About Darren

Posts by Darren :

Day 2 to Namche Bazar

,

Day 2 of the trek to Everest Base Camp.

Had no Internet connection yesterday at Phakding lodge so unable to post a blog.

Yesterday started with a very early start and a 30 min flight to Lukla. The airport is set in the mountains and runway looked like 3cms long when we approached to land! The plane lands going up an inclined runway, which was interesting 🙂

The trek to our first nights accommodation was awesome, the views of 6000 meter peaks was just out of this world , the views got even more inspiring with each turn of the path.

The path we share with horses, yaks and porters carrying some of the heaviest packs on there backs I’ve ever seen, how can your knees take it?

The day finished with a very nice meal in the Phakding lodge.

Today (tuesday) started at 6am with a warm water wash from a bowl , then a breakfast of oats and toast. our team of 8 and 6 porters and Sherpas set out for today’s long walk and 800 meter climb to Namche Bazar . After crossing metal foot bridges which we share with horses and yaks over 200 meter drops, we stopped for lunch just before the last 600 meter climb.

The climb was slow due to the lack of air, it was warm, but soon clouded over and started to rain. After a 3 hour climb we arrived at our lodge hotel ‘ hotel Tibet’ for lemon tea.

The Internet connection is slow so I’ve had to blog from my iPhone ( phew) .

Heading to bed soon ready for a dry day tomorrow. We will climb to the everest view hotel and then descend back to Namche which will aid acclimatisation.

Everest Base Camp – Kathmandu

,

A good morning from a sunny Kathmandu 🙂

Up bright and early to post this quick little blog and quick video.  The journey over was long, but went very quickly. Not much sleep last night as very excited to be here, a dream being lived.  Have a great day and have fun.

Juicy Mountain

, , ,

Everest on Juice

Everest with no Juice….

I’ve been a little concerned about the kind of food I’ll be eating when out in Nepal.  I love my veggies and love my veggie juice even more so the thought of 3 weeks without scared me.  So what did I do to quash the feeling of no juice?  I did a ‘ google’ to see what kind of food I’ll be eating out in Nepal, in the tea houses and the lodges and was pleasantly surprised.  Although there will be no ‘juicing’ available unless I take my Philips 1861 I will follow the Veggie diet, which is pretty much staple on the treks anyway, although meat is available I’ve heard scare stories where Imodium plus is required ;).

here’s a good link – http://food-nepal.com/recipe/R008.htm

The underlying diet is based around, from what i understand, a rice and lentils, although i hope there will be some greens, I love my greens..!!!!

To help with endurance and the physical activitiy undertaken I’m going to take my trusted Chia seed and Wheatgrss ( hopefully I won’t have these taken of me when entering Nepal! )

mmmm I suppose I better check ‘google’ again.

 

 

Monday – Packing for Everest

, , , , , ,

Be sure to know where you are.

Everest in less than a week.  Next Monday we’ll be trekking to Namche Bazaar en route to Everest base camp.  I’ve started to pack my kit in my bag ready for the off and it’s all a bit exciting.  The all important list as been  written so I can be sure everything is packed, and of course I don’t not to much stuff.  When we plan things I find it helps, all a bit of a nightmare though as we often put this simple task to one side and we  just go do it, so it can be a bit overwhelming.

I thought it might be an idea to plan the trip with the summit (end) in mind, normally it would be a summit or a climbing route. On this trip it will Everest Base Camp, so I’ve worked back from there.  Firstly it will be cold and I’ll be camping!  So I started with packing cold weather gear, Duvet jacket, Smart wool base layer,  ‘long johns’, gloves, Hat, primaloft jacket and nice thick socks.  Also I’ve packed a nice warm 3 season sleeping bag, with insulated inner I used on Kilimanjaro and various cold wild camps in the UK.

It’s only when you start to plan we realise how much more there is to do. However we get added motivation when we start ticking off the tasks.

 

Next on my list……

 

One week to go

, , , ,

Only one week until to go, until we head out to Nepal for a trip of a lifetime.  Can’t wait! to see the Himalaya and all the mountains in the greater ranges. One of the little things we need to do is sort out the spending money. We can use USD or Sterling to exchange in Kathmandu, normally at the hotel, airport or in Bureau de exchange in the city.  On the trek though we can only exchange USD.

I’ll transfer some USD onto a pre-paid card so i can withdraw at the ATM in Kathmandu and take some Stirling. I’ll Budget 7$ a day for tips, 15£ a day for sundries, presents , water etc.

Other considerations are for drinking water. The higher we travel to base camp, the more the price increases, I’m told around 2.50£ per litre. We can boil the water at tea houses and drop a sterilisation tablet in to kill any bugs .

© 2023 All Rights Reserved
Mountains in Mind

Privacy Policy

× How can I help you?