T-2

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I leave from here tomorrow so it'll actually feel like the adventure begins tomorrow evening.

Have spent the evening trying to work out how to get all the kit to fit - not easy but I'm close (although I am taking a second bag with me to leave in Kathmandu with some clean bits for when I return from the trek so that'll make life a wee bit easier). Still not convinced I have everything I need but I'll only find out once I'm out there I guess.

I hope to get a chance to check in here at least briefly once I arrive in Kathmandu so, unless I feel driven to scribble anything tomorrow / Friday morning, Saturday/Sunday from Kathmandu is likely to be the next update.

Familial types, when mum gets worried, remind her I'm fulfilling my dreams and doing what I love. Far flung travel and trekking through mountainous wilderness is what makes me feel most alive, most fulfilled. And I want to do much, much more of it after this so I'll be keeping myself alive and well so I can. There are many versions of this, but mine goes like so: "If you die trying too hard up a mountain, you don't get to go back and try again, so best to stay alive and have another chance ;-)" Ed Viesturs uses a good one: "Getting to the summit is optional, getting back down is not."

Having said all that, nothing I'm doing is likely to place me in any danger - at least, no more than everyday life already does. I'll be popping in to see base camp on Tuesday, April 5th. The summit expeditions will be arriving in preparation for the early May summit attempts. I love the thought of being there, being inside the books I've spent so long reading. But a thought disturbs me (as it should) - it is highly likely that one or more of the people I see that day will be dead soon afterwards. Something to live with in this game of ghosts.

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