Good Friday

---

In a massive contrast to last year's Good Friday (staying at mazing luxury Health Spa in foothills of Himalayas) this year finds me freezing my bits off IN the Himalayas. While I may not be in the Death Zone quite, I am definitely in the 'severely uncomfortable and blummin freezing' zone.

However....

We did it! We've done it! And that final walk to base Camp and back was bloody hard. Hardest thing I've ever done. We walked up to Gorak Shep, a desolate, rocky places with 4 or 5 lodges huddled againts the constant bitterly cold wind. We had some lunch then set out for Base Camp. The going was not good, really rocky and you had to watch you fooring the whole time. We crawled up and own countless ridges and then began to see the start of the Icefall and the glacier on the right. It was a terrifying sight. Great crevasses of ice open up in the scree. I felt incredibly strongly that this was NO PLACE FOR HUMANS and I wasn't the only person feeling that. The silence was almost total, broken only by the sounds of avalanches, you heard it and then looked round and saw the massive waves of snow thundering down the mountain. As if the giants were hurling their ire at us.

In one place you have to walk along a narrow scree path, not dissimilar to the screes that roll down to Wastwater in the Lake District, only bigger and more foreboding. One of the climbers had warned us about this stretch and cautioned us to get through it as quickly as possibly. The reason was clear, huge boulders the size of fridge freezers were positioned over us and occasionally came hurtling down. You wouldn't stand a chance and apparently it's not uncommon for people to have been killed by the se falling rocks. I guess if there's a rock with your name on it there's not much you can do.

The temperature got colder and colder, we were now at 5200, and struggling for breath and we negotiated our way through the rockfalls and the scree that covered solid ice in places. At one point we passed a crashed helicopter, a grim reminder that there is only one way in and out of this place - on foot. Those brave or foolhardy enough to penetrate so far should not count on a speedy escape. The air is too thin for helicopters to land safely although some do try to attempt rescues of injured climbers.

In the distance we could now clearly see the bottom of the Icefall proper that climbs up Everest towards the Western Cwm and we could see Sagamartha herself, towering above us. Brightly coloured tents cowered at the bottom of the Icefall as the wind ripped around the base of the mountain, a mere taste of what was in store if you tried to ascend it. It is hard to describe the desolate, bleak cold of Base camp. The tents of the various expeditions look almost pathetic among the terrible heights, Everest in particular.

We staggered into the area of Base Camp and took photos and hung about for 20 minutes or so. It is hard to describe my emotions. I almost felt too cold to HAVE any emotions! I picked up a few stones to take back and we set our faces towards Gorak Shep and the 2 and a half hour walk back. I felt really dreadful by this time. Si had to make me eat an oaty bar to rescue me. It was a long hard slog back and we all felt as if the energy had been drained from us. It began to snow and still we walked. Eventually we reached the relative safety of Gorak Shep. All we have to do tomorrow is climb Kala Pattar, the bunion on Pumori that gives a great view of Everest and then we can start going down. I can't wait.

---

Photos

Miyolangsangma peeks out to say hello
Miyoloangsangma is the Buddhist name for the Goddess that lives on Chomolungma (Everest)

Crashed helicopter
From the 1973 Italian expedition