A couple of well earned rest days

Just got a few updates from the satphone for the previous few days.

It's a glorious sunny day & we're heading to the lakes below the Renjo La. Only seen 2 westerners in the last 4 days. Awesome.

Played boules last night by the Renjo lake - a great setting. Everyone in fine fettle & ready for the Renjo La & down to Gokyo.

A superb day over the Renjo La, then prawn crackers & soup for lunch in Gokyo. It's time for a pits & bits wash. All fit & well

A longish day up to Nobby's View - about 5,500m. Unfortunately there wasn't a view to be had so we're asking for a partial refund.


Since then we have been over the Cho La pass and are now based at Dingboche for a couple of rest days. It's changed a little bit here - there are 3 internet cafes and a bakery. Needless to say that our first stop was the bakery. Having a rest day tomorrow so it's going to be showers and washing water all round - as well as a bit of time filling up on chocolate doughnuts and coffee.

Not a great deal to update re the team except to say, yet again, that everyone is very well and the acclimatisation schedule seems to be working wonders. Slept the night before last at 5,050m and not a headache in sight - which is exactly what we were hoping for. After Dingboche we are taking in a couple of high camps at the Renjo La (circa 5,200m) and we're going to have a pootle up Pokalde (just a tad over 5,800m). After that we're heading for Base Camp. After a couple of days sorting gear and getting acquainted with our new surroundings things will then take on a slightly different perspective when we start getting to know the route through the Khumbu Icefall and start spending nights at Camp 1 (6,000m) and Camp 2 (6,400m).

Hopefully our 3 week trek will see us fit enough and well enough acclimatised to be moving quickly (in Himalayan terms) and efficiently up and down the lower slopes of The Big E.

In the meantime I'll leave you with last night's anecdote. It was almost a full moon and we were out taking night time shots from Dzongla of Ama Dablam. Bruce just couldn't seem to get his camera to cooperate. 15 second exposure - nothing. 15 second exposure with a wider aperture - nothing. Manual override for all settings including the focus - longer exposure and wider aperture. Still nothing. Then there was the realisation that he still had the lens cap on! Doh!