Everest diaries: 'Sh*t starting to get real' on Johnny Ward’s climb to the summit
Johnny Ward is two weeks into his Everest expedition
Two weeks into our Everest expedition and sh*t is starting to get real.
We finally ventured off the lovely Everest Base Camp trek to tag a 6100m (20,000 feet) Himalayan summit, Lobuche. For our Everest climb, this is simply a warm up. For me personally, it’s the third highest mountain I’ve ever climbed! Very grateful for Dave Watson guiding our crew. It’s been a brilliant three days, challenging but brilliant.
Climbing Lobuche is a privilege and makes me so confident I choose the right operator in Furtenbach Adventures. Climbing it alone can cost $3k to $4k, but these guys add it to the expedition to avoid another rotation through the dangerous (and sometimes deadly) Khumbu icefall.
The team is going strong. We’ve all trained hard, dedicated the best part of the last year of our lives to this expedition. Tomorrow we finally reach base camp.
Day 15 on our Everest climb and feeling truly grateful.
We trekked from Lobuche to Everest Base Camp, and from here the climb truly begins.
I had three beers last night, maybe it was the altitude but the hike today was a tad tougher.
It’s at base camp that we say goodbye to the tourists and hello to our new home for a month as we go up and down the mountain, through the Khumbu icefall, acclimatise, and then eventually, hit out summit attempt.
I cannot wait to share the Furtenbach Adventures base camp set-up! Possibly the best base camp in the world.
Chilly evenings. Training for Everest while living in Thailand perhaps wasn’t the smartest logistical decision I’ve made in a while.
Our base camp is epic, but the temperatures aren’t always playing on our team! It touched -15 last night! The base camp set up is incredible though, we’re definitely in good hands!
Everest high camps are almost ready. One month from now we’ll know if we made it or not.
Ice climbing and rope work with the mountain man himself Dave Watson. Progress every single day.
That’s Everest hiding in the background, the darker kinda-grey peak behind the snowy one. After weeks and months of nerves I feel ready. Confident and keen to try my best.
We're hoping to take on the infamous Khumbu ice fall tomorrow night as we make our way to Camp 1 and Camp 2, but it’s weather dependent.
Six days at our base camp has our acclimatisation going well, and Dave Watson has us all feeling like we can do it. The mental game is such a big part of these huge undertakings and it feels like we are in a good place. We’ll know what’s up in the next four weeks, one way or another.
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