HIMALAYAS

Believe me, at 6am between 5 and 6 km above the sea, this photo was not easy

Knowing that I was going to be in Nepal around Christmas time, I saw only one way that I should bring in the New Year. To see the sunrise on January 1st over Mount Everest.

You can in fact see Everest from hundreds of miles away, but I wanted to see it up close and personal. For this I would need some serious preparations. I decided to call in the boys:

Mark Day: I had spent the last New Year with him in Time Square. I had forced him to go, and now eactly a year later I was trying to redeem myself by recruiting him on this venture. He spent thousands of dollars on equipment, and in fact (without realising) came equipped, even to summit the tallest place on Earth!
Michael Keeley: Always takes a month out to join me wherever I am. A city banker just turned 30, he was happy to escape his hectic Dublin-life, and get out into some fresh mountain air.

Ryan Cole: Working too long in the hotel industry, including too many full English Breakfast (free, one of the perks of the job), he needed to get out and do some high altitude trekking.

Cam: An Australian I picked up in Tibet. The backpacker route from Tibet to Nepal is done over 5 days in a 4x4 across the Tibetan Plateaux aka "The Roof of the World". This includes a stop off at Qolomonga Base Camp (Everest in Tibetan), but when Cam heard that I was planning to do Sagarmatha Base Camp (Everest in Nepali) BY FOOT, he soon realised that having done the feat in the luxury of a LandCruiser just wasn't the same. He was in.And of course: Me

Now that our group of 5 was complete, the first step was to board a small aircraft for a 25 minute flight from Kathmandu to the middle of the Himalayas.

The return flight from Kathmandu to Lukla cost 200us
From the town of Lukla, where the plane set us down, SBC was a two week trek away. This includes a number of rest days to account for acclimatisation. Starting at 2400m above sea level, our adventure would take us up and down the Himalayas, over passes covered in snow; past (and inadvertently ACROSS) massive crevass filled glaciers; through dozens of tiny villages and into extremes of weather and cold that would test even the hardiest of mountaineers.

At this early stage of the walk, the scenery is still lush
If we all lived the winter walk to see the proposed sunrise from Kala Patthar (Black Rock) coming from behind Everest on New Years Day, we will have reached the mega altitude of 5550m.

No matter where you were always a white peak crept out

The airstip at Lukla is perched on a hill, and so its length is so short that as soon as our aircraft touches down, the pilot immmediately SLAMS on the breaks and banks an emergency right hand turn, pulling up perfectly in front of the airport building.

On our first day, you can see we are all still energetic

Hanging around arrivals we are accosted by hopeful porters and sherpas, all offering their services to help us carry our loads and show us the way. Though we appreciate that employing these guys is the main economy of the mountains: we were adament to attempt this great exploration all on our own. Mark may be carrying 20kg, but the poor dude behind is lugging over 60kg
Our mean weight was around 15 kilos a head (Mark and all his high-tech gear pushing him nearer the 20 mark).

Day 1 ended up being a rest day and so we only walked a couple of hours and stayed in a lodge which cost us around 50 cents each. Amazingly, the higher and further we got, the prices were always less than a dollar a head. It was off season afterall, I mean what crazy minds would attempt this in the dead of Winter?

Common sight along the route: a Sherpa carrying goods

The food however was consistently more and more expensive the higher and further we went. This is because everything is brought in by hand. That is to say that all the sherpas carry everything themselves from Lukla, usually 30-60 kilos each. Back-breaking I can assure you.

I pay my 1000 Nepali Rupee entrance fee to the park

Early on Day 2 we entered the Sagarmatha National Park. Most of the day was spent criss-crossing the river over suspension bridges, sometimes hundreds of feet up above the river (much to Ryan's dismay).

Code Schmode: Im not afraid of staying danger sideYak

The First Himalayan Code is : if a Yak is passing you, always keep to the moutain side. You don't want a renegade Yak to whack you off the side. Some of the falls could prove perilous.

Rush hour on the suspension Bridge. A Yak crosses at the same time as Mark

The conclusion of the days hike was a steep 600m climb into the biggest village in the whole of the Solukhumbu area: Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa Capital.

The beautiful mountain settlement that is the Sherpa Captial: Namche Bazaar
Some of us trudged in after nightfall, Ryan at first declaring: "That's it..........this is as far I go".
Others were already suffering from severe headaches due to the sudden rise in altitude. We were now at 3500m.
For these resons and because it was Christmas, we decided to spend 3 rest days here. We went out on a secret Santa and these are our gifts over a glass of Champagn

Over X-mas dinner: Yak steak, veg and roast potatoes, we opened our Secret Santa presents. I got a book from Mark about a disaster that happened at Mount Everest in 1996 in which 8 people died. Thanks.
Ryan had brought Champagne from England which I had promised to carry all the way to Base Camp for everyone, but we heard that everything freezes up there, so we popped it on the 25th instead.

Feeding the locals from Namche neighbouring village,Thamo, kids enjoy sweets

Though boxing day was officially another rest day, you are supposed to do small day hikes, preferably at higher altitudes, adhering to the second Code of the Himalayas. Go High - Sleep Low.
We went to a local village and brought candies for the local kids.

There was also a Buddhist Monastery under construction and a kind "Enlightened" monk/nun gave us biscuits and showed us round.

Ryan must have had heart attack when he say this broken bridge next to water
The walk on Day 5 from Namche to Tengboche would see another steep 600m climb. I think secretly some us of the group were thinking about hiring a porter. I just plodded along.

This is view of Mount Everest, also known to the locals as Sagarmatha
We could have probably gone further than Tengboche famed for its Monastery, even more so for its unbeatable view (our first) of the 8850m high monstrosity of black and white rock called Everest. 3 of the worlds top ten highest mountains were dancing in front of our eyes in different shades of orange and pink as the sun was setting in the Khumbu Region.

At first the illusion was that I was crapping on the thing. Then that it was poking me up the bum. Then we realised these were all disrespectful ideas?

Day 6. Another perfectly sunny day without a cloud in the sky. Global Warming or not, the locals told us that this good weather was extremely rare this time of year and the heavy snow should be coming any day now. It was looking more and more like Mark's 3 kilo special snow boots wouldn't be necessary. Also that we would get a cloud free view of Everest for our set date. Could it hold for another couple of days?

Ryan taking a sip of Glacier water on his way to D'gboch

That night we reached Dingboche and though the walk wasnt so difficult because of steep climbs, we were well into the 4000m and it was taking its toll on some of the group. In the morning we would reasess.

Yak dung is left out to dry and then collected at night

Living and breathing the same thin air, a little fight was bound to errupt within the party. At the time I was spending as little as possible and eating one small thing for dinner. That night after a fight about who gets their own room and who shares, as a peace offering, one of the guys offered to buy me dinner. That night I had soup, desert and a bottle of Fanta.

Day 7, BEFORE DISASTER STRIKES: For the first time on the trek, we all walked at the same pace (previously we had been rolling in to our destinations hours apart), and so played games, stopped to boil some tea, and make a nice afternoon out of our planned walk to Thukla. When we realised we'd gone astray from the path, we still figured it would be ok. Instead, we would take the indistinct Black-dotted path for a couple hours, then cross the Khumbu Glacier, landing us nicely in Lobuche, thus saving a day even.

Seeing as none of us could read topographical maps, indeed two days before, a 20 minute arguement ensued on how to determine north from south on a compass; we were surely doomed.

The sun already behind a measely unimportant 7000m mountain behind us, we probably had an hour or so of daylight to achieve what we thought we calculated would take us 20 minutes.

We're jovial and all giggles now. Give it two hours!!!!

Climbing the first peak, I peer over with everyone waiting, expectant to hear good news.

"It's not looking good", I laughed. But the kind of nervous laugh you omit when you hear someone has died, though you're not trying to be malicious.

Passing over the rubble we come to a view point: "Woah, is that ice. We are ON the glacier".

What seemed like a desert of rubble, we later learnt to in fact be the Glacier. We were standing on the Khumbu Glacier, skirting the edges very close to crevasses for over half an hour before we even realised. The ice on the Glacier would rise and fall to proportions of mini mountains and so it took us till almost darkness to cross its 1km width.

Our destination Lobuche was still eluding us, when we thought we had the vantage point of height for a full view across the Khumbu, there was still nothing of human settlement for miles around.

Mark half-conceeded that the worst case scenario for him was to sleep out in the open ON the glacier, as his sleeping bag was adept to dealing with temperatures of minus 40. The rest of us were screwed!

Cam took a deviation convinced after another look at the map that we had to cross the glacier AND retrace a few kilometers.

Expert map readers Ryan and Micheal followed, so convinced of their new forged path, that as I reached the far end of the glacier and saw even with my naked eye the lights of a distant village: LOBUCHE, they continued along their path, deluded from shock, and the last couple hours of treacherous crevass dodging and having toyed with the idea of conceeding to sleep on the ice, possibly the last of their lives.

What almost eluded us but later saved us: Lobuche

An hour later we are all safely in the lodge. We were now at 5000m and though our story made us the Heroes of the Hour, we were advised to spend 2 days in Lobuche recuperating.

On turning the corner and seeing Gorak shep, I knew that I ws only a three hour glacial hike away from SBC

Day 9 we set out for Gorak Shep. This used to be the original base camp for expeditions to climb Mount Everest, but over the years, the camps had been set up further and further along the glacier, until it was now a full days walk to get to and from SBC from our lodging in Gorak.

Knowing that we had to cross the fearsome glacier again, we set a deadline time so that we wouldn't be faced with traversing yet again in the absence of daylight.

King of the world: I perform 3 rituals at this sacred site. Eat a snickers, collect a stone, and the 3rd, well???

With the deadline long since elapsed, and me already at Gorak waiting, I decide to head out to SBC alone.

Though the crux of this Himalayan venture was to happen very early the next morning, today was New Year's Eve, and reaching Mount Everest Base Camp was as special a moment as any in one's life.

It turns out that after making it this far, only 2 in fact made it all the way to SBC proper.

Looking serene at Everest Base Camp (also called SBC)

As I looked on at what would be the next step in the process for the people who ACTUALLY summit the top of the world, I felt a pang in my stomach of longing to reach what to date only 3000 humans have achieved. But at a whopping cost of 65 000 USD, it wasn't going to happen any time soon. We mere mortals must contend with reaching what in fact is the furthest one could go this time of year in any case. The climbing month is May or October.

Wherever one treads, one must leave their legacy!!!!!!

The Altitude, the aching muscles, and fatigue from the journey walked thus far, meant that the nearest any of us would get to the midnight countdown into the year 2008 A.D., was around 8pm. At 04:30 we had to be up and out, and climb another mountain.

A preemptive strike celebration. It's only 6pm NY's Eve

At sea level you breathe in 100 per cent oxygen. Up at 5500m, where we now had to climb at 5 in the morning, you only have 50 per cent oxygen. Added to that the freezing subzero temperatures, wind-chill factor and another very steep 500 meter ascent, I couldn't help thinking on the way up, that this year was only going to get easier and easier for me.

So cold up on Kala Pather, I brought my sleeping bag

Ryan carried a bottle of water, which froze solid before he even made the top. We arrived early and huddled together, frantically warming our hands and feet with our last remaining heat packs, and waited for over an hour for the sun to rise and light up SAGARMATHA and welcome in the New Year for us.

The sun has just come into view. Everest is awakening!

It had taken ten gruelling, fantastic, frightening, wonderful, days to achieve what we had set out to do. There wasn't even a wisp of a cloud to obscure our view that morning.

What then usually takes most people 4-5 days to get back to Lukla (going down is easier than up) I was determined to do in a record breaking 2.

Mark and I leapt ahead of the gang and virtually raced back down to Tengboche the half-way point. When we arrived Mark noted that it was only 13:30. Surely we should keep going.

Back in Tengboche with that killer view of Everest again

When I thought he meant to the next village Namche, I could see a crazy look in his eye. I knew immediately what he was thinking.

When we got to Namche just before dark and stopped for dinner, a couple overheard that we had come from Kala Pathar that same day. They couldn't believe it and got a little stir of interest going in the lodge. Who were these two crazy white boys who made it in one day from KP. Nonchalantly announcing between spoonfuls of soup that this was in fact just a breather, we were in fact headed ALL THE WAY to Lukla, well, this just got the whole place up in a riot.

On the return path a lady does her washing in the river

Locals had virtually never heard of LOCALS doing this.

In fact by the time the whole lodge had come to either dissuade us from our madness, or congratulate our heroic intention, we were already feeling tired, stuffed our bellies and warm from the Yak dung fire burning in the corner.

But surely we couldn't back down now. We nobly bade our farewells, switched on our nightlights (yet another of my walks would end in a "Night-Walk"), and at first stepped, but later when no one was around, hobbled, on our way.

No words or colours describe the state of our feet

Nothing but sheer determination got us through and along the pain barrier that was the walk from Namche to Lukla. We arrived at 01:30 and after 20 hours of marching across the Himalayas, quonked out on the bench in the airport, hoping we could board an early morning flight back to Kathmandu. Before lunch time, we were back in the world of cars, fumes, and well: Civilisation!

Alive and well. Let's rent a movie, stuff our faces and generally celebrate life. It's 2008. Happy New Year!!!!