3rd April - Day 7 Lhasa
The first night at 3700m is not great for all with several mild AMS (acute mountain sickness) headaches but nothing serious. The usual regime is now 2 or 3 hours sleep and then waking with a thumper.
Off to the Potala Palace in the morning. This is a 250ft high tiered wedding cake of a monastery that is the spiritual centre of Tibet. It is filled to the rafters (which are ornate wood carved or occassionally just simple logs but painted blue (what else would symbolise the sky?) with gold buddahs, ornate tapestries and spiritual writings and relics. Most of this material is from the 7th century and amazingly preserved inspite of the Chinese activities during the 1950's.
We walk back through Barkhor market which is a sea of wild colours, wild smells and cacophonous trading. Most of the material is poor quality but the market grocery produce is often surprisingly good.
4th April - Day 8
A visit to the Drepung monastry as part of our ongoing acclimatisation. We simply need to spend time at altitude, steadily working our way higher and allowing our bodies to adjust.
Drepung is a complete contrast to the Potala. Elements of the Potala on view are not used by the monks whereas Drepung is a working monastery with some 700 monks in residence. It too is packed with artifacts, tapestries and relics, the most interesting parts are the actively used by the monks.
At noon all the monks move in a sea of burgundy and safron robes towards the central meeting hall. Called by the gong on the roof they settle cross legged in rows and begin to pray and chant.
This monastry has been active since around the 7th/8th centuries and in full song it is incredibly moving. Even those in our group who are not religious could not help but be affected by 700 voices in unison, the mountain environment, the wind blowing through the prayer flags and the smell of juniper smoke and incense mingled as the communities prayers are carried on the wind into the mountains.
An immediate contrast is a visit to the kitchens, straight out of Gormenghast, it is like steping into a gothic hell. Dark and cavernous with shafts of light picked out by the smoke from the cooking fires. As eyes adjuste the bronze ladles and cooking utensils hanging in rows began to materialise and then it is clear that there where cooks sweating and stirring away in the darkness.
5th April - Day 9
Lhasa to Xigatse a 6 hour drive in the 4x4's and another 1000ft on the acclimatisation programme is the order of the day. Axle breaking potholes and bone jarring ruts make the route. The road follows the Tsang Po river for some time as it thunders east from its source in the Everest region. The tibetan plateau in this area is incredibly dry and we battle through multiple dust storms and a couple of clogged fuel filters to make progress. Working our way higher the hillsides are dotted with small settlements which are confettied with cherry blossom trees.
This is in marked contrast to the conversation in at least one of the jeeps which has moved to theoretical mathmetics since Daniel and Natalia are both of that persuasion. Interesting mental gymastics for Ivan and Tony.
6th April - Day 10
For the last 48hrs Tony has been fighting a battle against Giardia a water born bacteria which can have a devastatingly debilitating effect. Battle won but not without using Tineba which is like dropping a small nuclear device into your guts and unfortunately it wipes out some good bacteria too so he needs to replenish that fast or he'll go down with something else. The only casualty seems to be a few pounds in weight which could be ill afforded, since we'll all loose plenty over the next weeks.

Another bone jarring day with 10hrs in the 4x4's to make Tingri. Travelling through rocky landscapes like something on mars. There is abundant evidence of ancient sand, shale and sedimentary deposits that have been subjected to massive uplift as the indian plate drives north underneath the asian continental plate. In other places along the road there is igneous activity with old lava flows and dykes clearly visible.

Absorbed by the topography then retreating into books and walkmans, we are jolted by an explosion that brought our heads up to find the exterior view completly obliterated in a dust cloud and accompanied by the sound of rocks landing on the roof of the jeep.
Just the chinese road crew doing a spot of blasting adjacent to the road. But, heh, why distrurb the flow of traffic for such a minor activity!

40mins out of Tingri and on our way down from a high pass at 5020m we round a bluff. The stunning range of snowy peaks on the skyline is breath taking...only moments later we are left speechless as Everest hoves into view, totally belittling everything else on the skyline. The good news is the mountain looks in good condition with not too much snow.

Tingri is a dusty one yak town and its the point where we switch from Chinese time to expedition time (Nepali time).

7th April - Day 11 - A Tingri Night and Day
The temperatures are heading for zero at night now. Water bottles are filled and folk make their way to the rooms. Mud floors, rats in the roof and dust blowing through all the cracks in the doors and windows - this is not the Tingri Hilton but it is the best place in town (and there are others we could have chosen!). Crossing the courtyard at night it is impossible not to look sky wards as the crescent moon sinks over the horizon and turns orange as its light is filtered by the dust in the air. With no light pollution, the milky way is clearly visible like a crystal encrusted highway cleaving the ink of the night.

The altitude is telling again. Bodies are struggling to adjust to the lower oxygen content and the breathing rate steps up to compensate. Unfortuately this takes a while, so although 15 to 16 breathes a minute are required, sea level consiousness takes 12 and consequently the brain says "heh this is hypoxic I'll ache".

The following day is spent sorting kit, washing clothes that have been worn all week and taking a light hike to keep the body mobil. A couple of hours up a nearby hill of some 600ft is adequate. The wind is gusting to 60mph and lifting dust everywhere and Everest on the horizon is buried in cloud and probably subject to 100mph plus winds.

8th April - Day 12 8th April - Tingri to Base CAmp
A 4:00am start out of Tingri making for Base Camp puts us at a 5115m high pass by 7:00am with an awesome view of Mount Everest surrounded by Makalu, Lhotse and Cho Oyu. The terrain we are travelling through is the same as the last few days and by 9:00 we are at the Rongbuk Monastry in the valley leading up to Base Camp. The view of Mount Everest from here is staggering. What an outrageous idea to consider climbing this mass. Everest is surrounded by many significant peaks but none dominate like Chomolungma - she rips the deep blue sky leaving a bleeding trail of ice crystals and clouds on her lee side.
20mins, later and we are at the Base Camp site and we begin to unload the gear and start the transformation from trekking mode to mountaineering. Russell and the sherpa team arrived here yesterday and they already have some of the infrastructure in place.
Base camp is a small village with 4 large tents for storage, eating, cooking and communictions. In addition 17 individual tents have to be put up for the team together with a water supply and sewerage system.
The mountain is in superb condition with very little snow on the uppper slopes. The afternoon is spent unpacking the enormous amount of personal and team kit but trying not to over exert since we have made a 1000m height gain since Tingri and the chances of AMS are very high. We must move slowly and breath deeply.

Tony Kelly