A rest day around Dingboche

Yesterday was Adam's birthday and much to all of our surprise a birthday cake complete with candles was proudly carried into the dining room after dinner.

Type: probably chocolate. Icing: shaving foam both in consistency and flavour. Actually to be fair the cake was very good bearing in mind the very limited cooking facilities- even more so as we've only seen a wok so far!

I played around with my sat phone after dinner trying to send yesterday's post. Hopefully it went but at great cost. I think today's will be a more reasonable £ 2.50 or so.

I woke this morning with a mild headache but resisted the urge to take any analgesic. Instead I knew I had a 700 m climb ahead of me.

You see a rest day to most people including myself would be just that a day of rest. Perhaps a bit of washing but primarily taking things easy. On this trip it means we will be staying at the same lodge for another day and that actually the day will be the hardest yet!

As you can imagine fate has thrown seven men together and like peacocks feathers have been fanned as we each weigh each other up. Whilst I'm not the oldest I certainly, at least outwardly, appear to be rather out of place amongst these whippet like characters!

So when David explains what the options are for the day either a 700m acclimatisation climb or a true rest day the red mist appears and the testosterone comes out in bucket loads. We eye each other up, nobody is prepared to blink. It's obvious what we all thinking: Are you really man enough to take on this challenge which lets face it is only a pebble in the stepping stones that lie ahead to reach the summit? So despite not feeling a hundred percent I feel I have no choice but to accept the challenge. I can't afford to show any weakness at such an early stage.

To be fair both Carlos and Brett decided to stay at the lodge as neither were feeling well. After two and a half hours we reach our objective and take in the stunning scenery. Despite being at a height of just over 5000 m and with a clear view down the valley there's still no mobile reception. After returning to the lodge for lunch I have a really deep afternoon siesta and wake feeling so much better. No headache and no loss of face yet! Men eh! For the medics reading, resting pulse is late 50's, oxygen saturation between 78 and 82. I'm hoping the latter will improve!