Base camp
10th May Base camp is really becoming home now. It`s interesting how I`m settling into a routine of inactivity that at home I would find incredibly frustrating. Me and a couple of the team went for a walk round the perimeter of the camp. The teams are spread out and contact with them is minimal. This is different on the South side as base camp covers a smaller area and there are a lot more teams over there. The camp is at the nose of the Rongbuk Glacier. We are about 25km from the base of Everest and the glacier runs directly to the bottom of the mighty North face. As we walk to ABC you can see a number of smaller glaciers that feed into the Rongbuk. Walkng south around the camp, away from Everest we come to the Chinese control point. On entry to base camp the Chinese check each individuals passport and the teams permits to climb. Without these being in order you won`t even get into base camp. The Chinese have a definate level of control here. For example when we had our Puja and the pray flags were put up, some guys put up the flags of there respective countries. We were asked by the Chinese to take them down imediately. The whole landscape here is rock and barren. The glacier has shaped the valley and left a scar line about 50m up the valley side showing where it used to be. I`m really missing the UK and how green the place is. Lets hope this weather window allows us to give it go.

Base camp walk
11th May Today some of us decided to go for a walk up the frozen river. Earlier in the trip this valley we did a couple of acclimatization walks. It was at this time I had my chest problems and turned back on both the walks. We set off at a good pace and I felt fine with it. What I`m finding is when I first set off my breathing rate increases dramatically but after a few minutes I get it under control and settle into a sustainable rhythem. The human body is an amazing thing. 6 weeks ago we were moving so slowly up through the rocks. Today the same ground was covered at a pace not disimilar to that of sea level. We walked for an hour up through the valley until it opened out into a plateau. After a brief rest Josh decided to set himself a challenge which involvig scrambling up the valley side for about another 150m. Nigel took the spread bet Josh had offered and of he went. His progress began quite promisingly but as the ground steepened he slowed and by the top he was £15 lighter and coughing big time. The bench mark was set and although I was very tempted and normally would jump at such a challenge my lungs could do without the burn. I have conciously wore a buff over my mouth for a lot of the time. This helps combat the effects of the dry cold air on the throat. It felt good to stretch the legs and lungs and see a bit more of the valley. The more detailed forecast has begun coming in for the potential weather window 17th 18th. It doesn`t look good. Although the jet stream is not directly over Everest the forecast models are still estimating summit wind speeds of 40 th 60 mph. This is to strong for us and the Chinese who need to go first and fix the lines. I think a lot of the team are finding this part of the trip difficult. We have done all our preperation and feel like we have already sat around base camp for long enough. I`m finding the down time not as bad as I thought I would. I think having the blog and being able to keep in touch with home is really helping.