Day 327 - "Yes, that is the Everest"

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We could go on about the mundane things that happened to us today, like the miserable start when the hotel had no water hot or cold. The attempt at continental breakfast failed miserably, as if it had been imported from France 10 years ago and kept in a cupboard ever since. And the drive was excellent, with yet more incredible scenery as we continued our journey south-westwards, climbing steadily as we went through an utterly barren and arid landscape. Oh and as we write this we have a mouse running around our hotel room as well!

But there’s no point boring you with tiny details when TODAY WE SAW THE SUMMIT OF EVEREST!!!

We took a few minutes to enjoy the highest point that we’ve ever reached and the highest point of our trip, a 5220m pass beyond which lay the Everest region. That was an experience we enjoyed - it’s hard to describe why reaching that sort of high altitude is good but it really was. Moments later when we were back in the car we rounded a bend and saw a classic view of Himalayan snow-covered peaks - with one noticeably taller than the others. We both pointed at the view and Pasang, our guide, spoke the words that we will never forget, “Yes, that is the Everest”.

It wasn’t just the normal view of Everest either. Mountains have an annoying tendency to attract cloud around their summits since despite their size they are shy beasts. We got very very lucky though, and saw almost the entire Mount Everest against a Tibetan blue sky with the phenomenal North Face - first climbed just 3 years ago - proudly showing us her all.

Days like this are what we always hoped our year away was going to give us. It’s a memory and an image that will stay with us forever. And the best bit is that tomorrow we’re going even closer, and camping overnight at Everest Base Camp.

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