The Summit - 5642m.

What a day!

Woke at 6am - a strange night of sleep, kept waking up because my body had sropped breathing! It is a ver yodd sensation! We dressed and munched breakfast, packed day sacks and set out on the walk to Gorak Shep. There were drank tea and looked over the glaciar towards where Everest Base Camp should have been. Due to the cold weather and time of year there were no expeditions heading up Everest, so base camp technically doesn't exist. The winds were very high and so we made the decision to head up Kala Pattar to the summit, giving ourselves the oppprtunity to get the best possible view of Everest, the routes to the summit of Everest and the surrounding mountains. It was clear that another three hour walk to EBC was going to be pointless so we made the decision to hit Kala Pattar!

And honestly - it was hard, a really hard climb. It felt painfully slow, though I am told we went up relatively quickly. Due to the lack of oxygen your legs feel like lead weights and I was really frustrated at the slow pace and my inability to get my body moving. Nevertheless - we did it! Slow plod to the top, where the winds were unbelievably strong. Paul tried to drink his Christmas port but the wind whipped it out of his hand! We had a few photos and in this one you can see Everest and Lhotse behind us - and then we legged in down - up in two hours and about twenty minutes to geet down again!

Celebratory hot chocolate in the Gorak Shep lodge, then the walk back to Loboche. Read. Dinner. Bed. For another night of gasping sleep!