Friday morning dawned bright and clear. While my room in the Sonam hostel was very comfortable there was no heating so trips to the loo tended to be rapid. Very rapid bearing in mind the water was frozen. However come 7 o'clock the sun rose over the mountains and brilliant warm sunshine flooded the valley and the lodge came to life. Breakfast was scheduled for 7:30 and plates of porridge, fried egg on toast, and pancakes with honey and jam were consumed with enthusiasm. Once breakfast was over and bills were paid, at about 9 o'clock we headed further up the valley to Dingboche from where yesterday's blog was posted.
The route, mostly of stony dirt track, contoured along the north western side of the valley. While there was rough scrub on the mountain with occasional bushes of juniper, we were above the tree line so views up and down the deep valley were magnificent. With not a cloud to smudge the deepest of azure blue skies the majesty of diamond-white Ama Dablam to our right took centre stage while the roaring of the river far below offered the perfect accompaniment.
After an hour or so we descended to the river and crossed a metal bridge in order to strike up a side valley to Dingboche, our destination for lunch. From this time the nature of our surrounding changed considerably. We were now in a wide glacial valley above the tree line which was characterised by farmland, very rough low scrub and rock from pebbles to boulders the size of a car. The path became tougher with frequent rocky obstacles. Due to the rockiness of the terrain there was plenty of material with which to build dry stone walls and these predominated in the lower part of the valley. As there are no roads here then of course all farm work is done by horse and the sight of a pair of horses pulling a hand-held plough became commonplace. Otherwise all farm labour was being done by hand. The most common crop here is potatoes. I saw nothing else, and nor was there any livestock.
Dingboche was a friendly village built in traditional stone style and we took lunch at the Mountain Paradise restaurant. After being delighted to get yesterday's blog out I joined the others for a lunch of fried eggs and chips. The chips were made from local potatoes and were magnificent! As this village stands at a height of 4410m, 400m higher than our starting point the last 30 mins or so proved quite a challenge for some of the group so lunch lasted some time.
When we eventually moved off our route took us further up the valley towards Chukhung where we were to stay the night at the Panorama Lodge. At a height of 4730m the height gain for the day was over 700m and the speed of approach to Dingboche was a sprint in comparison to our rate of travel to Chukhung. Furthermore as we approached the end of the day's trek the path deteriorated into a very rocky track that was clearly less frequented. Eventually however our legs, wearied by the impact of altitude rather than by distance, managed to drag us to our destination. One of the nice things about getting off the beaten track is that the children seem more pleased to see us and as we entered the hostel we were met by several smiling grubby little faces which proceeded to play 'peep-bo' until we were no longer a novelty and they moved off to other games. Had I mentioned being off the beaten track before? No. Ok so we are no longer on the routine trek to base camp, instead having planned today as an acclimatisation day only. Tomorrow we return to Dingboche for the night; which is great news as I can get this blog out from the same Internet cafe as I used earlier today.
The lodge was surprisingly busy given its remoteness and with the yak-poo stove well stoked (either it doesn't smell or I've got used to it) it is really very cosy.
As I write the story of the day thus far I am sitting in the main room of the lodge surrounded by people; some of them trekking friends, some of them partners in our ascent of Everest, some of them our sherpas, and some of them strangers. Tim is reading in his room. One of the trekking team has an iPhone attached to a speaker system which is playing the most beautiful selection of classical music. As I write this passage an orchestral version is playing of 'all by myself'. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet all of a sudden I feel a very very long way from home and I have a lump in my throat and misty eyes. Outside it is very cold and snowing and the horses tethered by the door look forlorn. Inside this little cocoon of warmth some folk are playing cards or chess, while others are talking among themselves. Mercifully no-one has noticed my distress so I write on to share my emotion with you. I am so glad to be here, yet the music reminds me of friends and family far away.
Enough now. Time to regain my composure and I realise that in my blog while I have mentioned Tim a few times many of you won't know him or our relationship.
Tim Calder and I are friends and we are climbing together as a partnership. We have number of things in common, not least that we both served as technicians in the Royal Corps of Signals a number of years ago and were subsequently commissioned, although our paths never crossed and he is a few years younger than me. I met Tim several months ago on an expedition to climb Cho Oyu on which I was a team member and Tim was leader. The appropriate relationship between team leader and team member is critical on any potentially dangerous endeavour and that relationship was fully maintained on the mountain. However once the expedition was over Tim and I became good friends and have walked together and socialised many times since. I learned soon after deciding to attempt to climb Mt Everest that Tim might not have any commitments during the 2014 season so asked him if we could climb together. While I would have been perfectly happy to join a commercial expedition I really wanted to try a more personal approach on this very special mountain. Tim was initially reluctant for professional reasons and refused but I refused in equal measure to take 'no' for an answer. Eventually I wore him down and he agreed to climb with me. I then introduced him to my wife to seek her blessing which she gave after subjecting the poor chap to a ferocious grilling.
While Tim and I are partners in the climb he is vastly more experienced having climbed on Mt Everest 3 times before. The first being in 2003 when he led a BBC expedition to base camp for a live broadcast on 29 May to mark the 50th anniversary of the successful ascent by Hillary and Tenzing. This expedition also involved filming in the Western Cwm. His second time was in 2005 when despite climbing with a very strong team they were forced to turn back close to the summit due to bad weather. Tim returned to the mountain the following year, in 2006, and reached the summit via the South Col route. In addition to this Everest-specific experience Tim has summited many 6000m peaks including Ama Dablam and Mera Peak, and the 8201m Cho Oyu both on private expeditions and as leader for commercial endeavours. He has also led over a dozen successful summits of Mt Kilimanjaro.
Tim knows how to summit and knows when to turn back. He is highly experienced in the Himalaya and speaks fluent Nepalese. He is an outstanding guy and I have the utmost confidence in him. I am delighted and proud to introduce Tim Calder to you as my friend and climbing partner.