Me and climbing Sherpa Chiring 
So it’s been three weeks now. This climbing big mountains malarkey is very slow. This morning we had early breakfast at 6.30 am and it was freezing before sun up. We got all out climbing gear on and set off through the ice fall to climb to the first ladder which is about half way through it. It took us about four hours to get there. I am more confident with my rope skills now. Most of the ice fall is on fixed lines so I’ve had lots of practising now. There are some really steep sections that are tricky and when you’ve done them you’re just gasping for breath and it takes a few moments of standing still to catch your breath again and get the heart rate back down.
It’s going to be a tall order getting to camp one. We reckon about 8 hours. The ice fall is just a beast that really takes all your energy. I’m hoping the second half isn’t so steep. We reach the first ladder and climb up it. Then we descend it and go down a little bit more to a little flatish place to eat our packed lunch and drink some water. Our packed lunch has a boiled egg (Bob doesn’t like these so I always have his as well, a slice of cheese, this Nak cheese is growing on me, a Mars bar, packet of coconut biscuits and twisted bits of bread that are deep fried. I can’t eat these. Yuk.
Then on weary, slightly wobbly legs we descend all the way to base camp. What took four hours to get up took two hours to get down.
Tomorrow is the puja for the Canadians. Two of them are here still, well one of the three climbers didn’t go to Loubouche with the other two Canadian climbers and apparently he brought his wife along. She is staying at base camp. Bloody hell, I’d rather be at home in civilisation than stuck up here for six weeks. She’s gonna get awfully bored. The other two should return today and then they have their puja tomorrow. Me and Bob are going to go along for the free food and some more beer. I’ll skip the Chang this time.