Our plan for the next 3 days are:

• Today - Base camp (4,600m) to advanced base camp (5,350m)


• Tomorrow - ABC to camp one (5,600m)


• Day after - camp one to camp two (6,000M) and back to base camp

Today we trekked up to ABC fine, the first trip a couple of days ago took 4 hours, I was hoping to go under 3 hours today but only managed to knock 30 mins off, I had hoped my body to be more acclimatised and therefore be able to move quicker with more oxygen inside my body but it wasn't the case. I was able to move constantly with two full deep breaths per step and only needed a rest every 100m or so. But I did slow down for the last 500m horizontal into camp, BTW, the total distance walked was only about 3 miles! I was carrying about 15kg in my pack.

Advanced base camp is situated on a moderate rocky slope, with several platforms already dug and levelled over the last 30 years (thank you previous climbers), although they still require a little maintenance - there is always "THAT" rock under your sleeping mat that is annoying. I've spent about 30 minutes trying to flatten out my sleeping area, we'll see. We've just watched the sun go down on the mountains around us which was quite captivating, we're now about to settle-in for the night, the stove is humming away melting snow which will transform our packaged dehydrated meal into a culinary masterpiece! Hopefully we'll sleep well...