Photos from Everest

It's been a while since I last posted here (Tues October 20th) and for good reasons.

1. The back end of the Everest Trek was devoid of any internet/phone connections.
2. I've been a bit lazy since I returned
3. Work has been full on
4. Blah blah blah

So, as part of my innvigorated enthusiasm for my blog here's a link to a selection of photos from the trek:

I'm going to do a spot of 'blog planning' for 2010 to ensure it has a bit more direction. In the meantime, it's a week off me now. Happy days!

Lukla, Namche and Nausea

As you can probably tell it's a bit remote up here an I'm struggling to find decent communication channels. I'm also pretty ill at the moment but no panicking required whatsoever. We flew out of Kathmandu on Monday headed for Lukla in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Lukla Airport

We had a 5 hour walk to our first pitstop for lunch and I caught some viral infection from some 'boiled' water. Projectile vomiting (and the rest) for the last couple of days which hasn't been great. The scenery has more than made up for it though but the trekking is fairly hardwork (even without the viral infection). We stayed overnight in a clearing in the forest which was lovely and the following day we walked 14km to Namche Bazaar.










Namche is a hilltop village at 3400 so we have a couple of people showing signs of mountain sickness but on the whole we're all doing well. The weather has been beautifully sunny during the day and freezing at night.

We're acclimatising here in Namche for today so we went for a walk to 4000m to check out our first view of Mt Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. I'm lost for words to describe how majestic the view was and I doubt that my photos will do it justice. I've taken 700 shots since we left London so I'll filter them and post them when I get back. So, tonight we stay here in Namche and tomorrow we head up to Tengboche which is another 800m in altitude but will take us most of the day to reach. Hope all is well and here's hoping I feel better tomorrow :-)

Day 1: Bahrain Airport

Hey! Just a quick message from Bahrain Airport...all is well. Just waiting for the next leg which is a 5 hour flight to Kathmandu. It's about 815am here now. It's exactly like any other Middle Eastern airport so nothing much to report. Tim (one of my fellow trekkers) drank all the way and is now in the bar again - going to be a long trek for him! Managed to get a couple of hours sleep. One of our other trekkers is our Group Lawyer and he's managed to get an upgrade on the next leg - fair play. Looking forward to getting my feet on the ground in Nepal. More news soon. Huw

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1 day to go....

Well....I'm in final packing mode now! In 48 hours I'll be on a flight decending in to Kathmandu where we'll stay at Hotel Malla one night only. On Sunday morning we take an early flight to Lukla with Yeti Airlines (you can see more about their safety record in one of my earlier posts!). When we arrive in Lukla we have a couple of hours to get our final kit together before the trek begins and I head off up the mountain. The itinerary is here:

I'm 98% done on my packing but I've got a load of double checking to do. Better shoot. Next post will come from Heathrow T3 tomorrow evening or maybe a quick post tomorrow during the day. x

Hotmail Account

Just checking that I can post direct from hotmail on BB. Wow.
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Final Preparations

Ok - so this comes direct from my mobile so that I can check that everything is working well. My packing is pretty much done. Will post a proper departure message before I leave on Friday. Till then :-) Huw
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Size matters....

I've only got a 15kg allowance for my trek to Everest Base Camp so I've been spending the last couple of weeks planning exactly what I can and can't take with me. I've decided to hire my sleeping bag, rollmat and big warm jacket when I get to Nepal. Each item costs $1 a day to hire and will save me somewhere in the region of 3kg of weight.

Alongside the other kit (thermals, water bottles, trousers, boots etc) there's the hygiene/medical items. The basic list includes:






Toothbrush & Toothpaste - Soap - Shampoo - Lip Salve - SPF (8) and SPF (50+) - Antiseptic Wipes - Razor + Blades - Shaving Gel - Moisturiser - Deodorant - Toilet Paper - Tissues - First Aid Kit - Vitamins - Neurofen Packs - Aspirin Packs - Paracetamol Packs - Compeed Blister Packs - Cough Sweets - Cold/Flu Remedy - Plaster Packs - Antiseptic Spray - Foot Spray - Talcum Powder - Berocca Tablets - Immodium

I've found a cute company called GoTiny.co.uk who specialise in (you guessed it!) - mini size toiletries. Perfect. Saves me vital weight and space but also a bit of cash.

Four weeks to go....

It's four weeks today that I leave for Everest Base Camp. Thanks to Emily Cummins, I breached the £3000 mark last night! Check out my Just Giving page by clicking here. I've got another couple of hundred in the bag so I need to collect and bank that before I go. Thanks so much to everyone who's donated to Sue Ryder Care. My target is £4000 so if you're still waiting for that golden opportunity then now's your chance!


The last week or so has been about photography. I've signed up to Flickr and you can check out some of my very amateur shots by taking a look at my Flickr Photostream. It's experimental stuff right now so don't expect too much.



I've met some amazing photographers on there, including a local Dentist who lives in Guildford. He's been working on a lighting project and the results are quite spectacular. Check them out here.


There's no doubt that I'm pretty excited about the trek but I'm also quite nervous and anxious too. I'm worried that the stuff I've been dealing with over the last year could provide a stumbling block in terms of my mental toughness. I still feel a bit fragile and I'm going to miss the structure that's been a huge part of my daily life for the last 391 days.

That said, I'm probably better equipped now than I've ever been...time will tell.
 
It's about time I put the finishing touches to my packing and started weighing individual items. I've got a max allowance of 15kg! I figured I could wear as much as possible to reduce the weight of my checked in luggage. The allowance is based on the max limit for our internal flight between Kathmandu and Lukla. The airline is called 'Yeti Airlines'  and they have a very promising safety record:




I'm off to a wedding this weekend so it will be a good opportunity to raise a bit more cash and bid my relatives farewell!

ISOs and Shutter Speeds....

I've been busy buying kit for the trek. Alongside the wet weather gear, I've also purchased a new digital camera. The Panasonic Lumix TZ6 came out on top after a long trawl of review sites but it was CNET's recommendation that sealed the deal. You can read the review here.

It's been fascinating and hugely frustrating getting to grips with all the settings but I'm slowly working out how to take decent photos. Fortunately, the TZ6 has amazing auto-functions but I'm pretty keen to learn about the manual settings too. I hopped over to Amazon to pick up a Digital Photography book and stumbled across this by Scott Kelby. I'm still waiting for it to arrive but hopefully it will shed some light on my aperture and ISO settings. Part of the inspiration to get up and running with photography before I head to Everest comes from a set of photos on Flickr. Check them out.

I'm hoping to get some good moonlit shots of the mountains so I've bought a small 'Gorillapod' too. I don't want to harp on about it but social reviewing is absolutely the way forward for consumer purchasing. With seller feedback and price comparison sites, it's strictly a buyers market!

I sent my passport off to the Nepali Embassy and on Wednesday I got it back in one piece with the 30 Day Visa. That's most of the paperwork done now. Our Group CSR Manager sent an email out yesterday and all Everest Trekkers will be getting £100 from the company to put towards kit which was a pleasant surprise.

Today is Friday and I'm hooking up with a fellow trekker for lunch which should be fun. Still got plenty to sort out. Next on my list are the selection of medicines and first aid kit that I need. My local GP trekked the same route last year so he's given me prescriptions galore to help me through.


Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) is top of list of things that could scupper a successful trip to Base Camp and a drug called Diamox can help reduce the impact. I'm also likely to get a mild form of Ecoli so I've got a prescription for that too.

One final shout for social reviews. This time it's for energy bars - Clif Energy Bars. Amazon's US site was much better for this and with 209 reviews at 4.5 of 5 they look like a winner! Check them out here.

Lego Robot solves Sudoko Puzzles

Lego has really kept up with technology and innovation with its NXT kit and Mindstorms series. It's essentially "...an intelligent, computer-controlled LEGO® brick that lets a MINDSTORMS robot come alive and perform different operations."

When I moved from sticklebricks to Lego I really felt quite special. The next step up was Technics Lego which was far too serious for a boy who preferred burning stuff and smashing windows. 

This NXT kit provides mindboggling opportunities for Lego geeks to develop next generation Lego robots. I stumbled across this article by CNET about a Swedish programmer that has built a Lego robot that solves Sudoko puzzles. Check it out for yourself by clicking here.


There's a great youtube vid:

Knit Your Kit

I've been purchasing various items for my trek recently and I've had a rush of inspiration. As my closest friends and family will know (and much to their amusement), I've always been a big fan of knitting and whilst I haven't lifted a set of needles since I was about 7, it will always have a place in my heart. There's something very special about knitting your own gear - and I'm not joking here.

For starters, it's extremely theraputic, it relieves boredom and it's productive and eco-friendly. Ok - you can stop laughing now. It actually comes as no suprise to me that knitting is making a big come back. Corporate investors are chucking money hand over fist at the next 'knitting innovation' and today, ladies and gentlemen, I present www.woolandthegang.com 



It's a huge relief that knitting is back on the cool map. I've been ashamedly hiding my knitting fetish for too many years now.

One small stitch for man; one giant stitch for mankind.

International Hairdressers Expedition

This made me smile.

Music 4 the Mountain

I'm starting to have a think about my ipod selection for the trip. My main worry is the lack of places to re-juice the music machine. I thought a solar charger might be good so I checked out the 'Free Loader' but with 42 Reviews on Amazon and 2 ** it looks like a waste of time: Freeloader Solar Charger.

But I did find this and although it's not solar, I can charge it up before I go and it acts like a portable battery charger. I might get a couple just in case. The power of social reviews is great for gadget hunting: Power Traveller Monkey

I really don't want to be without music. Can you imagine standing at the base of Mount Everest listening Bread of Heaven. Wouldn't it be great to take these brothers with me? ;-)

Out.

National Geographic: Everest at 50

Ok - a short post about a National Geographic Feature from 2003 called "Everest at 50". There are some great articles and photos here:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2003/05/everest/everest-text

I'm really quite excited about this trip now. I've been checking out the latest activity on the mountain here:

http://www.mounteverest.net/

Rabies

Alongside the fundraising (currently: £3.1k), the purchasing of trekking/camping gear and the initial set of vaccinations, I've now got to fork out £100+ for a Rabies injection. I've been told that it's not mandatory but having read the wikipedia entry for Rabies, I'm kind of tempted to get it sorted.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies

I bet you didn't know that 'Ketamine' has shown the potential for rabies virus inhibition in rats. Amnesia here we come.




I've done a couple of 10 milers since the last post. Everything is going according to plan. Final kit list is being prepared. Visa for Nepal is on the list this week.

Test

Testing a blog post from my blackberry. Woosh.
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The blog starts here...9 weeks to go

It's exactly 73 days today that I leave for Everest Base Camp and the Yak mischief begins. I've had all my immunisation jabs (Tetanus, Typhoid, Polio, Hep A and B, Meningitis, Diptheria, Polio) and my final one (Rabies) is due on August 27th. I still haven't got my Visa for Nepal but that's on the list next week. 

Anyways...this was a first entry to kick the blog off and get my head around the Blogger tool. Don't expect any lyrical dancing on this blog. It's a small scrap book of thoughts and ramblings in the run up to my trek. More news soon folks...