanent settlements along the way, it's amazing that people live and work at these high altitudes. With many frozen river crossings it wasn't surprising that we would get stuck at some point. A few well placed stones and rocks soon had us underway again. About two hours into the journey we got our first full view of Everest and surrounds. "Wow" became a common word. An hour later and we were at Everest Base Camp (5000m).

After a hunt around the various camps we eventually found ours nestled by the side of a river. The camp (5180m) had already been established the previous day by Mingma, Aneil & Surendra. A huge breakfast was waiting which we all tucked into.

The rest of the day was spent attempting to set up communications, electrics and getting used to the new altitude. High winds at Base Camp whip up the dust and aid in keeping the temperature down. We are soon kitted out in our down equipment, apart from Di who had about five layers on. It was all hands on when the winds picked up and the toilet tent started to take flight, with some additional rope and rocks it was soon lashed down.

The evening was spent in the luxury of the dining tent huddled around a gas heater watching the latest DVD releases courtesy of Kathmandu .

The following day we all awake with various forms of headache and nausea, some more than others. This was expected due to our new altitude. The high winds at Base Camp persist, everyone choosing to remain in camp.

Overnight the winds drop and everyone has a better nights sleep. The electrics are finally sorted and the radios are tested. Andrew, Mandy and Pam go for a short walk to the Base Camp post office only to find it closed. After a rough first day at this altitude the group have settled in to home and are enjoying the new surroundings.

Andrew nearly falls out of the Land Cruiser, dodgy locks (pattern emerging here)

Pam almost set new record for high altitude flying of toilet tents. (Note – she wasn't on it at the time)

Salon Adventure Peaks has opened - Jake has been the first customer and now has new peroxide bleached hair and beard, all set for his summit attempt.

Di came baring gifts from other camps – a mini-bottle of Irish Cream for us to share.

Jake had a shocking experience trying to set up the electrics – he's decided to stick to mountaineering much safer.

Mandy has started her breakfast in bed campaign. "I've started with a cup of tea, but over the next few days I expect to expand to a full cooked breakfast"

Di is still sleeping on 15 hours straight through - team suspect she may have more Irish Cream than we are led to believe.

Cinema Adventure Peaks is packed out each night - ice cream is proving a hard option to stomach but the popcorn is a popular choice.

Food is in abundance – "God I'm stuffed" seems a common phrase around the dinner table.

Jake and Di's horrible high camp food (mitts off) is ready for moving up the mountain.

The Branston pickle has been moved to the high camp. This is much relief for the team as an empty jar has already been found and they want to safe guard against any further possible gluttony.

Jake continues to sew patches on is high-altitude gear – the team think he could have done without the down suit and just made a patchwork one from his patches and a couple of pillows.

"gosh, it's cold" says Mandy, as she gets into her sleeping wearing all her clothes at Nyalam. “Do you think it will get much colder?” Next day, Mandy continues her power shopping spending her “doodahs” on jimjams.

Left Kathmandu on the 5 th for 25 minute helicopter flight to Kodori (1830m) – as opposed to the 8 hour bus ride. We stayed the night here then walked over the Friendship Bridge and into Tibet and Zhangmu (2300m). The following day we went to Nylam (3760m) where we had an acclimatisation walk to 4080m without problem (and oxygen!). Then a 3 hour drive to Tingri across a high pass and into the Everest Conservation Area. We arrived at our accommodation and spent the rest of the day at rest. Today we had another acclimatisation walk to 4780m in very windy conditions. All did extremely well. Spirits are high and everyone feeling well despite the odd headache or two.