Sleeping at: Askole Sleeping Altitude: 3000m Trekking Distance: 35km Day: 21 Last day of trekking. We are on the trail by 06:30 in order to cover the 35km back into Askole. It's cool and perfect for hiking. Very flat patches interspersed with climbs, same path that we took on the way in but still totally awesome. Body is feeling good, have lost some weight and we're losing altitude quite quickly. We meet quite a few people heading up and down to various points - lots of Pakistani students and a couple of groups (looking like we did at the beginning of our trek- clean but sweaty and out of breath). Ashan, Lynton and I take a break at Johla which is deserted bar a couple of young guys and an Italian girl. She tells us that ... read more

Sleeping at: Khoburche Sleeping Altitude: 3830m Trekking Distance: 21.6km Day: 20 Unbelievable the difference a day makes. The sun is back out and it's looking like a beautiful day to be out there. Only 21 km to do today and we're losing significant altitude- piece of cake- hahahahahaha..... Feeling energised again. Breakfast is cornflakes and pancakes (!) and a never ending jar of nutella, there also seems to be a never ending assortment of lurid orangey-yellow tropical fruit jams but the pictures on the label always have a mango so they are off limits for me- although they would probably be ok, I suspect the fruit jams don't actually contain fruit. I secrete away a pancake into my lunch size dry bag-still in the habit of packing half of my breakfast away for later. Gulp down ... read more

Sleeping at: Ali Camp Sleeping Altitude: maybe 4800m, maybe 5000m Trekking Distance: 12 km Day: 18 The sky is blue, the sun is out and today we are heading to Ali Camp. We have a last breakfast as a whole group- Danny, Gen, Lynton, Anthony, Ian and myself are proceeding with Juma and some of our porters. Mary, Chisato, Fernando and the horses are staying another night at Concordia in the hope that the helicopter will pick up Chisato and Fernando today, if not they will proceed back towards Askole on horseback. Chisato can now weight bear on her ankle but obviously can't walk any distance or climb and jump down from rocks as we have on the way up here. Originally the plan had been that Mary would leave today with the horses, Ali, the ... read more

Sleeping at: CONCORDIA!!!! Sleeping Altitude: 4590m Trekking Distance: 21.8 km Day:16 06:30 departure in noticeably cooler conditions, grey sky. We're putting in another big day to make up time and will reach Concordia this afternoon- this is a major milestone and the most scenic of all of the campsites to date. The morning is dominated by glacier moraine and ice, the afternoon- more moraine and ice, some very speccy ice formations and some small flowing glacial streams to cross. It isn't as difficult as previous days despite the consistent altitude gains and we make good time. Lunch is at 10:50 and we are actually in camp by 13:40, so 7 hours including lunch. Coming into Concordia is exciting, I'm really pleased to have made it as there have been moments of real doubt. All of us ... read more

Sleeping at:Khoburche Sleeping Altitude: 3795m Trekking Distance: 16.6km, Ascent 640m, Descent 220m Day: 14 The trekking days have a rhythm to them (no matter where the trek is really, there are just the subtle differences). Up early, try to leave early, get more than half of expected kms under your belt by lunch time to allow for a shorter afternoon. Arrive into camp, say hi to everyone who is in ahead of me (most of the group), be greeted by our porters and shown the tent for the night, clean up as much as possible and meet for an afternoon snack and hot drink. Relax for a while and then have dinner, a chat and an early night. Today followed that plan, but the scenery....... WOW........ we got onto the Baltoro Glacier, we trekked through massive ... read more