Jen to the top

So, next goal is fast coming near - in about 3 weeks we are reaching the summit of Norways highest mountain, Galdhöpiggen.  It is a day trip up to the top, so not so mad, more a nice and a bit tough hike.. I am so looking forward. I have worked hard with my PT Alex and I feel I'm getting stronger so I think I will be ready at the time as it's not very hard, good practise for the future plans.. ;) Luckily I have good family so I get to see the gorgeous mountain peaks of Norway :) some times I wonder what took me to the mountains and why I find so much pleasure being in the mountains.. I am just as well such a city girl and love my office job.. Maybe it's my perfect balance?  I think we all need that, and I get so much out of the hard work uphill and to finally reach the summit is such a reward! The same principal goes in day to day life - work hard, play hard(er)! 

After a nice evening we fell asleep on our beds with the lights on and no alarm set. Both of us woke up shortly after though so we could organise ourselves for our early pick up at 4.30 by our land lords taxi friend. He was taking us to the Sarangkot, the highest viewpoint in Pokhara and a great spot to see the Annapurna mountain range. We went, it was pitch dark and when we got there it was still dark. We passed a lot of Indian tourists on the way as the buses can't go all the way. Our driver took us close and said he would wait an hour for us. The viewpoint was a big round cement circle and we sat down to wait for sunrise and for the clouds to break up.. More and more Indians started to crowd around us and demanded a seat, after a while I gave in to the comments and left my spot, feeling pretty p-d off with the arrogant attitude. One man was sitting meditating and he was the angriest, then we had a group of ladies singing which was pretty nice at this time of day. Lots of people ...

I thought we had seen it all but no, it seems like the cows, buffaloes, yaks or what ever you want to call them are everywhere! This morning in Pokhara, a touristic town 7h bus ride from Kathmandu, me and Babs had company to the centre by a cow..they always just turn up everywhere! I really love these animals so I don't mind, it's just really funny :) my niece Jennifer would just love this, I filmed a bit for her today :) We arrived here yesterday, Thursday 19th. We took a bus at 7am from Kathmandu and it was a very interesting bus ride. It feels like the drivers have their own rules and as everyone understands this chaos it works, they overtake in blind corners, they drive on partly non existing roads.. All so very strange. But we got here in the end and its so quiet. Compared to Kathmandu it's like a different country! The only thing that is the same is the hooping from taxis and the Everest beer :) There are so many tourists here, and the prices of a lot of things are hi...

We started early from Namche as we had 19 km to do before completing the challenge by arriving back to Lukla.  I remember this part from before, it was hours on end uphill, so it must be a lot of down hill.. It was :) and after only an hour or so we arrived to one viewpoint of Everest! And yes, she showed herself to us! Happiness ! Then we walked on and on, crossed that mega high suspension bridge again and it was pretty unreal to look up the mountain and realise that we had walked all the way up there and a lot further and now were coming back down again.. Amazing and unbelievable! We also passed a collapsed suspension bridge, so we had to cross the river at a different spot, just so scary to see and think if it would have been daytime.. This one collapsed 2 weeks ago at 2am in the night. After passing a few villages on the way, meeting some horses in the middle of the trail, a huge number of cows and an ever bigger number of dogs and 11km later, we finally made it to Phakding, ou...

We didn't do Kala Pattar, it was snowing and a lot of mist.. Me and Babs were up at 4am and went to the dining room. There were three of us that got up from the warm sleeping bags and out in the cold (out in the cold meaning out of the sleeping bag!) we got hot water and hot chocolate to be able to feel our limbs again, even if we both planned well and slept in the clothes we were going to walk in (also the one pair of long johns and top we have). But as the weather was bad we went to bed again at 4.30 and had a good sleep until 6.50 when a helicopter came to land. It couldn't, so it tried again - outside our window! We packed and went out fro breakfast not really sure of the next steps - Tashi had an idea that we should wait a bit and see if it clears and we could try Kala Pattar again, but it never happened which we were pretty ok with at that point. Legs were hurting, coughs, head aches.. We just wanted to get down to the oxygen! We skipped it and started to descend. The tre...

Woop woop! Today we made it to base camp, the goal of out trek! What a success!  It was hard, tear breaking, legs like jelly and a lot of head ache... But, main thing is that we made it! We walked through a landscape of big rocks and ice, and passed a glacier wall and some icy water. First in the morning we left around 7am and got to our lunch place in Gorak Shep around 10am. Gorak  Shep is the base camp from 1953, the first climb of mt Everest. It's also a cosy lodge but bed rooms are freezing cold! We reached base camp at 2pm local time after a struggle up and down the rocks. We also past a glacier and glacier water, it was pretty cool to see and walk past. The landscape is so bold and at the same time beautiful. Nothing green just rocks and ice. We can hear all different noises, stones falling from the mountains into the glacier water or just to the ground.  It was snowing and really cold, the last bit was down the mountain side and my chest was burning and the legs we...

It's not the complete truth, but kinda. I got Diamox this morning along with paracetamol and that took away the buffalo dance and the heavy legs! Amazing how good it can be on this altitude :) Today we should have walked for 4 hours but as we had two ill girls it took a bit longer for us, 7h.. We had lunch at 3 pm and we weren't the happiest guys.. We walked through a very rough landscape, alpine, and it was up and down.. Just rocks and some very short greens. Some flowers also survive here but they are very small. I have got to know one of our Sherpas pretty well, Padam. He has been walking with me quite a bit as he is the last person and I like to be in the back- a bit quieter and I can walk in my own speed. My best friends are also normally at the back so it's perfect!  Padam is 22 years old and comes from Lukla. He is starting university in November where he will learn management and nutrition, so he can bring this knowledge back to the Himalayas. He is a very sweet you...