NAMCHEE TO LUKLA 9/6/10: Another amazing sleep, I love oxygen. Azeret decided to follow us to Lukla and it was agreed we would get an early start. We were walking by 6:00am trekking back down steeps and paths we had walked up 15 days before. From Namchee to Monjo was 2 hours and by the time we descended into the valley around 2800m high I was bouncing of walls. The oxygen had never felt thicker, we were powering up hills like they weren’t even there. I felt like and Olympic athlete almost running up hill without even getting the slightest bit puffed. It was probably the fittest I have ever been. I felt like I could walk up a sheer rock face somehow defying gravity. I had so much energy I walked twice as fast as ... read more

CLIMBING GOKYO RI and onto DOLE 7//6/10: A shitty night sleep again, it’s amazing how a 100m reduction in altitude can give you a good night sleep, unfortunately it had the opposite effect on when gaining. We were up at 5:00am to climb Gokyo Ri, at 5360m it was going to be tough, it would be like climbing Kala Pattha but the climb was but steeper. The morning was perfect, there was no fog or wind. We started our walk like all the other mornings, breathless and with little energy. Once again I wanted to be the first to the top and once again I walked 10-20m stopping to catch my breath then carried on putting one foot in front of the other. I mostly ignored the view until I was at the top, it was ... read more

CHO-LA PASS (5330m high) from DZONGLA TO THAGNAG 5/6/10: Dzongla was around 4850 high, a lot lower than what we had been but we still didn't sleep that well. Worried about the rain we had that night we all got up at 4:30am with mixed feelings about what was in front of us. The only one that didn't seem nervous was Shanker but after we started walking it was hard to keep up, he too wanted to get over the pass ASAP. Leaving Dzongla by 5:30 we all powered up the hill. James and Shanker walked a lot faster than all of us and it was tough to keep up in the high altitude, I later found out that he is a professional cyclist. As we gained altitude the weather started to clear from the surrounding ... read more

EVEREST BASE CAMP (EBC) 5340m high 3/6/10: Jacinta woke up feeling fine; she had no headache and the bed rest the day earlier really payed off. Although we had a restless sleep and packet noodles for breakfast we had a great start to the morning. Halfway into the walk we heard a massive thunder followed by the sound of what can only be described as a ragging torrent of water or a flooded river coming from the opposite side of the mountain, it was a huge avalanche that made our stomachs rumble from the noise. The only problem was it came from the hidden side of the mountain. It was so loud that I shuddered to think how loud it would have been if it happened on our side, I was so disappointed that we missed ... read more

DINGBOCHE TO LOBUCHE 1/6/10: Up at 5:00am to have noodles once again for breakfast, I was starting to think bringing 60 packets of noodles was a bad idea. Our walk started at the same acclimatization point we walk on our very first day in Dingboche. After a few photos we carried on walking in huge plateu between two mountain ranges. It was the clearest day we have had so far and our cameras were running hot before the threat of any weather closed in again. The temp was 15 degrees making it perfect for walking in the beautiful valley. We were having such a great time we stopped for a light snack; having a little nap set in amongst huge giants. Everything was perfect, clear skies, great views, good snacks with no noodles, we weren’t fighting ... read more