9 days at Base Camp

I have fallen behind. Unsurprising in a way- I knew if I left this till after I returned, it may never get done! But hey ho, better late than never. And better brief than non-existent. So I'm going to compress the 8 days we spent on base camp into one post, giving a bit less…

How to walk across big boulders and morains

After reaching base camp, all our treks required lots of walking across huge boulders scattered across the ground. For someone with terrible balance, this proved to be quite a challenge. I learnt a few things to help me navigate them: Momentum matters- If you keep your weight forward, even if your foot doesn't land perfectly,…

So close to giving up- 15th May

The journey from Bakkhim to Dzongri was awful. I have no other words for it, no positive spin, no silver lining. It is known as one of the toughest treks around, and is one of the main reasons why the HMI basic course is considered so difficult.  I had been dreading the trek, and had…

Acclimatisation day- 14th

Having just arrived at 9000ft, we were given a day to acclimatise to th altitude. This consisted of a relatively easy 3 hour traipse up the trail we would be taking the following day followed by a brief lecture on on camp placement and hygiene.  The walk took us up through the wooded slopes of…

Getting on the way- 13th May

Day one of trekking- a day of firsts. First time brushing teeth in a garden, going to the loo in the wild, and using an ice axe to dig and bury my business. And all this before five am. We quickly replaced our sleeping bags (into those horrendous compression bags), clothes and mattresses in our…