Upon reaching the end of the line at Gorak shep, and having a full crystal clear panorma of the Everest range around us, we decided we felt as ok as one can feel at that stage and to capitalise on when the weather semed to be good and ascend Kala Pattar there and then (having just walked 5hrs and already at 5000+m). We would then do the 'easier' walk to base camp the next morning, it was only around the corner in the grande scheme of things anyway, and truth be told we were focused on Kala Pattar more as you can't actually see much from base camp, it just sounds good in a dinner conversation ya know?The climb was slow, veryyyy slow. I've climbed bigger mountains back home, and in comparison to the surrounding peaks (all 7000+m), Kala Pattar is pretty insignificant. But the altitude really gets you, its like walking in slow motion. Sometimes it was literally 5 steps, have a 2minute rest, 5 steps, rest and repeat to top. The trekking poles were a good help, if not just to stop myself from collapsing. Walking at altitude when your already tired is quite like walking when your drunk, your feet dont always go where you intend them to. I actually almost stepped of the trail several times the day before, and when i mean ''off the trail '' i mean 'the 300m ravine below''.The old enemy on a trek like this, the clouds, began to catch up on us about half way up, so that by the time we got to the top it was actually getting quite overcast and you couldnt see Everest summit. Got a few snaps of it on the way up though of the West shoulder summit (theres technically 3 summits). It was freezing on the top of KP, and it actually started snowing, but the views were just fantastic. The scale of things dont really show up on the photos to someone who hasn't done the walk, as that valley floor in the background is actually huge and we spent near half a day on it, and its not a floor, its an active moving glacier of ice. And those ''puddles'' are actually lakes. It was all a bit stupendous really. And sorry to spoil it, but that big mountain in several of my pictures is actually Nupste, slightly smaller than Everest, but from the Nepal side it is closer to us and therefore looks alot bigger and alot better on camera. Everest is directly next to it on the left. Behind Everest and co. was Tibet (or if your that way inclined, China).Alot of the better pictures of Everest I actually took the morning after, before we started the trek to EBC - crazy guy that I am, i got up early and actually ascended about 1/4 back of Kala Pattar to get the snaps as that early in the morning it was even better weather and totally clear. It was a good idea at the time, like.The trek to EBC was far longer than i thought it would be, considering you can basiclly see it from Kala Pattar (your hundreds of metres above the base camp, looking down on it from where we were). It was the terrain which made it tough - alot of slippy ice and uneven ground led to very slow progress and clambering over alot of rock. You could hear the creaking ice of the moving glacier underneath, which was a bit surreal. Got there, had a wee gander at the pretty ice falls, a nosey around some expedition tents and basiclly turned and went back the way we came. Kala Pattar was far more rewarding, but EBC was still good by all means, just didn't have the views.Not having to worry about altitude sickness on the return leg of the trek, we could descend as fast as we liked. And, contary to popular belief, it isn't ''down hill all the way'' but theres still a few really tough climbs when you have to cross a valley or two - 500m down one side (tough on the knees big time) and 600m vertically up the other side is no walk in the park. Anyways, made it back in very good time, shaved a couple of days of the schedule by having a few longer days, and also by that time I felt alot fitter and comfortable walking.Back to lukla, stayed in a lodge, up next morning to catch the mountain flight out of there to Kathmandu, to proper food, hot showers, BBC news, pollution, phones and internet. And as luck would have it, mine was the only flight to make it out that day due to weather problems and loads of other trekkers were stuck there for several days.Mission accomplished i'd day.More on my general impression of Nepal in a later blog, including; scams, monkeys, computer viruses and the price of my hotel room...P.sOh, and Happy Birthday to me.