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Cold and windy but has some stunning views of everest and the 400m ice climb up to the north col.

We stayed here for 5 nights with the hope to stay a night or 2 at theNorth Col.

The first day was a rest day, and rest we did, nothing was done, just reading books, conversations and eating.

The second day we went around visiting a few camps that Jamie knows. Phil for one who has always got a story to tell.

ABC nights are cold, we usually stay in the dining tent (which has a gas heater) after dinner til about 8pm, then go to bed, by this time, it is on average -17 degrees C. Makes it hard to get your gear off and into your sleeping bag. It doesn’t really get much colder than this during the night, maybe -19.5 although these temps are taken inside my tent. If I was out in the wind, it would be deadly.

The 3^rd night at ABC, after resisting onAconcagua, and every other day this expedition so far, I finally converted my red 1l drink bottle to a pee bottle.

This makes it so much easier to pee at night, just kneel in my sleeping bag, do the business, screw it up, and leave it on the tent floor somewhere…. No heat lost at all.

Sure beats the alternative of going out in this cold in my underwear coming back and taking 30 mins to get comfortable again.

The 4^th day of ABC we went for a walk up the hill to approximately 6550m to a place called Crampon Point. Which is a place marked out by expedition barrels (brought up by sherpas that hold everyones crampons (although we’re carrying ours ourselves). From here on it is ice, and you need crampons on your boots to stay upright.

From Crampon Point there is around a 500m walk to the base of the north col, and the fixed ropes start.

I was really struggling to walk to Crampon Point. All I can blame is lack of acclimatisation at this level and the high altitude. Unfortunately there was no one else around to compare myself to apart from Jamie, who at altitude seems to grow a second pair of lungs and isn’t effected like everyone else. (Sucks to be me around him, but also good to have him around if I get into trouble later on).

After the second night at Interim 5800m we left for ABC 6400m after breakfast.

This walk has been the most stunning of the whole expedition so far.

Jamie and Andrew were doing some filming so I left them to it.

It is a fairly gradual incline of 600m over 7.5 vertical kms.

I followed the ridgeline towards Everest then it takes an unexpected detour to the east and down a hill and we literally follow and a walk on a frozen river. The view through here is like something from a cartoon. Very blue and just stunning.

The walking now is starting to get hard. At around 6000m, there is half the pressure in the air as at sea level so you have to breathe twice as hard to get the same output out of your body.

I arrived at ABC, absolutely exahausted in around 4 hours. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have pushed it so hard, but pushing hard aids acclimatisation.

When I arrived the I just crashed on the kitchen floor, the boys we feeding me hot lemon cordial they call lemon tea.. I didn’t mind, it was exactly what I needed to get to my tent, then slept for around 2 hours till Jamie and Andrew arrived.

We did the 10km walk uphill towards Interim camp. (The jump between Base Camp 5150m (BC) and Advanced Base Camp 6400m (ABC) is too big to do in one hit, so we have to stop at Interim.
Along the way I caught up with another group (7 summits club) Their guide (Noel) was the only one who spoke English, he was from Ireland. A good bloke, next year he is going for 4x 8000m peaks in 4 weeks.. a massive effort and has never been done before. Good luck with the weather on that one Noel!

There isn’t much to say about interim apart from you really want to spend as least time as possible there.

The only water source comes from a frozen lake, above that lake is where all the yaks are held as they walk from BC to ABC, so they are excreting in the water, people also use the protected part as their toilet as well. Therefore sickness at Interim is rife!

Phil, who owns and runs adventure club, quarantined his clients for 16 hours in their tents whilst at interim. They were brought food, to their tents and weren’t allowed to leave until the following day when they made their way to ABC. He said that even the air there will make them sick!

Jamie on the other hand had plan! The only problem was convincing the yak drivers to take our load over the next valley were it is much cleaner. They agreed so we stayed in a pristine little valley right next to some 40m ice pinnacles that were creaking and cracking all night and day, good call Jamie!

We stayed at Interim for 2 nights, none of us got sick.

Still acclimatising here at basecamp.
Today we planned a walk to the nearest village, Rhombuk. At around 4800m it is a 8km downhill walk.

On the way we went through another camp that is owned by a guy named Chris, one of Jamies mates.
We had to use his Radio as ours is too close to a hill and doesn’t work yet.
We radioed to the south side (an affiliate expedition over there)
One Sherpa has died on the south side. He had summated 10 times previously but was struck down at basecamp by some sort of twisted intestine (to be confirmed).

Apparently the south side team got up at 1am in the morning to leave basecamp and go up to cross the Ice fall! (they leave early like this because of the traffic as well as it is the coldest time of the day and the ice fall is prone to falling).
The ratio for the south side is 450/450 members to sherpas.
The ratio for our side (north/Tibet) is 100/100 members to sherpas.

I asked Jamie why there was such a discrepancy in the sides? He said it was completely unjustified but the main reasons are:
• The Tibetan visas only opened up on the 29th March. For a big expedition this is too unreliable.
• It is believed that the success rate is better on the south side
• The more technical sections of the mountain are lower in altitude on the south side. High up on the north.
• There is a village which is much closer to the south side (walking distance) sitting at 4300m which is good for recovery (although seldom used)
• South side basecamp is warmer and less windy.

To be honest, I would much prefer not to have a huge line of traffic in the higher sections the mountain (like the chinese ladder) and have to wait 45 mins for a team to go up or down before I can move (I would lose body heat within 30 mins and is very hard to warm back up.

The walk down the hill was fairly uneventfull. Once we got to the village we went to a welcoming monastery. The monastery had an attached nunnery and we saw them eating. We were allowed to take photos of them eating. I don’t know why, I’d be craking it!

Above the monastery was an exclusive room with a giant gold Buddha, definitely a sight to see!

On the 8km walk home I made a video for my cousin Alex wedding tomorrow. All the best for the special day guys!

This morning the Sherpa team put on a Puja for us. It is a Buddhist ceremony which is taken very seriously in front of their Chomolungma.

They had built a plinth that was approximately 1.5m high out of the rocks. On this they put some sacred rocks, food offerings, wine, rice, a cake they had made, beer, biscuits, basically one of everything they had in the kitchen.

I was told to get all of my sharp gear, my crampons, ice axe, walking poles, 2 pairs of boots, my harness and all my hardware. This has to be blessed to ask for forgiveness for piercing the mountain later on.

Then it started, we all sat down in front of the plinth and the lama started chanting. He was singing his prayers, a sound that will definitely stay with me a long time.

We were give a handful of raw rice, when the lama threw some in the air, we all did.

After about 45 mins, there was an intermission where we all got a cup of Tibetan tea. In the intermission all of the Sherpa’s erected a pole with prayer flags attached to it. They added a flag with all of the climbers’ names to it and stood it up, and then they attached 5 long lines of prayer flags from the top to secure it to the ground.

Then we were each given 2 capfuls of whiskey. (now, I haven’t had a drink since August 2011 due to training, but I seriously thought I better not pass this one up)

We were then all given 4 pieces of food from the plate. I took some biscuits, piece of apple and a mars bar.

Some more prayers went on and we all stood up and took a handful ofTampa(dark flour) and after the Lama, we all through it in the air.

I wish I understood more about the workings of the Puja, but nevertheless I feel very privileged to have taken part.

Ok. Someone asked me what it like to be at altitude.

Basecamp is 5175m (as we later GPS’ed) which means the air here has 50% less pressure than at sea level. So you have to breathe twice as fast. This is why my pulse is so high here. My body has to work twice as hard getting oxygen around my body.

Acclimatisation put very simply is the amount of oxygen (red blood cells) in your blood per quantity.

So practically, this is a pain in the ass. When you’re sitting down, and go to stand up, you’re totally out of breath and have to hyperventilate to catch it back. This is if you don’t get a wild head spin that will put you back to sitting.

Basically everyone is in slow-mo here apart from the sherpas who are genetically acclimatised. The sherpas don’t need to stay at a certain altitude to acclimatise, their blood is already thick with excess red blood cells per quantity. Also, their body doesn’t shut down their extremities when they start to get cold, so their hands and feet are always warm. They also can’t ‘over acclimatise’ whereas our blood can get too thick which puts us at risk of heart attack.

If you are getting AMS (Acute mountain sickness (altitude sickness)) you will have a pressure headache from excess fluid in your scull cavity, you lose your appetite, you’ll have trouble catching your breath back. These symptoms can worsen if to cerebral and pulmonary oedema (fluid on the brain or lungs) if ignored. These also lead to coma and/or death.

Other symptoms which I am seeing are that my immune system is slowing down. I have a few cracks on my fingers from the dry air which I know are going to keep opening up and wont heal until I get back down to sea level.

Later on, things to look forward to are loss of appetite as my body is prioritising to supply blood and oxygen to my vital organs rather than my stomach. So no matter how much I eat, it doesn’t digest. Good times! No wonder we lose so much weight!!

Day 3 at basecamp was pretty much the same as day 2, still acclimatising. Although today i went for a 11km walk down hill to a little area with tea houses (little tent hotels that sell tea to people not staying in them) I had a drink and a chat with the local lads and made my way back up the hill. (they reckon its a good thing to push yourself on these walks, to get the oxygen flowing). So i was walking pretty fast!

Basecamp 2

I received an email today from a mate who was explaining how he just got his underfloor heating installed in his ensuite bathroom at his house….. here is what I have to say:

Part of acclimatising is done through the kidneys, the bi-product of this is that you need to pee allot!!

So part of peeing allot is peeing allot at night!… (this is a new altitude, so it was 4 times last night)

Some people don’t really need to know this.. but it’s a blog, and should be documented!

Its only -10 outside at night time at the moment, this is only going to get worse. Here is the process:

I sleep in a silk inner sheet inside my sleeping bag, i feel the pee coming on.. so i ignore it for about half an hour till i cant anymore.

Then i get out of my bag and sheet, put my down jacket on, unzip 3 doors to my tent, put my shoes on without laces, walk about 5m away from the tent.

Stand with my back against the wind so not to pee on myself, (yep, i’m still in my underpant at this time)

Then i pee.. and it takes ages, coz i’ve held it for so long, the wind gusts and pee goes all over the place.

Then i reverse the whole thing and try to get warm again… Good times!

Its times like these that remind you that you are not in civilisation nor near ensuite bathrooms with heated floors!

Day 2 at basecamp:

I eventually got up at around 8am for breakfast, it was a nice sleep in although the sun comes up over the hill at around 545, but at least it brings heat!

We have a wind turbine as well as solar panels that pump electricity into batteries here in the dining tent. So we can recharge/use computers, during sunlight. At night time the stored power in the batteries is used for lighting etc.

So I spent most of the morning on the computer writing this blog and answering emails.

After lunch I went for an acclimatisation walk around basecamp. I saw some of the Chinese team on a nearby frozen river testing out their crampons. I don’t know why but they had their harnesses on too.

So totally underdressed and in sneakers I followed them up the icey river. I just took some photos and left them on their merry way. This got me to about 200m above basecamp which is good for getting the heartrate up and pumping the oxygen through.

The first thing I wanted to rejoice about is the time difference. Given that China has rulings over Tibet, they have enforced that Tibet must use their time zones, so it’s 2:15 hours faster than Nepal and has no correlation to the sun. Now that I’m at Basecamp, it’s back to Nepal time, which is nice.

By now, I should start mentioning the “Crazy Italian” man who has earnt himself a reputation, and is clocking up stories again this year. He looks around 60 years old but appears in quite fit condition. Jamie met him last year and had to confront him for being unprepared. He was seen approaching the North Col (7000m) with a little day pack, no Sherpa guide, no food and no tent with a plan to borrow food and share someone’s tent with him. He was then caught stealing food, and let me tell you, doing this, at 7000m is definitely not on. Think about it, if you had been busting your ass all day to get your food to 7000m only to find someone had stolen it, you could imagine the reaction.

So this year he is on the team with the Swiss guy who fell down the stairs and had to turn back toKathmanduleaving the Crazy Italian no car to get to the next village about 3 hours drive away.

So he asked to come in our car (for me.. I didn’t care, I don’t know this guy from a bar of soap, but for Jamie, this was a no go) As it turned out there was no other possible way for him to get to the next village without coming with us. He sat in the middle seat in the back and didn’t say one single syllable.! We were in and out of the car taking photos, he just sat in there.

Then on the way to basecamp he was a little more organised, got up early and asked everyone if he could bum a lift there. (keeping in mind it’s a 5 hour drive and these cars cost us $1.50USD per km! a massive saving for him) The only spot he could get was in the back of a land cruiser with all the luggage. Within 1 hour he had the car stopped and was vomiting all over the place. These roads are pretty rough. Poor dude!

Today, we got up early, packed our bags, had breakfast at the hotel before boarding the 4x4s once again and headed out across the plains towards Chomolungma. It’s a relatively flat drive, although we climbed 750m today (the reason we stayed at Tingri the 2 nights, is to acclimatise). All the driving prior to this has been on “black top” (concrete/bitumen) roads, but today was across dirt aswell as crossing a few ice lakes.

We came across a little town that is a little further down from the north side Base Camp called Rhombuk, which is as far as non-expedition vehicles can take you. So if you wanted to come and see this north side, there is a little shuttle bus that could bring you up otherwise you’d have to walk.

So, we arrived at Basecamp where we were met by the Sherpa team who have been here for the last 48 hours (they don’t need to acclimatise like we do, so they just came straight up here).

Now I’ve gotta say. I am impressed. Everything here is done! These guys have been busy. They had our personal tents up, the large dining tent up, a storage tent, a cooking tent, the toilet tent and the shower tent. Our dining tent has the table prepared with a whole range of condiments, electricity (which is solar powered and feeds into batteries) for our laptops or whatever we need charged and a gas heater under the table. Compared to the dingey hotels we had been staying at, this place was the Ritz! The food they brought out for lunch was damn good too, potato wedges, sandwiches and baked beans.

We left Kathmandu for Tibet on the 12^th.

The 5 hour bus ride was the same apart from this time we had a private mini van type thing and there was less people than the allotted seats!

Along the way, Jamie handed me a wad of cash in an envelope. $5000 in USD and $3,000 in AUD. (The allowance for the border is $10,000 in USD, Jamie was carrying around $30k to pay Tibetan staff and any extras)

The border was interesting and it all became very serious. There was plain clothed police on the bridge that separates Tibet from Nepal as we walked our way through to Customs and Immigration.

They xrayed our bags and then each of us was ordered to put out bags on a large table as they were going to go through every single item.

Andrew was first, then Jamie. Who had done this before and knew what it was all about.

I was last, they started pulling out everything, all of my socks, clothes, they made me turn my laptop on and started going through photos, I have a book Lauren got me from Christmas, the Bear Grylls Autobiography – so they went through that looking at the photos.

They were looking for anything illegal firstly, but on top of their list was anything to do with the Delia Lama.

He went through the photos on my compact camera and during my trip, I had been to a Buddhist temple and taken a heap of photos. There was one particular photo in one of the monasteries that had a photo of the Delia Lama on the Lectern. The officer immediately made me zoom and when he realised what the photo was, his alarm bells went off and he made me delete that photo and went through all my gear with a fine tooth comb!

Andrew and Jamie were through the border screening within about 5 mins, me on the other hand, it took me about 30mins with everyone waiting for me on the outside!

A quick change into the 4x4s on the opposite side of the road and we were off again.

The first night we stayed at Zhangmu 2700m which is literally built on the side of a steep hill/cliff.

The second and third nights we stayed at Nyalam 3500m (we have to stay 2 nights here to acclimatise to the next altitude). This place was nice, but dangerous.

A member of a Swiss team was walking back to his hotel after eating dinner at the restaurant and slipped and fell down some stairs. Day 2- turning around and back to Kathmanduto get an ultrasound and Xray on his rib cage and internal organs. Apparently he hit the concrete stairs pretty hard.

We left Nyalam bound for Tingri and on the way Jamie calls out CHOMOLUNGMA!!!! (Tibetan for Everest) This was the first time I saw her, from around 150kms away. She’s massive to say the least!

The 4^th and 5^th nights we are staying at Tingri 4350 (2 nights here because of the big jump the following day to 5100m Basecamp.) Goodbye hard hotel beds, hello tents and blow up beds!)

Tingri is nice although we are in the heart of Buddhist territory (We can’t kill anything), and these people have a serious wild dog problem. These dogs are everywhere, all around the hotel, in the streets, in the paddocks, everywhere.

We have been warned not to go near them and to carry rocks in my pockets.

Usually I wouldn’t mind, but I told the doctors that I didn’t need the Rabies vaccination as there would be nothing on Everest to bite me! Silly lad!

Tomorrow we’re heading to Basecamp at 5100m, the internet connection should be way better there so I’ll report more.

Now sitting at 5175m

Starting to really feel the altitude when walking around here.

My sats are 88

Pulse is pretty inaccurate because it jumps up 30 bpm just when i stand up from sitting down. Have to catch my breath too.

Never the less it was 100 when i checked.