Summit to Sea

15/10/2026

We are safely back in the UK and with a total so far of £79,609 for Macmillan Cancer Support, we would like to take this opportunity to give our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported us on our mission & adventure - in every way.

From thousands of messages of encouragement throughout, to thousands of pounds towards a great cause which continue to roll in, we are ever so grateful.

We have just received some great photos of our summit from Ashley Smith and her sherpa; the other two climbers who summited Lobuche that day. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Our summit flag pictures all those who so kindly helped us to foot the cost of an 8000m mountain expedition - in particular, Saga. Whilst we were unable to reach the peak of our originally planned summit, please be assured that we shan't stop until we reach our other target - £100k for charity!

13/10/2026

13/10/2026

A cracking evening at Aloft Hotel, Kathmandu courtesy of ex-Gordonstounian Pratima Pande, with whom Kim thoroughly enjoyed comparing school stories.

12/10/2026

Namche - Kathmandu

We awoke to a stunning morning; our final one in the Himalayas. Our helicopter was due at the helipad - in one of the most impressive locations a short hike up from Namche - for 08:30.

As we waited, we learned that our Sirdar from Manaslu, Tashi, was on board the inbound aircraft with a load of gear for Adventure Consultants' upcoming expedition on Ama Dablam. It was great to briefly see him again as we quickly unloaded & reloaded the machine for our departure.

Bags crammed underneath and atop us, we bid a fond farewell to our Sherpa Nima, a true gentleman of the mountains and without whom our ascent of Lobuche would not have been possible, before an exhilarating takeoff the cliff edge down to Lukla where we unexpectedly changed aircraft for our onward flight to Kathmandu.

It was strange after so many days in the cold, quiet, thin airs to arrive into a humid and hazy Kathmandu, back to the hustle and noise of a working city. Bags unloaded we bounced around the airport perimeter on the familiar dirt track in a jeep from the helipad to domestic arrivals terminal, where our bags were all x-rayed to ensure we hadn't pinched any rocks, ice or yak calves.

We have a couple of days in Kathmandu now to sort laundry, reacclimatise and try to relax / not wake up prior to 6am as has been so routine these past weeks, before flying back to the UK on the 13th. We shall also continue to explore the city, eat plenty of curry, as well as planning to meet some special people - who some of our followers may well recognise...

11/10/2026

Lungden - Namche: back to thicker air...and the world's highest Irish pub!

An 18km valley trek, mostly downhill, back towards relative civilisation. Starting off in snowfall, and ending in rainfall at lower altitude, with a few glimpses of sunshine in between.

Passing yak trains, scattered villages, and we were even lucky enough to sight two colourful danphes - the Nepalese national bird.

We found ourselves sitting in the world's highest Irish pub in Namche Bazaar as the sun set, reminiscing on the most amazing 6 week adventure here in Nepal and due to fly back to her capital, Kathmandu, tomorrow. Without doubt one of the most beautiful countries on earth, populated by some of the kindest yet most resilient people we've ever met.

Although not achieving what we set out to do - an 8000m peak - we embarked on an alternative challenge, and ultimately still overcame barriers as well as learning new skills (thanks Rob!) and leave now with a sense of achievement, as well as having raised almost £80,000 for charity. The weather changed our plans, but that's mountaineering - we return alive and well which is also to be considered a success!

One thing is for certain: we'll be back...

10/10/2026

Gokyo - Lungden

Another early start saw us stepping (or slipping) out into the snow just before the sun rose. Today, for the 3rd day in a row, the plan was for us to ascend higher than any point in Europe via a high pass, before descending again to the remote village of Lungden at 4,400m altitude. We are certainly starting to feel it in our legs!

A long zigzag up to Renjo-La pass (5,360m) took us around 4hrs, before a steep descent the other side saw most of us disappearing into snowholes several feet deep on occasion as the snow softened. There were just a couple of other people we passed on the route - snow conditions are deeper than normal and flights to Lukla had been cancelled for a number of days due to heavy cloud cover.

We got 4 seasons' worth of weather again today - it started with light snowfall before clearing into a beautiful morning, with cloud thickening around noon before wind & snow prevailed in the afternoon. Descending to Lungden via a ridge gave us our first sight of greenery in days as we squelched past grazing yaks and snowcocks (local birds, we'll have you know) enroute.

The Nepalese are resourceful souls; with no wired electricity in most of their remote villages, they use solar power when possible, and cook by fire-powered stove. Yaks are not only used for transporting goods, but also for providing milk & cheese...as well as a tasty steak. But perhaps a yak's least known useful offering is their dung - it gets collected, dried out on rocks in the sun and then used as fuel for fires. And nope - it smells absolutely fine. You learn something new every day...

08/10/2026

Dzongla - Gokyo

A 5am breakfast saw us hitting the "trail" just before 6, as today was to be a fairly intense trek. 3-4 inches of snow had fallen overnight making for a magical morning once the skies cleared.

Our map warned of several hindrances enroute and indeed, if we were to describe a hearty Nepalese trek then today's experience would sum it up. Snow, ice, river & glacier crossings, a high pass of 5,400m, steep slopes of rock, scree and thick mud all featured in abundance. The weather, too, threw plenty at us - the same conditions seldom prevailing for more than about 20 minutes.

All four of us spent some involuntary time on our bottoms today as a result of sliding down steep scree or ice, and Kim more than once ended up waist deep in snow. Upon finally arriving at our lodge in Gokyo at the end of a long day, we assumed that the dangers had passed only to come across a massive yak grazing outside the entrance. Our Sherpa Nima located its owner who casually indicated that his yak would happily move if encouraged to do so. We left Nima to persuade the 1 ton animal to let us enter our accommodation for a cup of tea and to dry our boots...

07/10/2026

Lobuche - 6,119m / 20,075ft
After a rather short rest at high camp, our alarm sounded to wake us for breakfast at 1am today before we set off on our summit push. Thankfully, early evening snow showers passed to leave a crisp, starry night but that did mean temperatures in the minus double digits as we set off shortly afterwards into the night.

The first part of the climb took us through rock & snow at moderate gradients. Around halfway up into the push, the mountain opened and we crossed several ridges before donning our crampons, ditching our poles and tackling steep snow slopes using ascenders to assist. This part was tough, with slopes of 45-50 degrees and very thin air as we closed in on 20,000ft, it took it out of us.

The sun rose over the Himalayas as we were about an hour from the summit, painting pink & orange light over the surrounding snow-covered giants of the Khumbu - Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Nuptse, Cholatse, Ama Dablam and of course Everest, to name just a few. It was an outstanding scene.

Summit was finally reached just after 7am; we made good time and enjoyed a brief spell on the small ledge of snow for photographs, and to allow the unbelievable views to sink in. Our descent commenced shortly thereafter, in order to reach safe altitudes again before the avalanche risk increases after the sun rises higher into the sky.

We're delighted to have climbed our first Himalayan peak; although not the one we'd intended on climbing, it's our second highest mountain to date and afforded us opportunity to put into practice our technical skills, in what has been an described as an unprecedented post-monsoon weather season here in Nepal. Although we enjoyed ideal conditions for the final ascent & summit, as we descended to Dzongla it started snowing heavily and continues to do so as we write.

Tomorrow, we start moving at 5am and plan to exit the valley via the Cho La and Renjo La high passes over the next few days, so we'll have more ~5,500m high treks as well as challenges such as glacier crossings. We hope our adventure efforts continue to draw charity monies in - please follow link in our bio should you wish to contribute! Thank you so much for your support.

06/10/2026

This morning, having worked near the top of Lobuche for a couple of days, our Sherpa Nima - himself a 25x Everest summitteer - and his team of 2 managed to successfully assess the snow safety and fix ropes on the more technical parts of the ascent for us to use. When it comes to the strongest people on earth, Nepalese Sherpas have got to be up there.

We received the good news by radio at breakfast, and have spent the day trekking up to high camp (5,200m / 17,060ft) to ready ourselves for the summit push.

The scenery was out of this world, first of all as we skirted around to the south side of the mountain, followed a snowy riverbed and then scrambled up a gulley to high camp.

Tonight, we will rise at midnight for "breakfast" prior to making our summit bid, weather permitting, hoping to reach the peak around 8am.

A big thanks to all who continue to support us and our charity campaign - in particular Saga's Spirit of Adventure crew by challenging each department to race the equivalent height of Mt Manaslu using the ship's stairs over coming days to try and raise more funds - good luck to you all, particularly the Deck Dept! 😉

05/10/2026

Whilst we wait at Lobuche Base Camp for our summit opportunity we thought we would share these pictures of our ice climbing lesson with Rob. Taken at Manaslu Base Camp; again whilst waiting for a summit window!