Fergal and I returned to the check-in then went for the long awaited cooked breakfast. There we were stuffing our faces and enjoying every mouthful when who just happened to appear around the corner? Hassie and Kate, unbelievable. They had got a flight the evening before and had just arrived. The four of us traveled back to Belfast together where we were met by the BBC. ‘Someone’ (know anything about this, Rita?!) had told them of our home coming.

Well, since our arrival back in Northern Ireland, the party has just continued non stop. In fact it has been as difficult to keep up with the pace as to climb Everest (honest!)

On behalf of all the expedition members, I would like to say a huge word of thanks to everyone who supported and followed our progress on Everest. Without your help and support this expedition would not have been possible.

We will also be forever indebted to our families and friends for their endless support, encouragement and understanding.

We intend to keep the website live for the next year or so, and hope to place more images and videos on it soon. Please do keep checking for this. We also intend to give a series of lectures on the Expedition and will place the dates, times and venues of these on the website. In the meantime, if you require any further information please feel free to contact any of the expedition members.

Thank you all again for your interest.

Neill

Our flights were originally booked with Gulf Air on a flexible return, but as all flights were full, we were advised to simply turn up at the airport in case seats became available. On Friday, Jonathan, Steve, Fergal and I decided to go to the Airport on the off-chance that we would get on the 08:00 flight. Well, as luck would have it, four seats became available and we were off, via Muscat to London. We couldn’t believe that we had got away so soon, but did wonder how long the rest of the team would have to wait for seats?

Anyway, we arrived into London Heathrow that night, Fergal and I keen to get on the last flight to Belfast but, of course, the baggage reclaim took so long that we missed it, so we said good bye to Jonathan and Steve, and then found a comfortable place to sleep for night (nice comfy airport benches!)

Hello All,

Sorry for the delay in posting this final expedition blog. We have now made it safely back home to be greeted by the most amazing reception. Thanks to you all!

At long last we got packed up and departed base camp around 5 am. We had been promised 4x4 jeeps as transport to border, but as expected a bus arrived! We knew that this probably meant an overnight stay in Zhangmu, as the border would close at 6 pm. This caused a few ill feelings, as we had all been looking forward to a decent hotel and bed in Kathmandu.

Anyway, off we headed on the bus. 4.5 hours later we arrived back in Tingiri, that awful town we had stayed in some weeks earlier. Well, it hadn't changed bit… still a dump, no sight seeing for us here, the only view we wished to see of it was the view in the rear view mirror! So, after another ‘delicious’ breakfast there, we departed for Zhangmu. This journey was eventless (for a change) and took only another 7 hours in the bus. The journey was quite tiring but it was great to get a chance to see the section of Friendship Highway just before Hangman. This is very spectacular and somewhere we didn’t think a road should ever have been built, as the vertical drops at the side of road are enough to scare anyone (even hardened mountaineers like ourselves!)

We finally arrived in Zhangnmu and, as we had predicated, the border was closed. This meant an over night there, which was rather unsurprisingly not met with a great reception; however that was it as we didn’t really have any other choice.

9am next day we queued up at the passport control keen to leave China behind, then remembered that there had been an admin error with the group visa and Kate’s name… the rest of us queued up and passed through the control without any problems. Then it came to Kate’s turn, well to cut a long story short, after quite a few tense minutes with many threats of fines and jail, they simply said "don't do it again" and she was off through the control (at speed) to re-join the rest of us.

We crossed the Friendship Bridge and were met by our two Nepali Land cruiser drivers, then off down the road to Kathmandu. The only event on this journey was being stopped by the nice Maoist people, who were having a street collection for their awful cause. Our drivers ‘suggested’ that it would be better to pay them than argue!

Anyway a few more hours passed and we arrived back at the Shanker Hotel in Kathmandu, very happy people. That evening we decided to visit the Everest steak house for our evening meal and ordered up the largest steak available, now this showed very poor judgment on our behalf as no one (except Jonathan) could eat even half of it. The rest of evening was spent ‘relaxing’ in a local bar until the early hours.

Hi Everyone,

This will be my penultimate blog, so firstly I would to say thank you to everyone who has followed our expedition, sent messages of good wishes and ultimately made this expedition so successful. I will complete another blog in Kathmandu at the conclusion of our travels.

So what has being going on around Base camp?

Well everyone has been safely back at BC for the past few days now and we are all very keen to leave here and to get back to our family & friends. This unfortunately has been delayed by the lack of transport and the earliest transport we can get is the 24th May 2006, this has caused some frustration, however there is nothing we can do. It is meant to take two days to travel to Kathmandu, but we have arranged to do it in one day so we will leave tomorrow at 5am and arrive very late tomorrow night. Now the only problem is that this could be 5am Beijing time or 5am Nepal time!

Base camp is fast becoming a ghost town as all the expeditions withdraw and go home. We have had lots of visitors from the Indian expedition, Everest Max etc and this really helps to put the day in. However, boredom is setting in and the sooner tomorrow comes the better. Our equipment is on its way down from ABC and will arrive back at BC this afternoon so this will give us something to do, repacking all the kit for the return journey home.

I would like to take this opportunity thank all our supporters and sponsors and if I have forgotten anyone I must apologise, it may be the lack of oxygen affecting my brain?

OK, here goes- Garry Clarke for his excellent work on the website, we have provided the content but Garry has done the work, Fisher Engineering, (Ivan fisher, Wesley Knox), Western Registration (Alan Evans), Airphone Communications ( Mike Foster) provided the radios and satellite equipment, Musgrave Supervalue (Andrew Maxwell) provided all the food to keep the soldiers going (no more Jaffa Cakes, Please), HP ( Caroline Titmuss) HP provided the computers to keep you at home informed of our progress, Breitling and Mercers Jewellers (Jonathan Styles) for the use of a Breitling Emergency, McGrath Brothers, Lisburn, for barrels to transport equipment, Elliott York Partnership, Jenny & Lee for all the admin and dealing with all the Media requests, TNT ( Jakki & Steven McClean) for safe transport of our equipment to and from Nepal, Himalayan Expeditions ( Bikrum Pandley & All the staff) for the Excellent way they have ran our expedition, The Duke of Edinburgh Award for the inspiration to get involved in mountaineering, Bridgedale, suppliers of socks to the expedition, Cascade Designs( Maurice) suppliers of thermarests and cooking equipment, LE Graphics (David) Clothing, Tisos( Scott Shaw, Neill McGuigan) expedition clothing and Equipment, Homechoice Care Ltd (Justin Jewitt) for suppling our high altitude food and the Crawfordsburn Inn through it’s suppliers for expedition food.

Bye for now

Neill

OK, where do I start?

Well, Hassie and I trekked from Advance Base camp to base camp yesterday for thankfully our last time, this trek has got no easier as time has gone by, this trek has probably become the most hated part of our adventure, so we were very glad to see the red tents of our base camp.

Anyway, we left base camp over a week ago and our ambition was to make a summit attempt, little did we know how successful we would be and still we cannot believe that we made it. Every time anyone mentions Everest a massive comes across our faces and fact someone suggested yesterday that if I grinned any more the top of my head would fall off!

So last week before we left BC we got a long range forecast and the predications were that the 17th May 2006 would be a prefect summit day with low winds at the summit of Everest. So we did our calculations and left BC on the 10th May giving us, a rest day a ABC and enough days to be a position to attempt to reach the summit on the 17th May. So we set off for ABC, after arriving we meet up with our climbing Sherpa team and we discussed our summit plan. Thankfully they all agreed we our plan and all necessary arrangements where already in place for our summit attempt.

D-day minus 4- we left ABC and climbed back up to the North Col again, this was uneventful but we were much faster than previous attempts so we hoped that this was good omen. After a night there with not much sleep, although mind you some got a lot more than others. Geoffrey’s cough had only got worse and he took the wise and difficult decision not to continue on, while we set off up to camp 2 at 7700m high on Everest’s North Ridge. (Unfortunately the radio system was still not working properly, and by this stage of the guy’s trip I had not had communications with them for over 4 days. This was extremely frustrating, as not only did I want to speak to Raymond and find out how he felt, but I needed to pass on the all important weather forecast-K) We passed through the North Col camp we met up with another Expedition leader who was using the same weather forecast source as us and he suggested that the predications had changed to the 18th and not the 17th , so this was not great news for us, however we were on our way and that was it, there was no turning back at this stage.

Now the climb to 7700m was probably one of the toughest days I have ever spent in the mountains, the climb consists of a steep snow ramp that gains 700m in height and can only be described as torture. Women always complain that childbirth is painful and that men have no idea of what pain is, well try high altitude mountaineering some time you may find it comparable? (Not that I am in a position to argue this one, but…surely most child labour needs pain reducing drugs and lasts for more than 5 hours?-K) So after 5 hours + we arrived at our camp exhausted and sore, however that’s not the work over for the day, then you must start melting snow for water and this process goes on for 3-4 hours! Everyone then went on to Oxygen for the first time that night and this was a bizarre experience for the first time. Most of us did not really get much sleep that night.

Next day we set off using our Oxygen masks for the climb up to our 8300m camp, our last and highest camp on the mountain. This we had been told was not a hard day and would take around four hours to complete, this we found hard to believe, however this was true and was much easier than the day before. We arrived into the camp around three in the afternoon and we then set about melting snow again for drinking, this process again went on for hours.

The camp at 8300 m is strange and an uncomfortable place, every task you try and complete is very difficult and takes a very long time to complete. We set our departure time for summit that night to be 22.00 and everyone was to ready to go at 21:30 to allow some tolerance.

At 20:30 we got on the radio to the other tents and told everyone to get ready to go, well as expected this got a quick and positive response- not. So after numerous calls we finally got a reply and everyone started to get ready. Then at 22:00 we got out of our tent into the freezing cold (at least -20oC) and of course there was no one ready, so eventually at 22:30 everyone was prepared, and at 22:40 we finally got going.

This was a great feeling and hard to believe that what we had been planning for years was about to come to a conclusion, and that eventually we were going to have a summit attempt. So after 2 hours we climbed up onto the North East ridge of Everest, there was no wind although it was very cold, but we were comfortable in our down suits. After a few minutes on the ridge we came across the first dead body, this was quite unnerving and we passed by as quickly as possible. The ridge was a lot more exposed than we had expected, so after another hour of so we came to the first step, a notorious rock step on the ridge. This was a lot harder to climb than we imagined and after gaining the top of it, Steve turned to Hassie and asked “is there anything harder than this?” and lying of course Hassie answered, “No I think that’s it!” Needless to say the there was worse to come! So we continued to traverse along the ridge on to the second and most famous feature named “the second step” this we climbed with a little difficulty, but we knew that this was the major difficulties over and the rest of route to the summit was easier that what we had already done. We then continued along to a feature called the Mushroom rock and here we changed Oxygen bottles to a new bottle. The route from here leads up a snow field and then traverses along to the summit ridge, the sun was starting to rise at this time and the view over the other mountains was truly spectacular with everything below our feet at this stage. We finally we gained the summit ridge and could see the prayer flags on the summit, this was a unbelievable moment for me and one I will always remember, after another 20 minutes, Hassie, Steve, Dawa Sherpa and I stood on the top of Mount Everest, we hugged, we shook hands, we cheered, a dream come true.

Hassie got on the radio to Kate at Base Camp and he cheered for minutes before even saying anything! After a few minutes later, Jonathan, Fergal, Jangbu Sherpa, Lil Tamang arrived, they had, had a small problem with an iced up oxygen mask that had delayed them, we all rejoiced, shouted and basically went slightly mad, at this point in time.

After 30 minutes of trying to take photos without success because unfortunately everyone’s camera was frozen we gave up. We had carried the Duke of Edinburgh Award flag to the summit to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the scheme. We took some time to try and take pictures of the flag on the summit. In the ethos of the scheme decided that we would not leave the flag on the summit, but bring it back down to present at a later date to the Award staff. We departed the summit and the descent was along the same route as our ascent, the only difference being that this was bright daylight and not only illuminated only by a head torch. I think if we had seen what we had to ascend in these day light conditions we may have not reached the summit? The ridge was far more difficult than we expected.

We descended with just a few scares along the way and safely returned to our 8300m camp at around 11:30 still not believing what we had achieved.

Camp was then packed up and we all returned to our 7700m camp, Hassie, Jonathan, Steve, Dawa Sherpa and Lakpa Sherpa stayed here for the night. Fergal, descended to the North Col, Jangbu Sherpa, LIl Tamang, and I descended on to Advance base and arrived in at 18:30 that evening totally exhausted.

The sat phone never stopped ringing all evening and I eventually switched it off at 12:30 to try and get to sleep! Although worn out I still could not sleep with the excitement of what we had just achieved.

The next day everyone returned to Advance base camp around lunch time, still smiling all the time, we had just got five people on top of the world, with no injuries, just unbelievable!

That afternoon unfortunately reality hit us when we heard the awful news of the death of Jacque, a French climber who had travelled from Kathmandu to Everest with us. He was attempting Everest with his wife Caroline and friend Roland. Jacque got into trouble at the summit, Roland and his Sherpa spent 6 hours trying to get him down but unfortunately had to leave Jacque to save their own lives. Caroline was at Advance Base camp when she received the terrible news and our hearts go out to her at this time, Jacque was a really nice guy and we are all sadden by this tragedy. Other sad news was that one of Skiers who were attempting to ski off Everest, had also died, we had met them many times and again this news was very hard to take and our thoughts go out to his family.

Everest is a dangerous place, we knew that before coming here but the last few days have really hit home to us, we have had great success and luck, and others have not.

People have asked would you go back and attempt it again? No is the answer.

Hassie, Kate and I are in BC now enjoying the Oxygen rich environment, hopefully the rest of the team will return to Base Camp later today and I will report some more very soon, in the mean while thanks to everyone who supported us, helped us and has followed our expedition, and sorry to finish this blog on such a sad note.

I am delighted to write that at 6 o’clock this morning (Nepal Time), 5 of our climbers stood on the top of the world! Raymond, Steve, Jonathan, Neill and Fergal set off on their epic journey at 10 0’clock the night before in minus temperatures as low as 25 degrees. They had all felt very strong the day before when they reached the final campsite on the mountain at 8300m. They only had time at this campsite to rest for awhile before melting enough snow for a litre of water each for their summit push, and to try and eat something.

Raymond radioed me after he had climbed the notorious second step, which he reached with Dahwah Sherpa in good time at just after 3 o’clock this morning. He sounded in good spirits, and felt that the supplementary oxygen was helping him. He radioed again from the summit at a quarter to 6, where we had an emotional conversation through his whoops of delight at being on the summit of Mount Everest. He had reached the top of the world just as dawn had broken and he described one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. The other climbers were not far behind, with Jangbu Sherpa and Lila Tamon, both high altitude climbers. The team only had time to briefly take in the view and pose for photographs before they started on their journey back down past the campsite at 8300m to the more comfortable camp at 7700m. They have reached this campsite and so our families, friends and supporters can all breathe a large sigh of relief! The team hope to take 2 days to reach ABC, where they will rejoin with Geoffrey Weir. Geoffrey, who has been suffering from a bad head cold and slight altitude cough, made the wise decision not to go any higher on the mountain.

I am so proud of each of the 6 climbers, they have made wise decisions, climbed into the unknown and achieved greater heights than most people will ever dream of. -

Well I’m sure you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for the next instalment of the Everest 2006 adventure! There really isn’t much to report I’m afraid to say. This is the part of expeditions that people don’t realise exists. It all sounds very exciting: being away for 2 months, living under canvas, battling against the elements, Mother Nature and trying to climb the highest mountain on earth. But really when it comes down to it, there is a lot of sitting about, bored and trying to pass the time of day!

Personally have had great chats with passing yaks and their herders, which is quite something when either speaks the other’s language! (I still haven’t managed Jonathan’s second task of exchanging Jaffa cakes for a fossil). I have also visited most of the other groups at Base Camp, for cups of tea and a chat.

Radio communications with the summit climbers was impossible for the last few days because of their position and that of a certain mountain which was in the way. The team have moved further up the mountain, and last night I was able to speak to them (which was fantastic)! They are all in good health, eating properly and sleeping as well as can be expected on a cold, lumpy surface.

We are keeping a close eye on the weather, which has settled enough to let some of the teams here summit over the last few days. Our lads however will not be rushed and will make their move when they feel well acclimatised and the weather conditions are right. So for the foreseeable future it looks as though my conversations with the yaks will continue…

Three days ago the team set off for their summit attempt. Now this is not as straight forward as simply moving from one camp to another until you get to the top of Everest, no, nothing my husband does is as straight forward as that! First there is the two day walk up to ABC (which I couldn’t face a third time), then they will have to wait at ABC until there is a suitable weather window, and that is the part that isn’t simple. Since today I was woken by the sound of howling winds and snow being blasted at the tent at 30mph, and that’s just at Base Camp! So I have been left on my own, with no one to speak to (unless you count the cook who really doesn’t know much English other than breakfast, lunch and tea). Well I thought I was going to be resigned to a life of complete boredom, and would be talking to the yaks by the end of the first day! It’s amazing how wrong you can be…

I had been left two tasks by the team before they left: firstly I had to try and acquire a Nokia phone charger. Unfortunately our radio system doesn’t work between BC and ABC (there is the small matter of the 7000m Changzheng Peak between us, and as far as even I know radio waves don’t pass through mountains! The system should work though once the climbers reach the North Col, so I can have contact with them when it is important. Amazingly Geoffrey’s mobile phone works (although he didn’t bring a charger- hence the challenge), so the idea was that I would text weather forecasts from Geoffrey’s mobile to the satellite phone, which the team have brought. I was wondering which of the passing yaks looked technologically minded and might have a charger, when someone popped their head round the mess tent door and said, “Hello Kate”. Well I could have been knocked over with a puff of snow! He was someone who had been following our progress on the website (I’m ashamed I can’t remember his name), and had joined a commercial trekking company to try and climb the North Col. We had a great chat, and I asked if on the off chance if he happened to have a Nokia charger- my luck was in because he has absolutely every technological gadget possible. So boys, challenge number one complete!

The second task may not be so easy… on a regular basis a yak herders come to the door with a spectacular array of beads, cans of coke and fossils found on the slopes of Everest. They hover in the doorway asking an extortionate amount for their wears. Jonathan thought it would be a great idea that I should try and bargain in Jaffa cakes instead of dollars to secure a fossil. The only problem with this task is that I haven’t seen a yak herder since then team left- they must have heard I was on the hunt for a Nokia charger!

My evenings alone have been spent holed up in the mess tent with my feet curled near the gas heater watching the DVDs Alan McDowells left behind. Last night when it was going to be a second rerun of ‘Skip the Dog’, I heard a knock at the mess tent door. It was Patrick from the Everest Max team up the glacier. Would I like to come for tea? What an offer! How could I refuse? Imagine, the evening spent in the company of English speaking people! Needless to say Skip the Dog would have to wait for another night. It turned out to be a great evening (they even had beer!), and I staggered back to my tent to fall into a deep, deep sleep (after half a mug I might say), to be woken this morning by that howling wind…

So there it goes while those poor souls have been lying about waiting for the weather to improve at ABC, I have been socialising with locals from home, and been beered and dined by other teams… it’s a hard life I know! So I’ll keep you posted on the progress further up the mountain, and as soon as Chomolungma. Mother Goddess gives us a break and allows the summit team to go for it, you shall of course be the first to know…-K

Well the team have had 3 days of rest at Base Camp, and they have made the most of this time by taking it easy, reading, playing cards and eating plenty. The team are in good health and have certainly benefited from good food and decent sleep at night. Geoffrey had a word with our Sidar Luckpa, about the fact that we were not getting enough meat in our meals. This has made a huge difference and we have been treated to chicken, yak or pork most nights.

In the morning the weather here is sunny, and several of the team (Jonathan, Neill, Fergal and Raymond), have even been spotted sunbathing- which was not a pretty sight! Thankfully yesterday it was not quite as warm and they kept their t-shirts on! The afternoon generally brings wind and the temperature drops so we are driven inside the mess tent to play cards, read or go for a gentle walk. Fergal had also found a new past time (obsession) on the computer- he switched on to listen to some music and discovered solitaire, well he hasn’t moved from the computer for two days. In fact I have only just wrestled it off him because he managed to beat the computer for the first time in 48 hours!

Yesterday we took the short walk down to the Base Camp village to have a coke and a change of scenery. This village has to be seen to be believed! It is made up of a number of temporary huts with yak dung burning stoves in the middle to heat the space. Local villagers come up here to live for the season and try to eek out a living by selling drinks and fossils from Everest. We stayed long enough to drink the fizziest coke I have ever tasted before heading back to out fresh smelling??? mess tent.

Our evenings have been spent using the wonders of modern technology- 7 of us have been crowded round 1 laptop trying to watch one of the DVDs that Alan thankfully left behind. Unfortunately not everyone has a great view of the screen so there are regular discussions about whose turn it is to sit on the outside.

We have discussed a number of weather forecasts today, to try and decide when the team should move from the comfort of Base Camp up to ABC. None of the forecasts gave a definitive answer (but then weather forecasting is not an exact science), so we have also taken on board the advice of our Sidar and decided that the team should move tomorrow. They will then wait at ABC until there is a suitable weather window, which at the moment is forecast for later in the month. But then things change on daily basis around here so keep watching this space!-K

Sunday, no rest for the wicked, back up at 8am for a delicious breakfast of porridge, but the good thing about breakfast at BC is that there are a range of other cereals available, so no porridge for me. After this everyone was forced to have a shower, some were reluctant to go but thankfully everyone gave in, in the end. Fergal was heard saying “ I take a shower once a month whether I need it or not” Steve reckoned that he hadn’t broken sweat over the last week and didn’t need one, I can confirm that he did break sweat through his speed anyway. (A shower- pure luxury, I never imagined that I would appreciate a bag of hot water slung up on a hook inside a tent as much! At least my hair doesn’t freeze when I try to wash it at BC! Such a difference a shower makes, it was getting hard to recognise some of the team under those beards- mind you Fergal is still trying to do his best Desperate Dan impression!- K) Anyway after this we had an excellent lunch and a matinee showing of “The Firm” now this was great but for the fact that a 15 minute part of the Film was missing, this was a borrowed DVD so if you buy from the street traders in Kathmandu what do you expect?

Other news, Fergal has lost one camera and broken another, so he is on to yours Fr Dessie, so Fr Dessie, I would check your insurance, you probably will not be getting it back? Doctor Jonathan’s base surgery is open again, so if want an appointment, book early to avoid disappointment.

A word of thanks again to those helped us with food of expedition, Andrew Maxwell from Musgrave cash and carry, we still haven’t eaten all the chocolate and Jaffa Cakes!

We have not heard from the North Col climbers since they departed last Saturday, which we think is a bit strange; however we suppose they will be back at work Monday so the emails will start then?

Neill