Trying to go back to base camp was a mistake. I realised this pretty quickly, even before things turned to shit and I was medically evacuated. Without meaning to, I was trying to recreate my past. I was trying to duplicate an experience and a version of me from five years ago. It was doomed... Continue Reading →
It wasn’t the trip I was hoping for but, in a weird way, it was the trip I had planned for. No one plans to fail, to get sick, to take pretty drastic measures to get down from a mountain safely. But here I am, a few hours discharged from a hospital in Kathmandu after... Continue Reading →
There’s patterns of behaviour, of events, of situations that seem to shape my life. In four days I will finish up at the job I have (mostly) loved for the past three years. I say three years because on Thursday it will literally be three years – to the day – since I started in... Continue Reading →
It’s just over 50 days until I head back to Nepal. I’m off to base camp – again – booked on a whim last year when I needed some kind of incentive to get me off my butt and back into something resembling fit. I remember I made the booking (inadvertently) exactly six months before... Continue Reading →
I wore a Garmin Vivofit device to track my steps and distance over the 11 days of my Everest Base Camp trek, which was handy because it's waterproof and doesn't need charging. Unfortunately, it doesn't log floors climbed or elevation. These stats represent all movement for the day, which included any down time in villages... Continue Reading →
10 November 2017 I fucked three different men on this trip. I’ve thought a lot about why, my motivations, what I got out of it and enjoyed about it. And I’ve decided that it was because I wanted to. With Shane and Bryan I had a near instant attraction. Craig was more a slow burn.... Continue Reading →
3 November 2017 It felt like I only slept a few hours last night before the effort to breathe woke me. Sleep at this altitude is elusive not to mention cold. The intake of air burns my throat and my nose blocked up days ago. Everyone seems to have a cough, a sore throat, a... Continue Reading →
2 November 2017 Today was the day. A long hard trek to Gorak Shep and then onto EBC after lunch. It promised to be cold and hard. A light snow had fallen overnight in Lobuche at 4,940m. It was an early start at 6.30am for breakfast. I was a bundle of anticipation and apprehension, scared... Continue Reading →
1 November 2017 It’s fucking cold. We’re in Lobuche at 4,940m. I have no appetite, I’m tired all the time but sleeping is difficult. I was supposed to go on an acclimatisation hike this afternoon after we arrived but I piked. Chuda was trying to psych me up to do it, it was only an... Continue Reading →
31 October 2017 Today was a rest and acclimatisation day in Dingboche. We woke late and breakfasted before lightly loading our daypacks for a short hike. The path we would take began behind our teahouse and we met many other groups heading up the same path. The barren landscapes above 4,000m mean it’s easy to... Continue Reading →
30 October 2017 Today was supposed to be a relatively easy day. Heading out of Duboche, everything was covered in snow. Everywhere I turned was a stunning scene of white, yaks plodding past, both with and without burdens. The forest looked enchanted, like any minute a unicorn would come trotting out, dip its horn at... Continue Reading →
29 October 2017 Today would have been my sixth wedding anniversary but, instead, I saw Mt Everest. We headed out of Namche bright and early to a stunning clear sky. The climb through the terraces was trying on my cold legs but once we reached the track proper I was able to fall into a... Continue Reading →
28 October 2017 I was excited waking up this morning, thinking I would finally have my first glimpse of Everest, but my expectations were exceeded the moment I stepped out of the front door of the teahouse. It was early, the sun still behind the mountains that embrace Namche Bazaar. But the skies were clear,... Continue Reading →
27 October 2017 Today began well before my 6.30am alarm. The walls of the teahouse were thin and people in nearby rooms were stirring from 5.30am. The morning pilgrimage to the bathroom and back at the end of the hall, the opening and closing of wooden doors that always seem to stick. I’d slept well... Continue Reading →
26 October 2017 – Afternoon I was on my way to Everest Base Camp (EBC) but I was walking downhill. What the? Yep, the entire first day of walking is a gradual descent from 2,860m to 2,625m which makes for a very easy day of walking but a terrible day for the mind. When you... Continue Reading →
26 October 2017 I was a bundle of nerves when I woke at 5am. We had a 6am flight to catch to Lukla, the starting point for our trek to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and the beginning of perhaps my greatest physical and mental challenge to date. We were hurried through the security point at... Continue Reading →
25 October 2017 Today I went on a tour of Kathmandu city that was organised by my trekking company. It was part of my package and I was looking forward to meeting the other people I’d be hiking with to Everest Base Camp (EBC). Groups were advertised as being between two and 12 people and... Continue Reading →
24 October 2017 - Afternoon The taxi dropped me back to Thamel after I said goodbye to AJ and Bina but I was still to find my hotel. It took me several wrong turns and another half an hour of walking before I saw a sign for my hotel in front of me. I decided... Continue Reading →
