Although the ascent up Kala Patthar was tiring, it was not on the scale of Gokyo Ri. It was bitterly cold when we left at 0700hrs and two members of the group opted to stay behind, as they had caught a stomach bug that was doing the rounds. It didn’t last long, roughly 24 hours, but almost everyone in the group had contracted it. Thus far me and Pete had escaped it; we were very religious in using alcohol gel before eating or touching our faces.

In fact if you go back to my post from Day 9 and in the picture of me on top of the pass, you can see the dispensing top to the bottle in my side pocket to my trouser leg. I kept it there all the time so it was easily accessible, granted it was a large bottle and was extra weight, but I never came down with the stomach bug; a worthy trade off.

The route up was steep and full of false summits, but we eventually made it. The temperature was low and my hands were in pain again, but nowhere to the extent as Gokyo Ri. I had taken two pairs of gloves, the warm ones that weren’t warm, that I used previously and a thin pair of work gloves. This day I wore both pairs. I didn’t find the climb difficult until around the 5400m point, where I felt the lack of Oxygen. By the time I reached the summit at 5548m, my lungs and legs were burning.

The wind had whipped up something fierce and windchill was uncomfortable and proved difficult to operate my camera. I fired off a few snaps and didn’t bother with the tripod. I had wished I packed my down jacket. The skies were clear and the views of Everest were second to none; looking down the Khumbu Glacier was breath taking.

I didn’t stick around long on account of the windchill and began to make my way back down to Gorak Shep. I raced back to the teahouse for a hot drink of black tea. Once warmed up, we set off to Dingboche, passing Lobuche for some lunch.

The descent was gradual and easy to walk. We came to the Cho La Pass turn off and I shuddered at the direction of Dzonghla, as I recalled our stay there. We came up to a graveyard of cairns, erected to honour those who had died on Everest. The likes of Mallory, Rob Hall and Steve Fischer. There were prayer flags suspended between them. As we entered the graveyard the wind dipped giving a very eerie atmosphere. We spooked ourselves and moved on quickly.

As we descended further, the air was noticeably thicker. The little steep hills on the route that would leave me out of breath only a few days ago, were nothing now as I skipped up them. The sun was getting low, casting long shadows and shrubbery began dotting the surroundings. It felt like a lazy autumn afternoon, adding to the peaceful enjoyment of the walk into Dingboche. Perhaps it was the richer Oxygen levels, but I felt so relaxed and happy. A perfect end to the day.

We had a lot of ground to cover today so by 0600hrs we were on the trail. I had slept really well and found I no longer have headaches or difficulty breathing the thin air. I had finally acclimatized to the altitude. Getting to Gorak Shep (5140m) the last stop before EBC, was easy going.

At 0900hrs we had arrived to have a second breakfast and picked up our pack lunches for last stretch to EBC. We stopped for about an hour, before “Djam Djam” was shouted.

The route zigzagged following the moraine to the Khumbu Glacier, until the point where we would drop down and cross to base camp. From here the views of Everest are limited due to Nuptse sitting in front of it. This section wasn’t strenuous; had it not been for the early start I wouldn’t have felt as tired as I did.

By midday we reached EBC. We did it! I felt so elated! The group congratulated each other shaking hands and I gave my brother hug; everyone had a smile like the ‘Cheshire Cat’ beaming across their faces. The sense of accomplishment was powerful, as we had achieved something spectacular; it had been a difficult trek.

We posed for pictures, took in the views and the atmosphere while munching on our packed lunches. After a while the wind and the windchill was making it uncomfortable to remain still, this signaled us to begin our walk back to Gorak Shep.

It seemed to take ages returning, I think the come down from the adrenaline and excitement of reaching EBC had exhausted me. When we finally reached our teahouse I was rained. As soon as I entered my room I flopped down on to my bed to have a siesta; I didn’t even have the energy to take of my boots!

After our naps we spent the remainder of the day in the common room playing ‘Rons Game’ until dinner time. It would be another early start in the morning as we had a 6 hour walk following the summit of Kala Patthar, down to Dingboche.

Well the stop at ‘The Green Valley Lodge’ will be one I unfortunately will not forget. It was appalling; by far the worst teahouse I had encountered on the entire trip. There was only one long drop toilet catering for over a hundred guests. It was so bad no one used it and opted to finding a convenient rock to do their business behind. There was soiled toilet paper scattered everywhere, creating a minefield of filth.

Our dorm was next to the kitchen where the grain sacks were stored, resulting in the staff coming in and out constantly, thus no privacy. However this was nothing compared to the nighttime. Rats sneaked in under the cover of darkness to feast on the grain. I woke to them scurrying over the top of our sleeping bags to get to the food. It was worse for Irish Neil as he was right next to them!

None of us wanted to spend a second longer than necessary at the place and couldn’t wait to get walking. At 0800hrs we were running out the doors. I disregarded my steady slow pace I had employed to avoid altitude sickness. I just wanted to put as much distance as possible between me and ‘The Green Valley Lodge’.

It was an easy day on the road with the terrain remaining relatively flat. It was very lunar like and our companion for the day was Arakam Tse towering at 6423m. We joined the main trail to Everest and by midday we arrived at Lobuche (4910m), our end point for the day.

The teahouse was a 1000 times better, it even had proper flushing en-suite toilets! This was the Ritz! We spent the rest of the day relaxing either in the common room or out on a terrace basking in the sun. Ron had decided to do some washing and hung his clothing out to dry.

However, embarrassingly for him, when he went to retrieve them, they had frozen stiff like a board. The onlooking Sherpas sitting in the sun were laughing at him, much to his chagrin. For this, he was awarded the infamous jacket!

There is only two more days left before we would begin our descent back down the Khumbu Valley to Lukla. I was saddened by this, as I had been having the time of my life and the end was beginning to crest the horizon. The next day we would reach Everest Base Camp, a bittersweet feeling that I’d be soon reaching the finish line.

By this point trekking at high altitude in such a remote part of the world, you quickly learn to adjust and cope with the little annoyances that you experience. For example, as mentioned earlier in my blog series, there is no hot water for showers and you wash by baby wipes. This presents a unique challenge in the mornings, having spent the night in subzero temperatures. The wipes are blooming cold!

To get around this, you sleep with them in your sleeping bag. This is also the same for batteries, as the cold affects their ability to hold a charge. Things you take for granted at home are a luxury here. Something as simple as a Mars bar, is divine; a pure bit of joy I would not trade for the world.

It is also interesting and amusing how people react to being stripped back to a basic lifestyle. While sat in the common room enjoying the warmth from the morning sun before breakfast, there was another guest at the teahouse (not part our group), complaining to the proprietor about the room she had been allocated.

She kept on comparing the teahouse to hotels back home, she even dropped the most cringe sentence ever “This would be unacceptable in western society”. She continued rabbiting on about how the marathon runners would be spoiling the tranquility of the walk. I felt embarrassed from the other side of the room and I wasn’t even part of the conversation! No self-awareness at all; she certainly hadn’t done her homework on the trip and clearly needed bringing back to reality!

From Gokyo, we would make our way to the Khumbu Valley. This meant crossing the Ngozumba Glacier to reach the beginning to the Cho La Pass. News had reached us that due to flooding, the main route through the glacier was inaccessible resulting in a diversion. We had a briefing from Rajesh, which was unusual as we hadn’t had one like this until today.

He stressed that the route would be dangerous and that we would need to keep a fast pace to cross the glacier due its instability. He added that there is a risk that the temporary path may move, even while we are crossing it!

We climbed up to the moraine that marked the edge of the glacier. The sight was menacing. Rocks tumbled down mercilessly below. You could hear them thundering around us. Large boulders clung precariously along the edges and the path through only visible by the little hastily constructed cairns marking the route.

We made our way reaching the centre of the glacier to the sound of the rumbling, crunching ice below our feet. Loose rocks covered the terrain making it treacherous underfoot as we raced forward. If it wasn’t for my trekking poles, I would have been on my back several times! We arrived at a small glacial lake in the middle of the glacier where we stopped for a short break.

You could see the huge moraine on the opposite side from here. Gigantic rocks overhung it erratically, where every now and then, one would tumble down. As a yak train sped past us, we moved on. Rounding a huge rock we came to a stop, the path had changed in a matter of minutes and the cairn stones had been swept away.

Ram (one of the guides) took point, leading our group through this now uncharted territory. We kept the hard pace that strained our lungs and with a sigh of relief, we soon caught sight of the cairn stones. Before long we were scrambling out of the glacier joining the path to ‘Dragnag’, the end point for the day.

From here it was easy going. I looked back at the barren, lifeless, grey expanse we had just traversed. From this vantage point, it looked like nothing, but it demanded our utmost respect. The adrenaline was still kicking and I felt alive, I carried on with a giddy smile.

We reached Dragnag (4700m) at the mouth of the Cho La Pass in the mid afternoon. I checked my map to see what the following day would bring. It showed a very sharp ascent to over 5000m, with warnings of falling rocks, crevasses and in bold “Keep Left”. Looking up the gulley to the pass was daunting, but knowing I had conquered Gokyo Ri, I knew I could also conquer this challenge.

After some sunbathing on the patio to the teahouse, I was feeling lethargic prompting me to go for a siesta. One effect the altitude has had on me, is that I had been having very surreal and vivid dreams. Thus far, I have had one where I was hiking in my sleeping bag, one where I was investigating a murder while being taunted over the phone by the murderer and on this occasion, I dreamt I was David Tennant in Dr Who battling aliens that had toilet rolls for eyes!

To ensure I would have more crazy dreams, at dinner I added extra grated cheese to my spaghetti bolognese. We all sat in the common room playing cards for the evening; Ron showed us a game that was a cross between bridge and poker. We all named ‘Ron’s Game’. After now spending a week together, the whole group had bonded. It felt like we had known each other for years, not just for 8 days.