A Message from Katmandu

28th May
Sorry for the delay in me updating the blog. I have not been to well. The plan was to summit on the 23rd May. We climbed upto the North col on the 20th. After a sleepless night, literally holding the tent up as the wind was unreal we set off for 7800m. I knew from the word go i wasn`t going well. The day should take 5/6hrs. The plan was to go on oxygen around 7500m. The problem I was having was an inability to slow my breathing down. I was taking one step forward then stopping for 5 breaths. Even at this rate I was still panting constantly. I radioed upto the camp for them to bring down the oxygen which they did. This made a small amount of difference when really it should transform your performance. I finally got to the camp in the dark at 8.30pm. I had been going just under 12hrs. I was exhausted. i boiled up some water and tried to relax. Even at rest I still could not slow my breathing down. I put the oxygen back on just to try and rest. The camp is on a steep gradient and if you were to come out of your tent and slip you would fall a fair way. I needed to slow my breathing down and couldn`t. During the night I snoozed as best I could. I woke at 3.30am and sat up to hear my lungs were crackling when I exhaled. The cracklind is water building up in your lungs.This is a sign of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE). This condition can be life threatening if not treat or ignored. On realising what was happening I took the correct medication and increased the flow of oxygen. I propped myself up so the water didn`t affect my breathing as much and prayed it didn`t get any worse! The only real cure for HAPE is to descend. As long as I didn`t get any worse the risks in descending were far greater than I faced staying put until the morning. It was a long night, staring at the roof of the tent realising that I needed to get down but also my dream was over. I was scared but knew to get through this safely I needed to keep calm and just slow my breathing down as best as I could. I cried with frustration and fear at the same time. The summit was so close and I felt robbed. I thought maybe by the morning I could go and it would be alright. At the same time I knew if this happened higher up or it got worse, the chances of getting down were very small. This made me think of Beth and Isla and everyone at home who were unaware of the situation and who I`d promised I wouldn`t take unnecessary risks."I will only go one step up if I know I can get that one step back", that`s what I`d said. It was now time to stick to that promise and not take a big gamble. The sun came up and people began rising from there tents. It was a perfect day and the views were just amazing. I went up and saw Nigel the Doc and Stu the leader, both of which confirmed what I already knew. The risks of going on were to great . Nigel said I could take Viagra which could help,but if it comes again you are in deep trouble. The risk was just to great. Maybe when I was 20 some I might of rolled the dice but life`s to good and Everest doesn`t need any more bodies laying on it. I set off down after wishing the guys well. My goggles were steamed up with the tears rolling down my cheeks. I was walking away from my dream. I went passed the Montenegrans who hugged me and said how sorry they were in there broken English. I got down onto the snow reasonably quickly. There a lot of people coming up to 7800m today, as there plan was to go for the summit on the 24th. I passed heaps of people who I`d got to know over the last few weeks. Each time I explained it felt like a kick in the nuts. I was sick by the time I reached the north col as I must of told the storey 20times. I just wanted to get down so the Sherpa and myself didn`t waste much time at the North col. I grabbed one or two things I had left in the tent and we headed down. I was still breathing hard although the oxygen was helping a lot. The descent was tiring and I began to stumble a bit which made me slow down and take my time. Once at ABC I thought I would feel a lot better but soon realised that I was coughing violently and still very short of breath. Ispent the night there but knew the next day I needed to get down further to base camp.Bola the guy running the base camp operation, had organised for a jeep to collect me and drive to Katmandu in a day. I would then be able to get treatment. The walk down to base camp was exhausting. I was to weak to carry my bag and it took 7 1/2hrs instead of 5hrs. That night I was so tired but my coughing would not allow me to sleep. The next morning, the 24th(summit day for a lot of teams) I was up at 5am as the jeep for Katmandu was coming at 6am. There was 2inchs if fresh snow and the mountains were completely clouded over. There were a lot of people high up on Everest this morning, either coming down or going up for there summit attempt. I hoped they were all safe and wished Raj and his staff a fair well. We knew we had people still up at 8300m and 7800m. It was sad leaving base camp in this way. I had wrote the team a letter explaining the situation and hoping they would contact me with there stories and pics in the not to distant future. I think it would have been hard for me to swallow if I was around when they came down. The journey to Katmandu was long but interesting. The scenery was a lot greener compared to when we came through it 8 weeks ago. I got back to the hotel in Katmandu at 7.30pm. After a bit of confusion I met up with Uswari, the guy who owns Himalayan Guides. This is the company Adventure Peaks use in Nepal. He is a very well connected guy and organises the logistics for a lot of the Western teams on both sides of Everest. He took me straight to a medical clinic and at 10.30pm I was examined. They put me on a nebuliser which helped with my chest and after the examination said i need a chest xray just to make sure but it was HAPE and probably some form of chest infection. I went back the following day and the xray which was clear so they gave me some medication and a fit to fly note. i am now waiting for a flight home..... Sick as a parrot. I have not stopped yet so I don`t think the real sadness has hit home but I can`t help thinking of the view from the high camp, the summit was less than 2km away. It was there and to have turn your back and not give it a go is gutting. I have talked to my parents and Beth, they have been hugely supportive and I think a bit relieved I made the decision to turn round. I feel like I have let them all down in some way. All that worry for nothing! I can not wait to see them all. I will put up my daily reports as well as this but thought I better let you guys know what had happened. I hope you have enjoyed the blog and wish I could have brought better news to finish with.

Look after yourselves and each other

Jonathan

The Ropes are Fixed
16th May Looking up at Everests` summit, standing 25km away and 3.5km vertically higher is an incredible sight. This morning it looked calm and reachable. There was no wind at base camp and no plume whipping off the summit. It was decided that our sherpas would move up to ABC today so I helped sort out some of the food that needed taking up. The forecast is growing in confidence for the 23rd 24th and to really get people excited we heard over the radio that the Chinese have fixed the lines to the summit. I talked to the Montengrans today who told me the two Tiwanese in there group have gone up hoping to summit tommorow. If this is right they will be at 8200m waiting for tonight and there attempt. Good luck guys!

Lights on the Ridge
17th May Last night my mind was occupied with thoughts of whats coming. I couldn`t sleep and decided to open the end of the tent and have a look at the mountain. I could see the lights of climbers up at high camp just below the north east ridge. The tents are on little ledges around 8200m. It was 11pm so they probably getting ready to go for the summit. It was an inspiring sight. The lights seemed to put the mountain into scale. I am really looking forward to getting up high and that feeling of space all around. Stu showed us a video he put together in 2002 of the summit ridge. The majority of the climb is straight forward over mixed ground with a couple of sections of exposed ground and steep climbs. The views are just incredible. I hope I get that high and can appreciate my surroundings. On the south side of the ridge is the Changse face, the route Stephen Venables climbed. It is very steep and falls away several thousand feet. Our route keeps you well away from this. Simon and I have decided to write ourselves some aid memoirs for the high camps. Hopefully this will mean we don`t have to think to hard when were up there. I`m off to pack now, will be off the blog radar for a few days now. Next time I write I will hopefully be telling you of my successful summit. Finally i`d like to thank you all for your encouragement and kind words both before I came out and on the blog. When things get really tough I`m sure I will draw on the support. Thanks to you all. See you soon

Base Camp
14th May Woke to a windy day in base camp. We are waiting for the forecast everyday now. The Chinese are up at ABC and are ready to go up and fix the lines. The latest is they plan to be up there for the 16th. This would be great as it means some teams may try for an earlier summit, leaving less traffic on the 23rd 24th. We were visited by young Jordan and his team this afternoon. They had met up with a team of Austrians who include an extreme skier. He headed a team that had made a video of there asscent of a remote Alaskan mountain called Elias. There plan was to climb up then ski down. The video followed there expedition. We sat through the video which was fantastic. It was made even cooler by the fact I was sat next to the main skier. The climb was hardcore but then the ski down was unreal. He wasn`t sking down Everest but he did have a and big plan in mind but he wasn`t letting on. Some of the teams are begining to move. Some will stop at intermediate camp on the way up to ABC. I think everyone will converge on ABC within a day or so of each other. It sounds like the weather is not going to be perfect but calm for the critical days when we are high. j pic

Cooking at Base camp
15th May Since we`ve been down at base camp Josh and I have been "steering" Raje, our chef into cooking some slightly more Western food. We`ve been using the same ingredients but cooking them in a different way. We are pretty sure he doesn`t mind us sticking our noses in. The team seem to be apprecative of our efforts and there plates are clean. One or two of the us are suffering with different ailments. Mat the guide is still coughing but seems to be on the mend. Heather seems to have a throat infection along with bruised ribs from coughing. Stephen is recovering from a stomach bug and our super star, Brendan seems to have a chest problem. Hopefully all will be well enough to start up for ABC on Tuesday. My mind is beginning to switch on to what is now only a few days away. I am beginning to think of the routine that i hope to get into higher up. I`ve got a few little adjustments to make after last time. Things like lengthening my zips so I can get hold of them with my big mitts on. I`m thinking of what I`m going to do for nutrition on the big day. Maxi muscle have sponsored Josh for a number of years and have kindly sent over a range of supplements which are perfaect for the big days. I am planning to use both the maxi muscle bars and the power gels. Its possible to force them down when eating is the last thiung you want to do. I plan to drink a Maxi muscle protein mix at the start of each hard day. The protein will regulate my blood sugar levels and stop the peaks and troughs you tend to get when only eating sugars. I plan to eat and drink a small amount every hour on summit day. This will hopefully keep me going the 14+ hours it`s going to take.

Base Camp winds
12th May Today the winds are wild. I woke with the tent being blown from what seemed like every angle. The key with the tents when the wind is this strong is to keep them closed up. This limits the chance of them being damaged. During breakfast we sustained our first damage. The food store tent turned inside out. The gust that caused it came from no where. Once a replacement had been erected and the supplies transfered we set about strengthening the deffences on the rest of the tents. unforetuantely the comms tent housing the radio equipment was next to go. The radio arial was damaged but the tent was ok and could be put back up. I really felt today was a low point for me. We were inprisoned in the tents due to the wind and it was pretty much definate that the 17th 18th summit attempt was off. What the forecast has being saying with increasing confidence is the winds will drop from the 23rd through to the 26th. This sounds more promising and is not to far away.

Trek up to the North Face camps
13th May It was decided last night that a few of us were going to go for a final walk today as this window on the 23rd was looking more and more likely. We were going to head up the Rongbuk glacier. This leads to the base camps used by teams attempting routes on the north face or the west ridge. The last British team here was an army team which attempted a route up the west ridge then traversed into the Norton couloir. They got to the bottom of the couloir and realised they were stood on a slope that was ready to avalanche. They had planned the trip for 3 years and turned round at this point. There are a number of routes on the north face mainly put up by the Russians and Polish. We set off with the intention of doing a couple of hours but it turned into a bit of an epic. The terrain was a nightmare and rather than turn back we carried on until we had a good view of the North face. By the time we decided to turn round we had been going for 3hrs. After a quick bight to eat and a photo oppurtunity we turned back and began the trek back. We got back after a nightmare walk back. We were all pretty tired and ready for food. The view of Everest and the vallleys laeding off the the glacier were spectacular and justified the effort. That`s it now, just rest until we go for it

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.

Base camp Bash
9th May Today passed fairly uneventfully until our team got an invite to the 7 summits expedition. The guys that run 7 summits are Russian and celebrate the 9th May as it is the day the second world war ended. This is also a good marketing oppurtunity. No expense had been spared, food and drink kept flowing all night. Most of the teams were there. We got talking to a real range of people. I met an ex firemen who now captains a 150ft gin palace in Monaco. We also got to meet 70 year old Russian guy who has led expeditions on Everest from pretty much every angle. 7 summits base camp set up is pretty impressive. They have a big dome tent with not only a Tv and video but a table tenis table.We`re negotiating to trade Heather for the Table tennis table. The group decided this is a fair swop and the negotiations are going well. I got talking to there English speaking guide who was a sturdy little Irish guy. He has summited twice before. He had been employed this year because of the 12 clients, they have 6 are English speaking. He told me that the group had not been above the North col and are starting on oxygen there when they attempt the summit. . The party went on well into the night, we cut it short and came back around 8 for some food. There will be plenty of time to let our hair down when we come back down hopefully from a successful attempt.

Rest BC
6th May Today was a really settled day at base camp. Josh,Max,Stephen and myself did a bit of exercise. We did a liitle curcuit for 40mins which was good as it broke the day up but also opened my lungs up. It feels like your constantly becoming congested and a bit of a blow out cleared the lungs. We are all beginning to discuss all the different permutations that could happen over the next few weeks. The weather has been pretty bad so far.A metre of snow has fallen at the North col over the last few days. Yersterday, our Sherpas were up at 8200m loading the camp. Nuro is one of our top sherpas. He has summitted 9 times and moves like a machine. He went from the North col up to 8200m, dropped his load then all the way back down the ABC. This is an epic day. He came back down to base camp today for a couple of days rest before we hopefully go up for our summit attempt. The weather looks like it could allow us an attempt on the 17th or 18th. We are waiting for a detailed forecast. The main concern is the wind speeds. At the moment the snow has stopped and the winds have increased which is good to clear the snow from the ridge but does lower the temperatures dramatically.Lets hope it works out and we get a long enough window to get up there. I ordered an extra bottle of oxygen, giving me options slighlty lower down the mountain. It will also allow me to sleep at 7800m on oxygen. I`m hoping this will allow me torest far better at this height. Since we`ve had 4 people leave there is a number of cylinders of oxygen now available for team members to buy. Most people have now got the set up I pre-ordered and will be starting on oxygen at 7500m. My personal thoughts are that having the extra both conserves your energy and allows you to rest better at 7800m. I am begining to really focus on the summit bid now. Hopefully another few days here and we will be away.

Base camp
7th May Today was a nothing day. I did a bit of washing, read my book and snoozed. The days seem to pass quickly considering how little we do. Everybody seems to occupy themselves and we sit and talk a lot. The weather is now one of the hot topics. We could be setting off from base camp on the 13th. This would mean us going for the summit on the 17th or 18th. The forecast is not yet detailed enough. All the teams have roughly the same information and are working towards this time frame. Lets hope it`s not to busy up there.

Base camp
8th May Woke up not feeling to well today. Got a bit of a cough and feel a little bit tired. Rather than fight it I have took it real easy today. The weather down at base camp is quite warm. The wind wips up in the afternoon but it`s still quite mild. Once the sun goes down the temperature drops off dramatically. Some of us have been organising the evening meals over the last few nights. We have managed to use similar ingrediants but serve them up in a more Western style. The cook is a great guy but for example the veg for the evening meal served at 7.30, will be boiling away at 5.30pm. You can imagine what they taste like after that length of time. We think he is happy for us to be involved and hoefully he will pick up a few different ways of doing things. The meat isn`t the best of quality but we`ve done a few different things with it and people seem to be getting more food down them than before. Some of the Sherpas have stayed up at ABC but for the ones that have come down it`s relaxing time. They say on an Everest exped like this they do around 15 days of really hard work, load carrying to the high camps. Talking with them, they don`t class summit day as one of those 15 days. Compared to carrying a load of 35kg plus upto 8300m, the summit day is not strenuous. I sometimes wonder what they must think of us Westeners, the way we struggle to coupe with the altitude and demand what to them must be a standard of comfort way above there expectations. They perform these feets of phsyical endurance on a fraction of the food we consume. There genetic make up allows them to perform at altitude far better than we could ever. We could stay here for months and months and still be no where near them.