21.4.2007
The fun has ended and the real climbing starts here! Everest has shown us its true face and has sought to complicate the trek to North Col by spawning a 700 meter high vertical ice wall! Negotiating it has proved to be a major challenge and I was suffering on the rope with a heavy rucksack on my back, digging in with my crampons and ice axe for some 6 hours. Whilst I was not alone in finding the climb difficult, at the same time, I was fascinated, and more than a little envious, as I watched the sherpas and Chinese men shimmying up the wall supported by only one snap hook. They could have been actors in a Spiderman film! But Tashi has assured me that when I climb up for the second, third, or fourth time I will be as brisk and as agile a mountaineer as they are!
 After all the effort of climbing the ice wall, I am taking the opportunity to relax. This is partly a result of the fact that my body needs time to recuperate, but is also in part dictated by the bad weather which has engulfed us. For a second day we have again awoken to a sky-blue vista which quickly changes into a horrible freezing blizzard and snowstorm which continues well into the night. I have been perfecting my snowman-building skills during the day. Yesterdays’ was so realistic that when the cook witnessed my artistry, he sacrificed a carrot and a pot! Tomorrow I will perhaps use a broom to bring the effigy to life, or maybe improvise with an ice-axe!
As a result of the bad weather we are confined to our tents for the whole afternoon. But we do have a lot of fun here! I have learnt one local game “parasho”, (which seems to be similar to our western game of “beans”!). You throw two dice and move coins between shells. Well, I haven’t perfected it yet, but I think that in a few days time I will be in a position to start to play for money as the others do! Besides playing games, you can watch movies here – we are equipped with a small dvd player - but the choice of films is a little restrictive. The sherpas are excited by it however and we have been treated to endless screenings of “Catwoman”! But they are indispensable and can be forgiven their small indulgences! Every morning they wake me up at 6:30 with a hot cup of tea, then they come again at 8 with warm water so that I can wash and take breakfast at 9.
If the weather permits, on Tuesday (24.4.) we are planning to attempt a further climb, carrying our provisions up to North Col and then sleep there for 3 nights. I look forward to that icy wall. I think that I am now as mentally and physically well prepared as a kung-fu master to conquer it!
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