Safely back at BC and my knee

We set off this morning from Camp Two at 5.45am (just after first light). For some reason I hadn't slept well. Despite not having an afternoon siesta and listening to my iPod until 10.00pm I then dozed on and off rather fitfully until the alarm went off at 4.30am.

We set off down the Western Cwm in solitude and admiring the grandeur of the scenery on our way to Camp One. It wasn't long before we saw a line of Sherpas heading towards us. After about 40 minutes we came to the scene of yesterday's avalanche (more on that tomorrow) and despite how recently it occurred a new trail had been formed through it.

On arriving at Camp One we swapped our walking poles for our helmets (which had been left in one of the tents) and then set off into the icefall once again. It wasn't long before the terrain had altered dramatically since our climb up just five days ago. A huge avalanche of ice had swelled down from near Lho La exposing the bedrock below. This was the avalanche that had obviously blocked the route a couple of days ago. Now there were new ladders in place and we had to pick our way through the debris.  We didn't like hanging around here because there is plenty more to come down!

We then reached an area that is rather euphemistically called 'the football field' - not premiership you understand, more local community as it has a slope of about 15 degrees. It also boasts four crevaces that you have to jump across! Not sure how the greensman would mark out the pitch. However in comparison to the topsy turvey world of the rest of the icefall it is fairly flat.

Next comes some more avalanche debris (this is where the photo is taken). What you can't see in the picture is the seracs hanging above us!

(Just broke off for lunch which included double helping of chips followed by a well earned shower. What's interesting is that the daytime temperatures are obviously rising as all around our camp little riverlets are forming during the day that have to be stepped around.)

Back to the icefall. Finally there is quite a steep section, up to 70 degrees, that lasts for about 45 minutes. Whilst you can see BC spread out before you, it's still at least an hour and a half away.

As the sun starts to beat down on us we take off a couple of layers and replace our helmets with our sun hats as we are now on safer ground.

Adam greets us with a full cooked breakfast which we wolf down. The journey has taken us four hours. It's great to be back at BC and I never thought I'd hear myself saying that!

We are scheduled to be here for another two days.

For those that know me well or for those who don't but have read my training page you'll know I've got quite severe arthritis in my left knee joint. How has this been affecting me?

You will have noticed that I've made no reference to it todate in any of my posts. Why?

Well to begin with the first two days trekking from Lukla were absolute hell and I thought that my attempt might literally be over before I started. I still don't understand why but it gradually improved over the following three or four days.

I wore Salomon trainers until the last two days before base camp when I wore lightweight trekking boots.

Since we've been operating out of base camp I've had no pain in ascent and some limited pain in decent. That's when I've been forced to take an overlery large step down or I've had to walk at an odd angle normally over avalanche debris.

The only thing that I can think of that is different here to the UK is the relative humidity which is approximately 10% over here in the mountains. I don't know whether any scientific studies have been carried out or not on the severity of arthritis and relative humidity but I'm very happy to put myself forward as a guinea pig for somewhere hot and arid right now!

Fingers crossed it continues to behave itself.