SOME FASCINATING FACTS: Prep work for the trek: A total of 9 months gym training - 3 times a week. At the end of the training period, Jeff was rowing distances of 10km non-stop at an average of 1:58 per 500m. Wendy was running over similar distances. Regular hill walks (with the dogs of course!) in the Black mountains, Wales, and Snowdonia National Park. All this was no match for trekking in the Nepal Himalaya - during the trek, Jeff still lost over a stone in bodyweight, and Wendy lost about 1.5 stone. The kit we used: Jackets: 'Aqua Dry' Pro wear by Craghoppers - proudly made in Manchester! A very wise choice - never got wet once, and we kept the detachable fleece liners on at night when it was really cold. Walking Boots: Salomon X-ADV: without this French technology, giving added essential support, I reckon we could have had sprained our ankles ten times over. Never even got a single blister either. Worth every penny if you are serious about walking. Good quality 'self-wicking' socks are also important to keep your feet dry, prevent blisters and reduce the smell! Rucksacks: Again Craghoppers 'dynamic balance' rucksacks. Could hold a lot more than we could carry on this trip! Waterbottles: Platypus - auto feed type. We needed to drink 3 litres or more a day, so these American auto feeders came in really useful for us. Walking poles: Walking poles were not essential, but we found ours certainly saved backache and aching knee joints. We chose Leki. The 'photo' version has a useful camera mount on it - just unscrew the handle, and it turns into a monopod for really steady camera shots. A lot of the photography was taken at low light requiring lower shutter speeds, and this was invaluable to us. Carrying a standard tripod at altitude could have been out of the question with the excess weight. If you are a serious walker, these walking poles are well worth checking out. Reference book: Lonely Planet Guide to trekking in the Nepal Himalaya - we regard these books as the Bible for adventure travel. Tour operator: Guerba Expeditions (UK) with Amadablam Adventures in Nepal. Photographic gear used on the trek: Jeff carried a Pentax MV1, with 200mm zoom lens (UV filtered for the strong sunlight), loaded with slide film - Kodak Elite Chrome 100ASA. A bit heavy with all the gear, but the powerful zoom is always worth it. Wendy's camera was a Minolta Vectis APS, with panoramic facility, and 80mm zoom lens loaded with Fujicolor APS 200ASA. This compact camera was worth it's (light) weight in gold! Even in the cold, it never failed to take a picture once! All printing, and digital scanning from 35mm slides was entrusted to Colab Pro-Am Laboratory at Coventry, who took particular care in looking after our films. What we liked the most: The fabulous scenery. Even if you don't like mountains, this scenery just took your breath away. I am so glad the images captured the full colour in most cases. Nepal has some of the most genuinely friendly people on the planet. They understand good humour, and are great practical jokers. What we loathed the most: The constant pull up the hills. There is no giving up on these mountains. Sometimes, it really is an effort to keep going at altitude. Putting your boots on can be a major effort. You do get used to it after a while. The toilets were dreadful. Jeff hates squats at the best of times (Thailand was an adventure in this area) and he never looked forward to the daily ritual.. Oh yes, the sinister rats scuttling round at night - they were horrible! Regrets: None. It would have been nice to have got that one photo by the flag at Base Camp. However, the journey was everything. A mini DVcam for a video diary would have been very useful too. We can think of many reasons why the highlights of this adventure would have been worth watching on video. |