Day 14: Nepal

Up at two for the summit push. It's sitting at minus 18C when we set off in the dark. The bug has now hit Mostafa who bails on the way up closely followed by Dawn as the cold eventually gets her. At least she got to see Everest at sunrise. James bails a bit later on after that. It was a damn shame we just couldn't persuade him to go on, he reckoned he was burst. At this altitude it becomes a mind game, it's a battle to keep yourself going. 50 metres after James bailed we saw the summit. After that you know you are on the last lap and everything seems a bit better. We finally got to close to the summit at 07:30, over 21,200 feet. The summit has a final 20 metre technical pitch that would have to have been led by Neal. The four of us left had a look at him and told him we weren't doing it, we were happy where we were and didn't want to push him. Hey we are at over 21,000 feet, there's Everest... mission accomplished. Pity Dawn wasn't there with me. It's a hell of along walk back to Khare. As we descend we have to strip down to t-shirts as the heat becomes incredible. Chills quickly as the mist comes in.

The Himalayas and Everest deserve big.