Jen to the top

Everest national park.. It is time again - I am off to Nepal in 5 days to trek through the lovely mountains of Annapurna, western Himalayas. It has now been 2,5 years since I left Nepal after a month packed of many experiences I will never forget. Many memories being from the amazing trek to Everest Base Camp, scenery from a dream and hard like a nightmare to the mind and body. But, somehow, wonderful and amazing at the same time. Amazing views.. Other fab memories are from meeting people, lovely Nepali people. I usually say that the Nepali people are made of pure goodness, that is how it feels. Honesty, love, humbleness.. All these things in one go. One special person is of course my "little brother- Sano Bhai" Padam. He walked with me during the Everest BC trek to ensure I wasn't going to get too sick in my altitude sickness bubble of constant pounding headaches and heavy legs along with strong nausea.. You who are sensitive to altitude will know w...

Imagine you have all what you want in front of you. It can be an ice cream, or a football game with your favorite team, a night out at the coolest bar, a great movie..  and then your car breaks down, or your flight is delayed, or the electricity goes off. That is how I feel right now. And I need to turn to the least strong side of me that I have – discipline. I have a back problem, and I have been in rehab and other treatments for the last 4 months and I have been doing really well. I have started to come back to my normal self and could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Until a day last week when it all turned and I was thrown back at least 6 months of my progression. Acute pain and feeling 150 years older in a few hours is a very demotivating feeling, one week prior a well planned trip to my beloved Norway, to a mountain I have been checking out for a few years and have longed to climb. This is Trolltunga. Anyone who has been there knows what I am talking about. ...

Wales! So, after about a year of trying to work my back up to normal standards, the first test is now approaching – Mount Snowdon – Wales! Snowdon is one of the 3 Peaks, and with its 1082m above sea level, it’s the highest peak in Wales. My friend Albin told us a story about how a mountain isn’t a hill, it has to be 1000m or more to be called a mountain. Since I speak a lot about my mountain hikes and how much I love the outdoors, I managed to talk my friend and colleague Alex into joining, and his wife Daria as well. With three days to go, my good friend and colleague Albin also agreed to join and we were a nice quartet on an expedition from London to Llanberis. After a few mishaps with bus schedules etc in Bangor, we managed to get a taxi to the village. The hotel Alex had found was a nice little place by the end of the road in the village, by a nice lake. We are pretty easy travelers and we want the local touch, which I believe we got. We found our rooms, checked in a...

  Me and Nadja set out to Heathrow to catch the flight to Norway, to meet our fellow mountaineering friends there, Ann-Kristin and Marianne. I was really happy to finally be on the way to climb the highest peak of Northern Europe, Galdhöpiggen, with its 2469m above sea level. Not the hardest climb and only a day tour, but still, its beautiful and on my bucket list. There is something with the Norwegian mountains, they are just so amazingly beautiful and inviting.. We met the girls at Oslo Airport and started our drive to Jotunheimen. 5h later we arrived just outside Lom, a small mountain village. We were pretty high and the fresh air is amazing, and the rivers and streams of glacier water are everywhere, icecold and with such a fresh taste. We arrived to Ann-Kristins friends cabin and started to take in the atmosphere.     There were cows walking around nearby and the river was quite big with its pourling water. We took our bucket from the cabin and...

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...