23 Jun At 60 plus years of age you can still have breakfast with Everest!

0435 hrs

Tea is brought to our room. We have managed 6 hours sleep except those who’ve been concerned at their ability to embark on this venture who have hardly slept at all. The plan is to climb from 2400 m up to 3300 m (from above Amendhuebel to a point 250 m above the Schilthorn for those of you who know Murren), and for those of you who know about altitude, that is not a huge challenge for the young and fit but for older farts like us all in early sixties is a bit of a biggie. In real money it’s 7800 ft up to 10850 ft. The prize is a ridge walk at the top from where we will get a fabulous view of Everest and the entire Khumbu range. The test is to get there before the clouds roll up from the valley below and remove the view. We must be there for 0830 as the clouds tend to arrive at 0900.

We set off at 0515 and JD declares himself fit for the journey. It’s head torches, (ours were last used coming down from the Suppenalp after a jolly evening with the Hunters,) as dawn is at 0600 but we are walking up the west face and so we will not see the sun until the top. We stumble off half asleep and peering into the dark furiously adjusting the torches to shine where we were going and not onto the person in fronts back. Progress is slow but steady and the outside temperature is about 0 degrees. As dawn breaks and we can take our torches off the temperature has fallen to minus 3. There is frost on ground everywhere.

It’s quite hard work as there is no relief from the steepness. 2 hours of up and the team are flagging a bit when the sun cuts through a gap in the dense wood that we have been climbing through and it generates a bit of warmth and lot of encouragement. Surprisingly little wildlife but we do see two large weasely things that we cannot identify and few thrush and the inevitable crow. We are close to a national park and wildlife reserve so it would not be surprising to see the real Nepali animals in their natural habitat. The guides are calling to each other on the trek which we know to be a warning to any wild animals to stay away as they normally do. After 2650 approx we run out of Nepali houses where people live and from then on its jungle. The two Sherpa who are assisting us are the same boys who look after us in the lodge and at 2600 we are passed by four Nepali Sherpa with back packs and thermos flasks racing to get to the top and to light a fire and prepare breakfast for those that make it.

We all have a number of moments of crisis but the boys are looking after us well. 0745 and we see the ridge and sun is bright. We get to a clearing and the boys stop and we gather round (men) and have the Everest range pointed out along with the big one. Not far to go but we are now at 10,000 ft above sea level which is not suiting most of us. We hit the ridge, our climbing goal in sight, and so we get that fresh burst of energy and we slowly march on until indeed we are there. Everest looks terrific and strangely doesn’t appear to be the highest top we can see but that is because it sits behind the rest of the range. Our first sighting is the top with no snow or cloud to leeward but it is not long before that appears and you get a shot that you normally see in photographs. This hill is 29,000 ft above sea level. Cameras are produced and hundreds of shots are taken of us and the big hill. Huge! We enjoy the stillness, the peace and the beauty of a clear day in north east Nepal.

In a small gully nearby we see smoke rising and as we cross a bluff we see our gang furiously preparing breakfast and then to the right are table and chairs, water glasses, table mats and cutlery and indeed breakfast is served. This is the business!

The actual top is about 300 metres higher which Elizabeth and i get to after a slow and careful ascent and are delighted to have reached the peak. Here we find cattle grazing and a Stupa (see previous description). We saunter back feeling good and it’s only 0900 as we sit down to porridge and an omelette and, wait for it, toast and marmalade; well what can you say. These boys are the terrific. Hot tea and coffee and within ten minutes of tucking in to the food the clouds have rolled up and we are in the mist with not a thing to see. And the temperature drops very quickly when the sun is not in your face. Jackets and windcheaters back on and soon we are ready for the descent which for those with bad knees is the worst bit. We thank the Breakfast Sherpa team who are now scoffing what we didn’t eat and we set off along the ridge and it’s downhill all the way.

We meet four Buddhist monks on the way, quite close to the top, who are going from the monastery we saw yesterday to a remote village some three hours way where the only people there are very old as all the young have pushed off to work in the city. It’s what Buddhists do. There are further money shrines which we learn is about the dead asking their relatives to put their worldly goods into the shrine so that the poor can collect it when their needs require it. Not sure it works that way today but it’s a great plan. You arrive in the world with nought and you leave it with the same amount.

All goes well and we return to base at 1200.

Large beers all round, pats on back, the girls made it without a whinge, JD made it despite blood and muscle issues and we felt rather proud of each other. Bauch was allowed a two minute bask in the glory for having got the timing absolutely spot on. He tries to repeat his bask a few minutes later and is quickly shot down. Then wine and lunch and some of us have a sauna, yes they have one of these here. We all feel quite tired.

John McGregor