*
Latest News
We just found out we got seats on the flight so we will be in Kathmandu miday tomorrow (Monday).
Everest here we come.
The weather in London did affect us so we missed our connection. We spent the night in London and got stand-by seats to Doha (Qatar) where we are now writing this. We are currently on stand-by for a flight to Kathmandu, otherwise we could be stuck here for 2 days :-(
There is still no word on permits on the South side but we hope there will be good news by the time we arrive.
Final packing completed.
Heading to airport hoping high traffic and delays into London won't affect us too much.
Will be in Kathmandu tomorrow and will find out then if permits are being issued.
Think positive!
We have finished the 3 week course of Intermittent hypoxic Training. The first week it felt like it was doing nothing. The second week it felt like it was causing great fatigue but after this week I think its done a lot of good. My rib cage seems to have expanded (increasing lung capacity) and in the gym I've been able to push my max heart rate up to 210 which probably means an increase in VO2Max as well. I guess the proof will be in the pudding!
On Monday the Chinese issue letters to expeditions on the north or Tibetan side of Everest that due to plans for the Olympic torch to be carried from the summit of Everest to Beijing, climbers could not climb on Everest until after the 10th May.
With less than 2 weeks to go the countdown has deffo begun.
At the weekend I bought an MP3 player to keep me sane over the 10 weeks (just need to load it up now) and got all my medication etc. Got our kit-bags and our official fleeces in the post today so it's all starting to feel very real.
Have had a couple of very successful fundraising activites as well so the running total for Fields of Life is continually on the up (many thanks to all who have donated so far).
Today we started our 3 week course of Intermittent Hypoxic Training on the Go2Altitude® machine thanks to Peak Centre Ireland.
This requires 5 x 1 hr sessions per week for 3 weeks. This should help reduce resting heart rates, increase VO2Max and increase haemoglobin levels in the blood, all helping aclimatisation at altitude.
Was up late last night packing. We got 50kg of kit freighted off today. Bit mad packing the stuff off thinking next time we wear it will be at base camp!
Anyway, another leg of the journey.
Heading off to Scotland to day for the last bit of technical training. Have a weekend of ice-climbing planned round Glencoe/Ben Nevis and then probably a bit of crag and jumar work on Sunday - we're deffo inside the final furlong now!
We're all back in Mendoza having shaved, showered, bandaged our wounds and moisturised our sunburn.
We all successfully summited on Friday 11th after a long and difficult asscent. The night before "the tormenter" storm never materialised but did manage to shake tents and nerves with 100mph winds and -40 degree C wind chill.
Saturday followed with a long decent to base camp to complete the treverse and yesterday we completed the 40km trek out to Puente Del Inca where a few well deserved beers were enjoyed by all.
Fundraising / Donate
There are 3 ways that donations can be made;
- By electronic funds transfer to account number 42792240, sort code 93-33-92
- By sending a cheque made payable to Fields of Life No 2 Account, to Everest Project, Fields of Life, Tree Tops, Brides Glen Road Shankill, Dublin 18.
- By clicking the mycharity.ie link below
