It was the summer of 2000 where it all started. Lying on a sun bed on a Greek Island, my friend gave me this book to read called “Into Thin Air”. The story is about a mountaineering journalist called Jon Krakauer who had been given an opportunity to join an expedition to climb Mount Everest, which for the journalist was his biggest dream of all.
Unfortunately, on 10 May 1996, the day the expedition had planned to summit, a vicious storm quickly surrounded Everest and eight lives were perished. They weren’t the only expedition climbing to the top that day, several other expeditions were summiting but with the storm, they also lost their lives turning this to be the worst tragedy on Everest. When Jon returned from his expedition, traumatised about the recent events and the loss of his friends on the expedition, he wrote this book in memory of the people who lost their lives to this mountain and his story of climbing Mount Everest. Year of Adventure | "From start to finish of this trek, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, the sun shone every day and the skies were clear blue." | |
In 2003, an email entitled “Year of Adventure” popped up on my computer screen. The Gerard Le Claire Trust, Juniper Trust and KE Adventures had come together to offer four fantastic holidays and in turn, each participant had to raise £750 for the two charities. It was the fourth holiday that captured my attention – trek to Everest Basecamp and so my journey began. I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this trip – was I fit enough? What was the weather going to be like? What equipment did I need? I was a complete novice. With the trip starting on 15th December 2004, I embarked on a training regime in September 2004 specifically for this trip.
I already have a good level of fitness and I work at Fort Regent part time as a personal trainer and have done several triathlons in my time but this was a different sort of training I had never endured before. Camping as a Girl Guide in Jersey was the closest I’ve been to “roughing it”. Every weekend, without fail, I would walk the north coast cliff paths, starting on shorter distances at first and getting used to the weight of my walking boots and breaking them in and then stretching my walks to five to six hours carrying a rucksack (which was about the time I would endure per day on the trek). With some weight training in the week to build up strength in my legs and upper body in order to carry the day rucksack, I felt adequately fit for the trek by December. Leaving Jersey
I left on 15th December and arrived in Katmandu on the 17th December. We had a free day in Katmandu before we started our trek and visited the Hindu crematorium and the Buddhist temple which are the two regions in Nepal. The flight from Katmandu to Lukla was the most spectacular as we passed the snow capped mountains of the Himalaya. In the very distance we could see a glimpse of Mount Everest and my heart skipped a beat. The airstrip being not longer than half a football pitch, we landed safely and soon began our trek on the famous Everest trial which was the route Sir Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay took. The Trek Our day would usually start like this: 6.15 am wake up call with tea delivered to our tents
6.30 am “washy washy”. A bowl of hot water would be delivered to our tents to wash
7.00 am our main bags had to be packed and ready to go for the Porters/Yaks to take. Breakfast served
8.00 am the days trek began.
11.00 am lunch
12.00 pm afternoons trek
3.30 pm arrive at campsite
6.00 pm briefing from trek leader
6.30 pm three course dinner
8.00 pm bed (or even earlier if we were tired but no one stayed up longer than 9.30 pm) The first few days, the temperature was warm and we walked in t-shirts but when that sun set, it was jolly cold – especially in the evenings. We would all huddle around the wood burning stove for heat. (Most of the Nepalese used yak’s poo in the stoves as it gave a stronger heat than wood).
My usual night time clothing consisted of - Two pairs of socks
- Fleece trousers t-shirt
- medium/thin fleece
- thicker fleece
- thin pair of gloves
- fleece hat
- two hot water bottles
- ear plugs
- silk liner/fleece liner/4 season sleeping bags
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The trek day for Everest basecamp was definitely the toughest. With a 4 am wake up call, we started walking at 6 am with our head torches as the sun hadn’t risen. My fingers were like blocks of ice. Our leader advised us to do body shunting in order to get the blood circulation going again. The terrain was immensely difficult, and having to walk over rocks and rubble for over eight to ten hours, left me physically and mentally exhausted but the view of Everest and seeing base camp was worth it. Only a couple of the group actually stepped foot into the basecamp itself but even though I only had another 40 minutes to go and I could see basecamp quite clearly from where I was standing, I turned back along with another member of the group. I was at my limit and we had at least 2 to 3 hour walk back over the rocky terrain.
Physically Exhausted It suddenly occurred to me - I was physically exhausted, the thought of having to then climb up Mountain Everest (Peak XV as it was known as for years until Sir George Everest, a surveyor, had calculated it was the tallest mountain in the world and therefore the name Everest was bestowed) seemed unthinkable. Heavy winds blew our tents down a few times that evening and an emergency evacuation early morning as all the tents had collapsed wasn’t the best start to the day. Several people from the group were too exhausted to make for the summit of Kala Pattar which is the best view point to see Everest in its glory. It was a 3 hour walk up this mountain and only a few of us had the strength to make it. It was again a hard struggle as the cold harsh winds from the previous night were still in motion but we summitted and were now 5,600 metres high and in awe of Everest and its surrounding views. From start to finish of this trek, the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful, the sun shone every day and the skies were clear blue. The whole experience from; the camping, learning Nepalese traditions and foods, the days trekking in the mountains to the home made entertainment in the evenings to amuse ourselves and bonding with my fellow trekkers. I will have fond memories of my trip and hope to return to Himalaya very soon. | 
