23th April from Interim camp 5700mts to
Advance base camp 6445mts.
Early morning rise 7am great night sleep. Breakfast this morning was very simple porraige & black tea ..
Today I’m feeling super and in great form (oh what 12hrs of good sleep can do for you).
Leaving interim camp this morning it was approx another 10kms to ABC I knew it was on tough gradient but I wasn’t ready for the views, I’m not saying it lightly when I say the roumbuk glacier on my left hand side all the way up was just breath taking , all fully snow covered the glacier serac ” huge spike like protrusion forms coming up form the central glacier in a wonderful blue white colour – it feels like that Christmas programme “behind the wardrobe, me & kids watched it at Xmas” anyway these kids step into there mum & dads wardrobe and beyond lays the most magical snowy kingdom.
Today it’s extremely bright with the sun radiating off the brilliant white snow & ice formations ,cat 4 expedition sun glasses order of the day & fully sun creamed max level
By now my lips are as hard as a kitchen table even with all the protection the strong sunlight has torn them to shreds ” but that’s quite the norm on these type of expeditions”
Stoping for for lunch at the 4km mark was a welcomed pause just to catch my breath & fuel up.
It took us approx 6hrs of a hard hard push today, but I felt great and getting strong every day. I’m really seeing the benefits of life long training especially my bicycle starting to plays its vital role in this expedition.
It’s a marathon day after day after day for two months & I’m really feeling mentally & physically good.
It’s really hard to eat at this altitude, it’s as if your body’s saying NO NO please , it’s really odd ,again I’m forcing bit down “I have to” also again with my cycling experience in food & nutrition I’m using my power gels & power bars to keep fuel in the fire when needed. My recovery daily is really good also, from time to time an odd headache from the quick rise in altitude. All day to day I had my head phones “thanks to our local DJ & radio presenter Ivan Borland” with the tunes rocking “take your mind of some of the pain” hahaha
Nima was giving me the odd funny look as i was bopping away.
So we finally turned the corner for the final climb up the Rombuk glacier and there it was closer than ever mt Everest. I was feeling really well and very strong ,I still fell into my tent with exhaustion & what a location,just short of the north col this huge face of ice 2/3 kms in height stood between me and the north ridge of mt Everest. So got some food into me “garlic & noodles soup, take anything up here I tell you ” & organise ABC as this was to be our final base for striking the summit from , but that lay along long time away yet , as more rest and training on the north col @7000 mts was to be dished out over the next few weeks in preparation for my final assault.
Tonight fell quickly but we were blessed with nearly full moon in the most calmest coldest conditions
I downed all my good cold weather conditions and just took it it , spell bounding ,jaw dropping, magical, all theses still couldn’t sum up my surrounding , it’s so sterial to the point that this is the coldest cleanest awesome sights that my eyes have ever seen & I’m blessed to be sitting here being allowed to take this in, with the clear bright freezing night I can see the north star brighter than ever riding on the north ridge flanked by Orion & the Big Dipper.
So that’s it for today ABC been a great successful day for me.
Lets see what tomorrow throws at me .
Love to all back home.
Jason
