After lots of challenging training walks and extreme list making we set off for Nepal to trek to Everest Base Camp. From Kathmandu, we hopped on to a really tiny plane for a short flight to Lukla in the Himalayas. Worryingly, one week before a plane had crashed there in the fog! Only the pilot survived! We landed on possibly the shortest, hairiest landing strip in the world at a height of 2,800 metres and sandwiched between two mountains.

In Lukla we met our trekking companions for the next ten days, including 4 sherpas, 4 yaks and their herder. We walked typically between four to eight hours each day, leaving one lodge to reach the next. The day was interrupted by two tea breaks and a long lunch break. On the way up, a day's climb was often only a few hundred metres to allow for acclimatisation. While walking, one had to look out for heavily laden (up to 150kg) porters, and, more importantly, yaks coming the other way on what, at times, were narrow paths. A yak will quite happily trample all over a person who gets in its way - and this happened to a porter who tried to squeeze past on a river bridge. He appeared to be okay after he'd been picked up.

By the third day out we were all starting to feel the altitude, running out of breath going even slightly uphill. This really made the Yorkshire 3 Peaks seem like a walk in the park! But with more time to catch our breath it gave us plenty of time to absorb the most magnificent landscape.

We had two acclimatisation days to allow our bodies to adapt to the decreasing levels of oxygen, however if we thought they were to be rest days we were wrong. Climbing ever higher and then descending again to sleep is apparently the best way to acclimatise our sherpa guide assured us. We were convinced he was a distant relatives of Sally’s. As we climbed higher we all started to feel the cold more. At 4,800 metres out came the insulated down jackets, which made us look like hot-water tanks on legs. Rachel was also very relieved that all the lodges had good supplies of hot chocolate to wash down the staple diet of rice and noodles.

The day before Base Camp day we climbed Kala Pattar (5,545 metres). Despite reaching an impressive height, it seemed dwarfed by the peaks surrounding it, including Everest itself just across the glacier. The whole group was in awe of Everest from the summit of Kala Pattar, which was so swamped in prayer flags it was difficult not to get entangled in them.

On the final stretch to Base Camp itself, we walked alongside and finally across the Khumbu Glacier. This was the hardest day of the trek, up and down over boulders the whole way. Oxygen levels were now at 55% and we were all feeling rough. But the immense scenery and Base Camp ahead of us spurred us all on to the end. As the morning progressed we were rewarded with magnificent ice formations, many shaped like giant ten high foot mushrooms with boulders perched on top of pillars of ice.

We finally arrived at Base Camp at 5,356 metres, very weary but victorious. Expecting a busy tent community full of climbers and support teams, we were surprised to find four tents and a couple of Koreans..

After smuggling a couple of Base Camp rocks into our pockets (don't tell the authorities) we headed back across the glacier, whilst raiding supplies of Kendal Mint Cake for extra energy. Going down the altitude still made the going tough, making us fell like we had really bad hangovers.

On the final assent to Lukla the walking became easier as we dropped out of high altitude. In 4 days we covered a distance that took ten days on the way up. We were happy to see the dodgy airstrip and even more delighted to see flushing toilets and water running out of a tap. After the trek was over we spent a couple of days in Kathmandu relaxing and sampling the local delicacies. A bit of souvenir shopping was done too with several men buying lots of big sherpa knives to take home (they all made it through customs).

This trek is an experience neither of us would never forget, we’ve taken hundreds of photos and have a rekindled love of hot water bottles.

For more details of this trip see the Exodus website.

By Rachel C & Gordon S