He's Back!...

Just as  Recap here are the updates from the GPS locations, I am wandering how long it will be before he updates the blog, I could have a take over :)

Day 19

We’re about to cross another suspension bridge at Phakding. View on Map

We’re walking the valley of one of the major rivers of Everest. Stunning scenery. A long way down to the river. View on Map

We’re at Lukla, the start & end point for most Everest treks. Take a look. View on Map

Day 18

Tengboche Tibetan Buddhist monastery. A must stop-and-see place on the Everest walk. View on Map

Just taking 5 minutes break and soak up more of the view. High on the side of a massive valley north of Namche. Fantastic peaks north, east and south of us. Just beautiful. View on Map

We've just reached the Stupa commemorating 50 years since Hillary and Tenzing climbed Mt Everest. The views north to Everest and Ama Dablam are just spectacular. View on Map

Day 17

We’re at the 4000m altitude mark. We have just 63% of sea level oxygen available. View on Map

Might be time for a cup of tea. Just passing through Panboche village. Very easy pace today. No-one is in a hurry. Why hurry through scenery like this! Wow! View on Map

Day 16

One of the most amazing places to stand on Earth. The Everest views … stunned. View on Map

We’re at the Khumbu Glacier. Ice draining slowly from Everest itself. View on Map

We’re at the 5000m altitude mark. We have just 55% of sea level oxygen. View on Map

We’re at Lobuche just below Everest. The views here are stunning. View on Map

We're walking slowly beside the Khumbu Glacier and about to take a break at Dughla. The scenery is stunning. Glacier, shattered rock and ice and mountains all around us. Take a look. View on Map

We’re at Pheriche village surrounded by unbelievable mountains. View on Map

Day 15

We’re at the 5000m altitude mark. We have just 55% of sea level oxygen. View on Map

We’re at the Khumbu Glacier. Ice draining slowly from Everest itself. View on Map

We're at the last permanemt settlement before reaching Everest Base Camp. Gorak Shep, about 5,000m View on Map

The climax of our trek and the start for the mountain climbers. We feel so small standing here. View on Map

Day 14

We're walking slowly beside the Khumbu Glacier and about to take a break at Dughla. The scenery is stunning. Glacier, shattered rock and ice and mountains all around us. Take a look. View on Map

We’re at Lobuche just below Everest. The views here are stunning. View on Map

Day 13 (Slow Day?)

We've just reach a few buildings at Dzonglha village on the Cho-La pass trail. Just an amazing and wild place way up here in the mountains. Stunning. View on Map

Day 12

Now at Tagnag on the edge of this vast glacier. Covered with huge boulders and crushed rock. Very hard to walk on. View on Map

Just cross Cho La pass between the valleys near Everest. Really high now. Thin air. View on Map

Day 11

Stunning views all around. Peaks, glaciers, lakes, huge valley. You’ve got to see this. Unbelievably beautiful. I don't want to go back down from this amazing place. View on Map

Day 10

We’ve reached the little Gokyo Village and it’s amazing glacier lake. Take a look. Unbelievably beautiful. View on Map

Day 9

Just reach Maccherma. Quite the little trekker stop this one. Amazing what they have created way up here. World Expeditions have recently erected permanent campsites here in a ground breaking initiative against deforestation in the mountains of Nepal. Thankfully we can stand up in our tent and sleep on a proper mattress. And we burn yak dung (which surprisingly doesn't smell) to heat the stoves at night rather than wood. View on Map

Day 8

Passing through Dole. Just an amazing setting for this little oasis. Fantastic valley and peaks all around us. Really great effort by World Ex putting up these permanent campsites to help prevent deforestation in the region. View on Map

Day 7

Arriving to Namche Bazaar. Great place for a rest. View on Map

Just taking 5 minutes break and soak up more of the view. High on the side of a massive valley north of Namche. Fantastic peaks north, east and south of us. Just beautiful. View on Map

Made it to Phortse Tenga. Truly amazing views across the valley to Thamserku and Kangtega peaks. Breathtaking. Wow! You can see why people want to climb these mountains. So beautiful. Looking forward to a another night in the World Ex permanent campsites! View on Map

I don't have the previous emails, but if anyone out there does and can email me them I'll update this blog. - Sean

He'll be coming down the mountain when he comes, (When he comes)

So I managed to miss Russ once he got to the top of his destination over the weekend. Russ chatted with Mum and Leanne stating he was seeing some amazing views and could not wait to get back and see everyone.

He started down on Saturday, and Reached the bottom Sunday Evening/Monday morning (GMT time)
Just a message out there to say that I am on my way back down cannot wait to see my Family it has been quite challenging for sure the altitude the mountains all has been definitely a challenge mentally and physically, but I can say that I have done Mount Everest to Base Camp this time round and reached peaks of 6000 metres... Just want to say thank you to everyone that has supported me and keeps on supporting me So much love to all really appreciated I'VE DONE IT!!!!!!!! Now just the decent well the Nepalese flat as they call it.. UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN and of course more up and down 3 days till I get a bed and shower and bath wahooo... xxx

8 hours ago
Back at civilisation with internet now, I just want to say a massive thank you to everyone, who has messaged me, wrote on my wall with support thank you soo much will get round to messaging people once I get back home Thank you a million family and friends love you all more... Xxx

So for anyone wandering what the trip looked like here is an image of the trip GPS locations.

The next update should be Russ, now just to check how up-to-date he kept his diary.
 - Sean

1 Week to go!! Week ending 14 April - Extended to Tuesday 16 Go Day

The last week was spend do what little training was possible, Russell was working until 6:30 and not getting home until gone 8pm. Meaning a few home workouts, a thank you to the girls was in order.

The rest of the entries are pretty sparse, Saturday Russ finally pulled his finger out, and went and bought the equipment he needed.

This meant when we went round to see him on Sunday he was packing each item individually in some freezer zip lock bags he purchased from Tesco, note here to anyone wanting to vacuum seal items for travelling do not buy zip lock bags from Tesco, maybe just stick with the press and seal versions. (After I heard Russell cursing he was having trouble getting the packets to stay compacted).

(Sunday)
The room was full of empty packets, socks, jackets, special pants, (I want to say nappies, but I would be lying) Torch, day bag, dry wash a whole 99% (90% he missed a few bits) of everything he needed.

Monday,
Money Changed up, Pictures done (for what??), last 9% of gear purchased. (I assume he left/forgot something). Heart contact Russ for a final interview before Russ left, that's a bonus.

Tuesday,
21:30 Flight
Terminal 4
Air India.

... That's it he's out of here. I keep seeing him on skype, but as of yet he is not responding to me so I guess he is passing connections out there that give him brief internet access.

If anyone wants to try and get hold of him on skype you can add him on "fruityruss"

-Sean

2 Weeks to go!! Week ending 7 April

April is a busy week for Birthdays, Leanne's on Saturday, Tuesday was Russell's Birthday and Darrens on Wednesday.

Mum made Russell a cake to match a Sunday dinner, it was amazing and tasted great, being a  combination of Carrot cake, rice krispies, and fondant. Mum used carrot cake to try and make it as healthy as possible.(As a cake can be)

It gave Russ a chance to relax for a day, though he did not have a drink, we had one for him to make up for it ;). 

The travel insurance was paid off, and Russ managed a few swims during the week(he gets up before work to go 4-5am, too bloody early for me). With little gym work, mainly working out at home on the free weights and chin ups, I did notice the bar had slipped slightly he said that had only just happened but had not fallen otherwise I would have taken pictures of this bump(but the bar held).

To top the week off Russ, Sean, Darren and Clint went to the Gadget show it was not as good this year it seemed smaller and you really noticed the missing presenters. The day was overall enjoyable its always nice to go and look at the gadgets that are making the way to out living rooms even if out of our price range the best thing for me would have been the 85" 4k television. Seeing a picture of that quality was amazing.

Sunday was the Family Funday, starting at 0700 and finishing at 1900 it was a long day. Here Russ gives Special thanks to all the Girls for their help and organisation. If it would not have been for them the day would not have gone on at all.

A Big thank you to all Family Members for your help, "So Grateful For my Family, Love you all!" - Russell

We had a bouncy castle, duck hunting, BBQ, cakes, face painting, and lots of stalls for the kids and stuff to buy for your house/belly.

The day was a success and whilst I don't have the final amount I think it was around £500.

8 Days to go (Still very little stuff purchased for the trip)
- Sean

3 Weeks to go!! Week ending 31st March

Ok so managed to grab Russell's diary, and the first page (Monday 25 March) the first line, "Running so far behind on blog" - You're telling us ;-) Then something about excuses, longer work days blah blah  blah.

It looks like at this point Russell stepped it up at work and had to put in some extra hours, most of the week appears to be working late and fitting as much gym as he can around the narrow window that he has in the evening. Also to help Mum out Russ has been doing some more around the house, though by mid week has also managed to catch a cold so stocking up on vitamain C (This does nothing for a cold by the way - Sean's note) and annoyed by the lack of gym time Russ trained a little more at home.

He also got some information about the trip through the post, lack of much to say how excited he was but I'm going out on a limb here and claiming that he was ecstatic with at least two mentions of the work "cool".

It looks like by the end of the week not only is Russell slacking on this blog, he is also slacking on his notes the only information I have about the weekend is his weight is now down to 13.5 stone

- Sean

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Day 6

Arriving to Namche Bazaar. Great place for a rest. View on Map We're at the 3000m altitude mark. We have just 71% of sea level oxygen available. View on Map Just reaching Manjo - a tiny little village in a huge valley. Time for a break we think and hot cup of Himalayan tea. Excited for a night in the World Ex permanent campsites tonight! View on Map Crossing another suspension bridge - very high! Everyone is looking up, not down. lol. Great scenery to distract us. View on Map We're about to cross another suspension bridge at Phakding. View on Map We're walking the valley of one of the major rivers of Everest. Stunning scenery. A long way down to the river. View on Map We're at Lukla, the start & end point for most Everest treks. Take a look. View on Map We've just reached the Stupa commemorating 50 years since Hillary and Tenzing climbed Mt Everest. The views north to Everest and Ama Dablam are just spectacular. View on Map

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Pictures

I had a bit of a skype chat with Russ today before he goes off grid and we don't hear from him for 10 days. The internet is not to bad where he is but with the resolution he is taking these images at its no wonder he only get a few over to me enjoy. I have reduced the size so they are not all massive images, and no doubt blogger has done its bit too, the ones uploaded here where reduce to HD(1920 × 1080) and I will add them to a google drive folder for anyone who would like to download them.

I have no idea about captions so I'll let Russ go back and add these in later ;)

Pics can be seen/downloaded in full size over here

or copy and paste the following url into your browsers address bar
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B73NBJULBkeQQURudC1JdUc4UWM&usp=sharing