Monday April 4th, 8pm, Dingboche
(EST is 9 hours 45 mins behind Nepal)

A day to rest and recuperate.

The top news today is that Howard and I successfully managed to get access to our email accounts! The connection was brutal but we read a few emails out to the expedition party from well wishers back home and we sent over a few photographs. Next time I complain about the connection speed back in the office, I’ll remember what it was like here and be a little more patient. We’re still working on the video connection for our Base Camp interviews.

We have been resting today in Dingboche at 4,555m and have spent the day snoozing and cleaning. It takes time for the body to recuperate from the strain of the hiking and to acclimatise to the thin air at this altitude. Lisa spent time with a local sherpa family to get to know them and to understand their living conditions – it’s a pretty barren environment. The Ryerson University research team is working well and getting some good information together.

Tonight we ate yak stew and apple pie in a tea house. It was absolutely delicious but I hope it was not one of our yaks. Tonight, climbers and hikers from different expeditions have got together to share thoughts and dreams. There are climbing parties from Kathmandu, Scotland, Austria and Australia. It’s a real melting pot of nationalities, all sharing a common desire to conquer Mount Everest. Unfortunately someone in the Kathmandu party is quite ill from altitude sickness but Dr Burgess from our group has been helping them.

The weather has been changing extremely quickly over the last few days. Overnight it was so cold that the water in our water bottles froze inside our tents. Then, as the sun came up, it got so hot that you had to start peeling layers off, before the wind picked up, the skies grew overcast and the temperature dropped again. As long as you have multiple layers, it’s manageable.

We are being treated like kings and are all very well.

More later.

Terry

This is one of a series of blogs reporting the progress of the Kanatek Everest expedition. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the link below. To view previous blogs, pictures from the expedition, or to get more details please visit the expedition web site at http://www.kanatek.com/everest.