Photo is of me at Camp 1 on the south ridge of Pumori, November 01, my 36th birthday, the day before the accident - thanks very much to John Miller for sending me the photo.
Also thanks to everybody for all the great emails I have received in the past 10 days, for those of you who asked what I am up to now, here it goes.
I am returning to the Khumbu tomorrow morning. I am going back for several reasons, the first being that I think it is important to say thank you personally to the people who helped out in the rescue, the Sherpa community does alot for many trekkers, climbers and tourists alike, as it just comes naturally to them, but I think that many of them are forgotten after the dust settles. Second I feel climbing climbing a little and doing some trail running, I lost alot of muscle mass and weight in general during the rescue and perhaps due to a bit of PTSD after.
Overall it will be a great way to spend December and collect my thoughts and try and get strong again. It will not be easy as I am down to under $600 cash as I spent over $1900 in cash in the Khumbu dealing with the rescue, petty to think about but - the cash is not insured as it is difficult to get receipts from porters and used oxygen salesmen in the middle of the night when so much is going on, even harder to get a receipt from the heli pilot I ended up bribing to get out of lukla- it does make life difficult. Oh well, another adventure.
Since I have been in Kathmandu I have had alot of support from Karnali Excursions, who have been great friends of mine for years and I am glad that by the end of today we will have a new schedule of trips for next year up worked out and will be posted on our website soon.
It is funny how you meet people while travelling and you can form a tight group quickly; they have been science teachers, UN workers, photographers, doctors, climbers, guides, journalists and humanitarians, all have been fascinating and intelligent. Good luck with your various projects.
Wish me luck in the Khumbu.
