Friday 30 October 2009

Kathmandu - Friday 30th October, Andy.

Had a day of 'tourist' activities in Kathmandu today which I'd like to say was relaxing but in such a manic city that's not possible! It's now 9.50pm and the place is still alive with people in the street and music / live bands from the many bars in the Thamel.
I'm now at the point of looking forward to getting out of here and getting back home so it will probably be from there that I'll update again.

Tuesday 27 October 2009

Back in Namche - Monday 26th October

Kieron and I arrived back in Namche mid afternoon after a fast decent (2 days) from base camp. There was no summit success this trip, the team made a high point and camp of approx 6100m on the first part of the ridge. Technical difficulties, poor snow conditions (at least 2 or 3 BIG avalanches from the face per day) and a bit of illness thrown in all hindered progress.
This line was much more technical than the photos would have had us believe and the time scale was probably too short but I guess that's all part of it!
On a plus side, we found out that the Japanese took 3 attempts before they summited so we've still got 2 more goes!!
Heading down to Lukla on Wednesday 28th, then on to Kathmandu for a few days R&R before the flight back.

Thursday 8 October 2009

Namche Bazer (3445m) - Thursday 8th October

It's been a relatively smooth journey to get here. Kathmandu was big, busy and noisy but amazing too. The flight to Lukla on the small plane went smoothly with great views of the mountains including Everest. From Lukla we trekked two days to Namche, arriving on the afternoon of the 6th. Kieron and I had a steady day yesterday, walked up to the Everest View Lodge to find not view of Everest due to the cloud and rain!! Still, it was good to stretch the legs and get a little higher for a few hours.
Today dawned a little brighter but it's raining again. We're starting the trek in to base camp today which will take another 5 days and take us a little over 5000m before dropping back down to Gokyo, the last town before the mountain.
Looking forward to getting to the mountain and seeing how the route looks. This is likely the last post until we get back down, so we'll catch you in 15 / 20 days!

Saturday 3 October 2009

Bags are Packed - Andy

It's Saturday morning, just, and the bags are packed for the trip. The amazing thing is that they're under weight too! Now there's only the drive down to Heathrow in the morning.
Feeling rough still from the chest problem I've had all week but there's another course of antibiotics to come with me so hopefully that should have got rid of it before the walk in, fingers crossed!
Next post will hopefully be from the airport before we board the plane.


Climbing Hardware Items - Kieron & Andy

Thanks to Eddy and Isacco at C.A.M.P. for supplying some of the new hardware items for the trip.





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