UK Mountains Expedition Report

Today was an official rest day so we made the most of it. Having said that, a portion of the day was spent on kit admin and a couple of hours teaching Justine the fundamentals of rope work and belays. Let's hope we don't need to rely on her in an emergency! She's keen to learn and picks things up quickly but two hours is not enough for anyone.

Chris arrived during the day complete with gear so that was a relief as he is one of the stronger climbers and will be an invaluable team member.

The evening was spent chatting before retiring about 10:00pm. I felt pretty good all day, but occasionally felt breathless. Tonight we were told we could phone home tomorrow - I can't wait.

I woke up feeling very emotional this morning. Maybe it's because I can phone Ad tonight, maybe it's because I haven't seen her for a week. Either way, I was sat outside my tent with tears in my eyes and on the way to collect water I was crying. I miss her so much and its only been a week - imagine what two, three, four will feel like - hopefully we will be busy so it will take my mind off it, but I think about her every day while I am walking. Even now as I write this, tears are running down my cheeks - I want to enjoy and savour this trip but I want it to be over so I can be home with my darling wife.

After breakfast I decided to go for a solo walk - get away from it all and clear my head, get my thoughts together and generally sort myself out. I decided to walk up the valley where we collect water to see where it leads to. After a while I came across Paul doing some bouldering. I chatted for a few minutes then carried on. I found a gulley off to the left (South) leading up a mountain.

The going was tough but I persevered for an hour or so before striking out across the scree slope. Eventually I worked my way down the scree and headed back to the boulder. By now Jen, Rich and Jeremy had joined Paul for some climbing, so I stopped to have a play.

Paul had set up a top-rope system - poorly so I suggested a couple of improvements and decided to join in. We invented about five or six routes of around 4a to 5a grade, promising to return on our next rest day to properly grade and name the routes. We returned to base camp and sat around until dinner.

After dinner we had a quiz which was great fun. Each of us was required to invent ten questions to ask the others. My specialist subject was music. About 10:00pm we retired only to be disturbed by Jeremy who informed us that Keith had possible Pulmonary Oedema and unless it improved would have to descend and probably go home.

Today was our first load carry to Camp 1. The team has been split roughly into two groups with Me, Danny, Brian, Alex, Paul, Rich, Jen, Justine and Jeremy going, the others taking today as a rest day. We also heard that Keith was going home - his condition has got no better so he has no choice.

The walk up to Camp 1 was hard and got harder the further up we went. The mountain is basically a huge scree slope and the final hour was absolute torture. It was like walking on ball bearings covered with sand. The altitude meant that going was tough but if you stopped for a breather, you started to slide back down!

Eventually we made it. Camp 1 is somewhat bleaker than Base Camp and I am not looking forward to moving there permanently, although, when we do, it will signal no more load carries up to that camp, so that will be good. We emptied our loads and due to the fact that it was chilling, set off down the mountain again. It had taken just under four hours to get up. The descent was achieved in under two hours. I felt quite tired when we got back to camp, but was determined to have a wash, so after a brew and gear sort - everything went into bin liners as the weather seems to be changing for the worse - had a wash. Last night we had to drag all our gear under shelter.

I walked over to the stream but only managed hair, face and hands as it was starting to snow and got very cold. Once back at the tent I set about sorting my gear and finishing washing as best I could.

There seems to be some healthy debates about whether or not Linda should go above Base - she has had a bad cough for a few days and didn't carry today - I doubt she will carry tomorrow either - personally I think if she can't pull her weight then she becomes a liability to the team and should be left at Base Camp, but it isn't my final decision thankfully.

Dinner tonight was a curry which was excellent. Most people retired about 9:30pm. I decided I needed the loo for a poo - it was well runny!

Altitude: 5,000m (800m height gain), Distance: 4.5km. Weather was hot at Base Camp but cooled off considerably at Camp 1.

I had a dreadful nights sleep, my heart was pumping it seemed like all night, my nose was blocked so I couldn't breathe properly. When I woke up I felt dreadful, my eyes were swollen again and I felt a bit dizzy. I am a bit fed up with this lifestyle (already). It is impossible to walk in a straight line without tripping, the air is thin so every now and again I become breathless.

We have been at Base Camp too damn long - I am keen to get going upwards. My nose and finger tips are very sore and we've only been going just over a week! For a bit of recreation, we decided to go over to the large boulder we had played on a couple of days ago and do a bit of climbing. We put up about twelve routes, all of which we named. My contribution was 'Direct Crack'; 4b, 'Grunting Corner; 4a and 'Wish you were here'; 4a, the latter in memory of Ad.

When we had finished climbing, we decided to have a shower, which was an excellent way to finish the day. On our return, we discovered that Linda had taken it upon herself to carry a load to Camp 1 alone and without telling anyone - the girl is completely stupid.

The remainder of the evening was spent chilling out, having dinner and bed. I had the shits again! For a couple of days now, I haven't pissed or shit all day, but within about 1/2 hour of dinner have been shitting! Aren't diaries fun!

I had another good night, only waking a couple of times, but when I got up, my eyes were really swollen again (Facial Oedema and nothing to worry about). Today we had another load carry to Camp 1 which was knackering, partly because it was really hot and partly because we had extra weight to carry. We spent about 1 1/2 hours at the summit, eating lunch and relaxing. It was really hot and we were all wilting.

Everyone made it eventually. The way down was quite quick, just under two hours and we were back at Base Camp. After a drink, I went for a sleep as I had a bit of a headache. About 5:00pm I woke up and went off for a good wash. There I was, stripped off, washing in a freezing cold stream, but it felt great! I had time to get back, sort my gear and write a bit of my diary before dinner.

After dinner I had my usual shit and was in bed by 9:30pm finishing my diary and reading. Tomorrow is another rest day and I intend to phone Ad.

There are some mornings when I wake up hoping I will be at home with Ad and this whole thing was a huge dream. Today was one of those mornings. I woke having had a bad night, my nose was blocked and I woke several times to clear it. Each time taking ages to get back to sleep. I think (I know) I have a cold, my eyes were swollen again, it was too hot in the tent and I could not face porridge again. We have been here too long without achieving anything. Tomorrow is another load carry and hopefully Thursday we move up to Camp 1. At least then it will seem that we are making progress towards the summit and getting home to Ad will seem closer. At the moment, it seems I will never be home and I miss her more and more each day. This life and this expedition would be so much better if she were here with me. At least I can phone her tonight.

When I woke this morning I thought it was Thursday so could have phoned about 10:00am which would have been lunchtime in the UK. As it is, I will have to wait until 5:00pm - a long way away.

I spent a portion of the day 'sorting my shit' as they say, then ambled over to the boulder for a bit of climbing but to be honest, my heart just wasn't in it so I sat and read for a while, had a shower, then wandered back at about 4:00pm. I decided to phone Ad and luckily she was in. We had a good long chat about all sorts. It really brings home just how far away we are and that the expedition isn't even half way through yet. I miss her terribly and chatting on the phone never seems to be enough. I want to kiss her, hold her, touch her. George (her Dad) said it would bring us closer together and I believe him, although I still don't know how, we are so much in love already, I don't know how it could be better - we'll see.

The rest of the evening was spent on the usual round of cocktail parties and finger buffets.

Today was another load carry day to Camp 1. I found the walk up a lot easier than previous days so was well pleased. The distance doesn't seem so far either which is also good. We all realised that it was our last carry up and tomorrow we will be moving up for good.

We got back down around 3:30pm so I decided to give Ad a call to let her know what was happening. She was well pleased to hear from me as I was to talk to her. I only wish I could phone every day, but this will be the last for some days as we are out of Base Camp for at least a week. Maybe the phone and I will get together and I can make a call. In any case I will phone as soon as I can.

Paul and I were on dinner duties tonight and actually managed to construct something edible! After dinner was the usual chat for a while before bed and reading about 10:00pm

Today was a big day. We were to move to Camp 1. What this involved was decisions. Everything that would be needed for the next week or so had to be carried up, by the same token, wanting meant carrying and that meant weight. I managed to sort my stuff into about 23kg (50lb) which I thought was acceptable, but one of the casualties was my Crazy Creek chair - I would have taken it but it physically would not fit in the sac.

As we were moving up, there was no rush to start. I noticed a extra tent and tried my best to find out whose it was - it turned out to be Lindas and when confronted, she got really cross with me saying 'I suppose you expect me to carry it', to which I replied 'I couldn't give a toss, my tent is already there'. I left her to it. In the finish I think Paul carried some and Richard carried some. I refused to help on principle.

The walk up was knackering, we stopped every 15-20 minutes for a rest which, in itself, wasn't so bad but it meant it took a long time. Danny was feeling very bad and ended up being checked by Jeremy for HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema) - he was clear but still felt bad. The scree slope was horrid but not much worse than normal - that is, like roller skating on ball bearings on a slope!

When we got to the top, we set about erecting tents and sorting out. By about 7:00pm we had eaten, sorted and were relaxing. I had a headache, so took some tablets - nothing unusual in that and with plenty of fluid, soon felt good again. We watched the moon rise for a while, then began the bed-time ritual of piss, teeth clean, get into bed which seems to take an amazing amount of time. Well, you can't just go, you have to walk up the hill to the communal toilet and you can't leave anything lying around in the wind, it will get blown away and all clothes need to be stowed away properly otherwise you can't find anything in the morning.

Today was an official rest day and that's just what we did. Most of the day was spent reading or contemplating life. There was one interruption to the day. It was exercise bike time! Lower down seemed hard, up here was just ridiculous! Two minutes of effort was like a lifetime but it did show the reasons why we were tired, our oxygen uptake was down to less than 50%! I phoned Ad, first time was the answering machine, second time she was in so that was nice. Being where we are is quite a demoralising place to be so talking to Ad is fantastic and helps me get a grip on my reality. In some ways, knowing Ad is suffering me being away kind of helps because sometimes I feel I am worse off than everyone else - I'm not of course, we are all suffering inconveniences and pain for this trip.