Monthly Archives: December 2012
2012: A Year in Random Numbers
Wonders of the World: 5 Mount Everest Petra The Pyramids The Dead Sea The Blue Mosque Our favourite pyramid? The Bent Pyramid at Dahshur, not the famous ones at Giza), because we had the site to ourselves and could climb inside like Indiana Jones. I’d still take the Aya Sofya over the Blue Mosque any [...]
This Frozen Hell
This Frozen Hell Everest Base Camp The Lazy Way, Day 12: Gokyo to Dragnag Dragnag is our jumping off point for the Cho-La, the Himalayan high pass that is beginning to scare the pair of us, and it sits across a hideous slurry of dying glacier from Gokyo. We have fallen a little in love [...]
The Best Sunrise Ever?
Everest Base Camp The Lazy Way: Day 10-12 – Gokyo Ri It’s difficult to describe quite how insanely beautiful the landscape around Gokyo is. Reflecting glacier lakes, some frozen so hard you can skate on them, stack up towards the base of Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain in the world. So I’ll just say [...]
A Bit More Than We Bargained For…
Everest Base Camp the Lazy Way Day 9: Machermo “Look,” I say to Zac, who would rather spend his acclimatisation day resting. “It’s only 300 metres! That’s nothing! But it WILL help us acclimatise, plus we need something a bit steep to prepare us for the Cho-La.” “Oh alright,” he says, sulkily. My son has [...]
Merry Christmas!
As those of you who keep up with us on Facebook know, I’m really rather behind on my blogging. So I thought I’d interrupt our Everest Base Camp saga to wish you all a very, very Happy Christmas, and say thanks to everyone who’s shared, commented on or just plain old read our life over [...]
Frozen Waterfalls and Fallen Glaciers
Frozen Waterfalls and Fallen Glaciers Everest Base Camp the Lazy Way Day 8 – Dole to Machermo Heading out of Dole up to Macchermo, the landscape shifts ever onwards from late autumn towards winter. We’ve crossed frozen rivers and waterfalls, some with streams still bubbling below them as the sun warms them into life, webs [...]
How Many Sherpas Have Summited Everest?
How Many Sherpas Have Summited Everest? Everest Base Camp the Lazy Way, Day 7: Dole “So, how many Sherpas HAVE summited Everest?” I ask, casually. We’re in Dole, a village that’s annoyingly not quite high enough, at 4200m, to be the highest place we have visited, or even the highest place we have slept, en [...]
Botanists and Glaciers
Botanists and Glaciers Everest Base Camp The Lazy Way Day 6: Khumjung to Phortse Tenga You don’t need to be a scientist to see climate change in action around Everest. We’re still below 4000m (13,100 feet) and already the scars that glaciers leave behind, slurried dark mats of pebbles and scree, are evident on the [...]
Yeti Skulls, Hospitals and the Highest Hotel in the World* Everest Base Camp The Lazy Way: Day 5 We have observed the main trail to Everest Base Camp leading out of Namche Bazar. Zig-zagging straight up a 60 degree slope for an hour or so’s walking it looks, well, hard on the limbs, frankly. So [...]
Everest Base Camp The Lazy Way Day 3-4 – Namche to Thame We have, both of us, familiarised ourselves with the symptoms of altitude sickness, both the mild type and the two serious types that are responsible for the not infrequent buzz of rescue helicopters above us. In fact, even if we hadn’t been to [...]
