Outline Schedule

The weather can play havoc with any plans, we have plenty of reserve days set aside to try and cover this but have to be very flexible.  We were ahead of schedule last year until the weather grounded us at base camp for two weeks and patience can be severely tested, especially as you need to save all your strength for the summit attempt.   


In 69 days there will only be around 26 "active" days.  The body doesn't recover very well above 5000m and begins to feed off itself so those rest and acclimatisation days are very improtant.  There are lots of tough long days, even before you factor in the weather, and on summit day alone you can burn around 15,000 calories and it is difficult to ingest more than a couple of thousand up there.

The outline of our itinerary is below (and now added to the route page):

Date	Day
2 Apr	1	Depart Heathrow
3 Apr	2	Arrive Kathmandu
4 Apr	3	Fly to Lukla (2800m); trek to Phakding (2640m)
5 Apr	4	Trek to Namche Bazaar (3446m)
6 Apr	5	Acclimatisation day
7 Apr	6	Trek to Pangboche (4000m)
8 Apr	7	Trek to Dingboche (4500m)
9 Apr	8	Trek to Ama Dablam base camp (4750m)
10 Apr	9	Trek to Namche Bazaar (3446m)
11 Apr	10	Trek to Lukla
12 Apr	11	Fly to Kathmandu
13 Apr	12	Drive to Chinese border; overnight in Tibet
14 Apr	13	Drive to Everest Base Camp (BC; 5200m)
15 Apr	14	Rest day
16 Apr	15	Acclimatisation walk up Frozen River (5700m)
17 Apr	16	Rest day
18 Apr	17	Acclimatisation Ridge walk (6000m)
19 Apr	18	Rest day
20 Apr	19	Move to Intermediate Camp (5700m)
21 Apr	20	Move to Advanced Base Camp (ABC; 6400m)
22-24 Apr	21-23	Rest and acclimatisation
25 Apr	24	Climb North Col (7000m)
26-29 Apr	25-28	North Col reserve weather day
30 Apr	29	Return to BC
1-4 May	29-33	Rest days
5 May	34	Return to ABC
6 May	35	Climb North Col and overnight at North Col
7 May	36	Move to 7500m; overnight at North Col
8 May	37	Return to ABC
9 May	38	Return to BC
10-13 May	39-42	Rest days
14 May	43	Return to ABC
15 May	44	Rest day
16 May	45	Move to North Col
17 May	46	Move to 7800m
18 May	47	Move to 8300m
19 May	48	Summit day
20-30 May	49-59	Reserve Summit days
31 May	60	Descent
1 Jun	61	Clear mountain
2 Jun	62	Clear mountain
3 Jun	63	Clear ABC
4 Jun	64	Return to BC
5 Jun	65	Clear BC
6 Jun	66	Drive to Nylam
7 Jun	67	Drive to Kathmandu
8 Jun	68	Kathmandu
9 Jun	69	Return to London

The team

Have spent the past week or so finishing off my full training, another 70 odd miles running in Richmond Park and down by the Thames (split 15; 10; 9; 14; 10; 13 and ending with a half marathon on an empty stomach.  I always think that depravation training or training on a calorie deficit is a useful simulation of what my body will have to cope with on the expedition so try and do this reasonably regularly) plus a couple of cross training and spin cycle sessions, plenty of weights and an indoor climbing session.

We are doing our initial acclimatisation in Nepal so no long drive to the border and across Tibet until later.  This means we will be starting off pretty much straight away and with less than two weeks to go time to ease up on the training, rest up and eats lots and lots.  

A bit of background on the rest of the team who will be climbing with me this year.

Zac - Zac will be leading the team.  I have had the pleasure of climbing on Cho Oyu and in Scotland with him so will be good to climb with him again, he didn't seem too put off with the idea either.
Chris - Chris will be leading with Zac.

A few faces returning from last year:
Geordie - Mountaineer, Charity Fundraiser and Public Speaker.  Needs to improve at Risk.
Heather - The only female in the team and Top Gun obsessive
Mark - Got close last year and hoping to get higher
Stephen - Another one who got close last year, also needs to improve at Risk.

The other guys:
Ben - Adventurer
George - At 16, attempting to be the youngest Briton to summit Everest.
Greg
Jaysen - Attempting to become the first Mauritian to climb Everest

Nick

Salam
Simon - Trying to become the first Brit over the age of 60 to summit Everest from the North

And of course, the Sherpas.

There will also be another big UK team on the North Side this year.  There are a couple of famous faces including Alan Hinkes and David Hempleman-Adams.

http://www.icelandeverest.org.uk/

New Itinerary

Looks like the Chinese aren't opening the border into Tibet until 10 April, so we will be doing our initial acclimatisation in Nepal.

We will fly into the notorious Lukla airport.  I am not sure I am looking forward to this but should be a bit of an experience.

It also means a different acclimatisation schedule to the Tibet based one used last year and for Cho Oyu and much reduced time in Nylam and Tingri (although we will still travel through and spend a night at one of them).  Instead we will trek part of the classic Everest base camp trek through Namche Bazaar, Pangboche, Dingboche and then head up to Ama Dablam base camp.

Ama Dablam is often described as the most beautiful mountain in the world and known as the Matterhorn of the Himalayas so this is a real bonus.

Ama Dablam

This week is my penultimate week of full training, have put in 58 miles in the first five days (split 15; 9; 10; 14; 10) and three weights sessions.  Will probably have a light day tomorrow to rest the joints, something like a cross training session and swim, then kick on again on Sunday.  No climbing wall session this week though, my usual climbing partner Heather, was presenting her schools project to the Royal Geographical Society so we had to take a week off, looks like a great programme though!