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Moving to Advanced Base Camp via Interim Camp

After four days spent acclimatising at Base Camp, we move to Interim Camp and gain about 600 metres (nearly 2,000 feet) in altitude. The first sign that we are going to be on the move is the arrival of the Yaks. Our expedition leader, Jamie, has contracted with the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA), who control […]

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Everest Base Camp

Base Camp is something of an anticlimax when we arrive on the plateau. It’s a grey, barren, dusty, rock strewn, narrow plain that finishes where the moraine of the Rongbuk glacier begins. The wind is blowing hard, making me feel very cold despite wearing two shirts, a thick windstopper and a waterproof jacket. In areas […]

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The Road Trip: Lhasa to Everest Base Camp

We are on our way from Lhasa to Everest Base Camp. In my glorious state of ignorance prior to undertaking this trip, I had not realised that there was more than one base camp on Everest. Why would anyone think otherwise? However, there is a base camp on the Nepali (South) side and a base […]

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Lhasa, Tibet

We jumped on a China Airlines plane to make the skip over the Himalayas into Lhasa, capital of the ‘autonomous’ region of Tibet. In reality it has been governed with a rod of iron by the Chinese since they ‘invaded’ it in 1959. Along the way, we got our first view of Everest across the […]

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Pokhara

We have swapped the necessity of climbing into a thick sleeping bag fully clothed in a room in which ice forms on the inside of the windows for the joy of slipping between the sheets naked whilst the bedroom is cooled by an air conditioner. Frozen squatter toilets that have my thighs quivering have been […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Ten

Another bad night. This time I had diahorrea and becoming intimately acquainted with a frozen squatter toilet is not a life experience that I would recommend. I took the last two Imodium tablets and hoped that would prevent any unwelcome explosions on the mountain. The most annoying aspect of it all was that I had […]

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Annapurna Circuit: Day Nine

What a cold night! The temperature plunged well below zero, freezing everything including the toilet. I hadn’t had a good night, waking at 1.00am with a headache (a sign of altitude sickness) so I drank as much water as I could force down myself. At 4.00am I awoke without a headache but feeling sick (another […]

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