Exactly 12 months before I fly, here’s the April Everest Update: Things Are Getting… Concerning.
So, good news first — I’m now 16kg down since starting this whole Everest Base Camp adventure. That’s an entire airline carry-on bag… which is ironic, because I currently can’t actually book a flight to use one.
Turns out, trying to book to get to Nepal right now is like playing airline roulette. Every route seems to go almost where I need… before taking a hard left into “geopolitically inconvenient airspace.” Flights via Doha? Nope. Dubai? Forget it. Kuwait? Absolutely not. At this point I’m half expecting Ryanair to announce a route via the moon. I know this is a year out, and a lot can change in that time, but trying to get these flights to match up with the completely none flexible tour dates is now causing me some indigestion.
Speaking of survival… I’ve also now entered the world of searching for extreme sleeping bags. You’d think buying something rated to -20°C would be straightforward. It is not.
It’s a minefield of:
- “Comfort rating” vs “Limit rating” vs “Are you actually still alive rating”
- Bags that cost twice as much as my first car
- And eBay listings that read like: “Used once. Possibly during an Arctic expedition. Stored in a shed. Smells like regret.”
I’ve spent more time researching sleeping bags than we did choosing a house.
And here’s the thing nobody tells you…
The fitter you get, the more real this all becomes.
16kg down sounded great when this was just an idea. Now it’s:
- “Oh… I might actually have to do this.”
- “That’s quite high, Everest.”
- “Why is it so cold there – I thought April was spring?”
- “Do I even like walking?”
There are moments — usually while comparing goose down fill power at 11pm — where I think: “This may have been a terrible idea.”
But then again… that’s kind of the point, isn’t it?
Anyway — training continues, weight continues to drop, flights remain elusive, and I’m one impulse purchase away from owning a sleeping bag designed for Mars.
Onwards. Probably.
Thanks as ever for your support – it means the world.
All the best, Rich.
#EverestBaseCamp #TrainingUpdate #WeightLossJourney #WhatHaveIDone #AdventurePending
Rich treks Everest Base Camp 2027 