“Waking up, with sunbeams in my eyes, and the world outside, seems to pass me by”
This was only day 4 of the expedition, and this is just amazing. I am enjoying it so much I do not even think of the altitude. Alt
hough still at a very moderate height of 3440m, 2 members of the basecamp team had to be helic
optered down because of altitude sickness. My body is adapting well, so far so good, I am not even considering taking Diamox at this stage. We are leaving Namche today and set off to Deboche at 3820m.It wasn’t too long until we could gaze upon the beauty Ama Dablam: the Mother’s Necklace and the monarch of the Himalayas. Its difficulty graded 5D, by far the most technical and demanding mountain in the whole Himalayan range. Everest South Col is graded 4E. So go figure. Although with a moderate height of 6856m it dominates the view today, overclassing Everest and Lhotse with ease. I eat the best high altitude chocolate cake ever and we spend our night in the Rivendel lodge. Only Gandalf and the Fellowship are missing.
An early wake-up call, we had a lot of height to gain today to Dingboche at 4410m. More suspension bridges and I see 2 cows washing a man’s hair. Weird. The paths are steep and the pace is slow, but I always catch myself being ahead of the group. I have to slow down. I am just too excited I guess. 
We have lunch at one of the local villages and have the extensive choice between rice, omelets, pasta and noodles. And this is the menu for the upcoming weeks until Island Peak basecamp. I am even surprised we are offered a choice of food. I thought it would be a gigantic pot of blurry porridge to share with the group every day. Obviously, I am not complaining, and Jagged Globe takes very good care of their teams. We order dubble portions of everything. And it’s even tasty. After lunch we make a little detour to the Pangboche Monastry. 
All expeditions members are blessed with a blessing scarf by the head monk. I am not a believer, but I do believe these things bring luck. For some reason, I kept the scarf for the rest of the expedition close to me. A little Hillary feeling was flowing through my veins. I gave the manes an extra spin and I was ready for the rest of the climb. We arrive at our lodge in the afternoon and I postponed the shower again. Luckily there are wetwipes. I already decided I was letting the beard grow. After a double dinner, I enjoy the moon and observe a large veil of mist protecting Ama Dablam.
Today was a ‘leisure day’, but we quickly understood that the sherpas had other plans. They take us up to Nankar Tshang for an acclimatisation trek. With a strong pace, we walk up the hill, enjoy the views and prayer flags. 
I pinch myself regularly to check if I am really here. I think we walked up to 4750m and decided to turn back to the lodge. On our way back we see this gigantic bolder, with possible climbable routes. I am absolutely not a boulder expert and without rockshoes this is not easy, but after a lot of encouragement the sherpas convinced me to give it a try. I think it was a 6B+ route, just not hard enough to be a 6C, but I topped it after 3 tries. I was exhausted. The altitude is mercyless.
The next 2 days we gain 500 vertical meters and arrive at Gorak Shep, the first Basecamp of Everest. Although I am trying not to, but I keep catching myself being obsessed with the altitude. We are now at 5140m. This is 330m higher than Mont Blanc. It is getting serious now.We have a quick lunch and with the the guardian eyes of Nuptse on our backs we set off to Everest Basecamp.
Honestly, I tought this was going to be a stroll in the park. Basecamp is at 5350m so the net height gain is very reasonable. At yet again, this was a very needed realitycheck that nothing is easy at this altitude. Rockfall is iminent and we need to get going quickly on some traverses. As we make our way through the glacier morains, we realize the underground isn’t safe at all, and Pasang orders us (firmly!) to stay close and keep away from the edges. After 2 hours we arrive at our first goal of the expedition: Everest Basecamp. Check. We catch a climpse of what it would be to live here for about 1 month before attacking the Khumbu icefall. We ball our fists, take the ‘I’ve done it’ pictures and make exclusive high altitude phonecalls to our loved ones. Hillary should have seen this. It will get cold soon so we need to go back. I am suddenly urging for my sleeping bag and food. I need some rest.
The way back is hard. One of our teammembers is taken back down to Lebouche with altitude sickness. We trekked just over 7,5 hours today. The whole team was exhausted. The stoves are lit again and yak dong is used to keep it going. Now this is recycling! I can’t stand the smell no longer and I am going to bed with a 1mg Dafalgan Forte. Someone is drilling a hole in my head. We measure the temperature around midnight: it’s -19°C. Inside the room. Goodnight.
