Club Pro, Paul Hetherington, on Charity Trek to Everest

We departed from Kathmandu early on December 21st for the scary flight up to lukla, the worlds most dangerous airport. After an amazing flight we landed so smoothly and commenced the trek. The first three days were very gentle with the emphasis on acclimatisation with a fairly level trek of about 25km. Our altitude at this stage was around 2800m. 

On day four we trekked steadily up to 2950m before hitting the infamous Namche hill. A 500m accent in just over 1 1/2km. A rude awakening to what was now going to get much tougher with the altitude starting to kick in. At 3500m we had a rest day on Xmas eve and settled into the lower levels of oxygen. Then we set out early the following morning for a full two days trekking up to a town called Dingboche. There we had another acclimatisation day at just 4200m. The going was getting tough.

We were now getting up higher and after a tough 300m rise we hit the lower part of Khumba glacier which leads into the Khumba Ice Fall. The ice fall is the first part of the accent to the summit. On the 30th we reached the highest town, Gorak Shep. A desolate place on the side of an old sea bed and below a point called Kalapattar to which we advanced to that afternoon. The toughest climb of all it took us up to 5600m and gave us wonderful views of Everest and the neighboring Tibet. Pictured is me on the top of Kalapattar with Everest the tallest dark peak and the Khumba ice flow directly behind me. This was the highest point we reached 

The next day we pushed on to our goal - base camp. The sense of achievement was immense but in all honestly it was quite desolate and as we were so close to the mountains the views were limited. However we were treated to a trip into the ice flow which was magical!! What had appeared to be a series of small frozen ridges were massive 40-70 ft high gorges and we were just at the bottom tip. Higher up the crevasses go down 100 ft. After a slide around for an hour or so we spent a little time at the rock which signified the point of base camp, had a cheeky swig from hip flask and began our decent. 

The journey down which followed the same route, was slightly anticlimactic but gave me a true feeling of how high I'd been. The easier passage down made me realize how steep the upward journey was-a point you didn't realize when going up. With every metre we went lower the going got easier on the lungs. Altogether  it took us a week to get back to Lukla and the flight back to Kathmandu and a hot shower!!

It was a wonderful trip but the toughest mental and physical task I'd ever undertaken. Everything from tying up shoe laces to eating to walking was an effort. However I was massively relieved to have coped well with the altitude and seen the many wonderful sights that the mountains offer. The rewards definitely outweighed the pain.