03 Nov 2019

 Updates from Dave and daughter Beth.

4 days ago

As an aside to the prime goal of Everest Base Camp, our trek to Island Peak didn’t go quite as successful. Even before EBC, No1 daughter and I had been brewing sickness. It hit us properly the day of arrival at IP base camp.

We went down hill fast overnight. We had 2 days to acclimatise and training for crossing the glacier and climbing the ice wall. However, by the next morning we knew we didn’t have the strength to do either. On the morning of the second day we made the decision to evacuate ourselves from IP BC. As an appreciation of conditions at IP BC it was -20, snow was half way up the side of the tent, the outside of our sleeping bags had frozen like a board.

With no comms the porter couldn’t be summoned to assist with carrying loads back down the trail for 4hrs. It was therefore up to us; a daunting task. No1 was a stalwart and carried 20kg of hold-all, leaving me with a day-sack and the guide with the other hold-all. I’m not exaggerating when I say we had a close call that day. Rather than a 2 day descent back to Lukla we have taken the available time and made it a 3 day descent. It’s been painfully slow; not our usual pace. Our guide’s frustrated and sympathetic that he couldn’t help us reach I


3 days ago
All being well it’s Lukla tomorrow with the 30min flight to Kathmandu from the infamous airport. A few days RnR at a comfy hotel outside of Kathmandu before a flight home... business class!!! Finally, a big thank you to all for supporting this worthy cause. I am very close to the 3K threshold, thank you again it would not have been possible without your backing. Knowing there were folks back home rooting for us was a great incentive


Dave then emailed me to say they were staying in a proper hotel, with soft bed, running water and toilets that actually feel like home from home. They are resting us and enjoying the last few days of their adventure.

Their just giving is now over £3000 which is 100% being donated to prostate cancer.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/DaveW-Everest

 


All news