Hi all,

So I'm back in Namche Bazaar after a LOT of walking. We've stopped off here for lunch on our penultimate day of trekking before heading back down the valley to Lukla where will fly back to kathmandu on Saturday morning (weather permitting). Just to back track once again on what I've been up to since leaving here early last Thursday morning...

We set off early and headed out round the mountain to follow the 'mountain highway' a relatively wide, level path (compared to the narrow passes we had become used to) which hugs the side of the mountains giving way to stunning views of the Khumbu valley. A couple of hundred metres below the river streams down the valley and the hills are lush and green with a few small, villages dotted around. Our goal for the day was Tengboche, a village situated at the top of a very large hill, which would take us hours to climb, famous for its monastery ( a top stopping off point for people on their way to summit Everest to be blessed.) It was a really tough day and we climbed for a long time but arriving at the lodge was a welcome break and a chance to dump our bags before heading over to the monastery. Our expectations were pretty low considering how remote a place we were in, but after removing our shoes and entering through a thick curtain we were all shocked to see how amazingly decorative the central room with its giant Buddha was. Considering that in this part of the world everything must be carried up the in to the mountains on your back (evident by the huge loads we had see the local peole hauling uphill) it was pretty incredible. We then went back to out lodge to settle in for the night, well as much as possible in what was essentially a plywood shoe box. Slightly disconcerting was that the night before two girls from our group had had a rat in their room and when my room mate Cat heard scuffling in our 'shoebox' we felt it necessary to take every precaution and pile every single possession on our beds and to scream at every scuffle. Thankfully, we didnt actually see anything...

The next day we woke at around 5.30am as Tengboche is considered one of the best places to see Everest. Unfortunately the whole rat incident meant I couldnt face being seperated from my sleeping bag (it is REALLY cold in the mountains) and just took a quick peek from the window. Pretty impressive though. We then faced another long days walk down through the rhodendron bushes and trees to Dengboche, which is at a much higher elevation so there was much huffing and puffing up hills. We were spurred on by the fact that a hot shower awaited, it is safe to say that the Everest Base camp trek does not offer many opportunities for washing so this was very welcome. The walk saw the landscape change as we went above 4000m and passed the treeline. Everything became much bleaker and the wind picked up, although the many snow capped peaks of the everything began to tower ever more above us. The higher elevation makes the whole body react quite strangely and a number of people in the group began to have symptoms of AMS (acute mountain sickness) including headaches and nausea, but luckily this had yet to hit me. It also makes sleeping very difficult, as you wake gasping for breath, and that is before you factor in the strange dreams that seem very real. Luckily the next day was another acclimitization day so we only had a morning walk up a few hundred metres to get us used to a higher elevation.Although this sounds pretty uneccessary it is really important for preparing your body to go to higher heights, something we would need to reach Base Camp at 5300m above sea level on Monday.

On Sunday morning we set off for our next stop, Loubouche, a remote village 4900m up and the gateway to the highest part of the trek. On the way we would pass the memorial site for the Sherpas and Westerners who had died in their quest to summit Everest (many of whom had died on the way down). This was quite a sobering sight as we were shocked to see just how many memorials there were, draped in Buddhist prayer flags, on this remote part of the mountains. As we left the memorials and pushed higher it became increasingly cold and harder to breath. Even the smallest slope would leave us gasping for breath. We were reminded of the dangers fairly regularly as the rescue helicopters flew back and forth above us, headed to pick up sick climbers and trekkers and return them to the high altitude hospital at Pheriche, further down the valley. We reached our lodge at Loubouche at a reasonable time and after an early dinner headed to bed, failing dismally to sleep in the cold rooms, finding it increasingly difficult to breath.

Monday was our base camp day so we set off really early up the valley to our lunch stop Gorak Shep, the last point of civilization before base camp and situated at 5180m. Reaching there by 10.30am we had a quick break then set out on our 6 hour round trip to base camp. By now the landscape had become bleaker and was something akin to a moonscape with ice, turquoise pools and shelfs of gravel surrounded by the huge Khumbu glacier on which base camp is place. As we go closer we could see the black rock summit of Everest poking through the clouds and the, what seemed like hundreds of yellow tets lined up in the distance. By the early afternoon we had reached the base camp, which was an amazing feeling after 8 days trekking. We celebrated and tooks photos before turning back and heading to our lodge for the night. We thought the hardest part of the trek was now over and it would be down hill from here....

Tuesday morning we were woken at 3.30 am (!!!) to climb up the Kala Patter peak for sunrise in order to get the best view of Everest. It was pitch black as we started our descent and was bitingly cold. It was here that AMS hit me for the first time and it was a real struggle to haul myself up to the summit in time for the sunrise. Many of the group thought it was the hardest thing they had ever done and that day I was inclined to agree. We actually reached higher heights than the base camp as we climbed to 5632m while the temperatures failed to climb above zerod degrees. Despite the climb the view was incredible as the sun rose behind Everest and the surrounding peaks. We headed down for breakfast followed by another 7 hours walking (2 of which were in the pouring rain!) to Pheriche where we would spend the first night of our descent.

Another long day followed as we dipped back below the tree line and felt the sun start to warm us again as breathing became easier. We spent the night at our nicest tea house last night, complete with TV and DVD player along with popcorn. Today we have headed down even further and reached namche Bazaar once again. After lunch we will head right down into the valley and tomorrow will reach Lukla, where we will fly out from on Saturday morning.

That's everything for now, sorry for the hugely long post, but this has been both an intense and breathtaking experience which I wanted to try and document and describe. Sam if you're reading this, it's a must do - even if I got there first! Hope everyone is well. I'll be in Kathmandu this weekend and then probably heading to Pokhara for a few days (paragliding here I come) after that.

S. x