Rest days before the next acclimatisation push....

Spare yourself no illusions that we are stilll heroically trudging knee-deep through a steep snowy slopes on the far flung reaches of Makalu, clinging onto our jumars with clenched teeth, breathing each breath as if it were our last… Oh no.... Rather, the greater proportion of us are lounging in our tents or enjoying the warm comforts of the 'chill out tent' where the world is 'yellow', enjoying the benefits of satelite internet, solar power and the rather eclectic mix of songs on Adrian's ipod. Every now and then Monica breaks out into song and Tashi comes by with a new recipe which he'd like to try out on us... I am just digesting the most fabulous 'baked spaghetti' and counting down the minutes to dinner. Adrian has decided that as a side-business, he will open up the high altitude Alpenglow Coffee Republic cafe with his cappucino apparatus that also provides a great arm-work out in preparation for all of the jumar-ing ahead..!

We're resting today as tomorrow we head back up to Camp 1 and then on to Camp 2 from which we'll climb to 7000m. This will be our last push before our summit bid which is expected in early October - weather dependent...! I'm excited to be heading back up the mountain to conduct the final preparations of both mind and body for the tremendous challenge ahead.

Everyone is feeling healthy and strong - there is one other team here (Keri Kobler) as well as three small independent teams. Having said that, the mountain is in top-notch condition, the weather forecast is excellent, the ropes are fixed to Camp 3!

I've tried to post as much as I can today in an effort to catch up on some missed-days so hopefully this will give you a good overview of the adventures that we've been having on this absolutely spectacular mountain.

That's all for me for now - in spite of the 5* conditions, my fingers are slowly freezing and the sun is setting behind the mountains so it's time for me to dive into my tent and read the 2nd installment of Harry Potter! 

Will post again in 3 days! x