Day 6 base camp

We have arrived at base camp some 4,600 metres high after a difficult night on day 5 and a hard journey here.

Last night in camp saw spectacular views of the mountain and the land below coupled with a fantastic electric storm..... But also the not so fantastic strong winds (literally nearly lifting the tents up....the toilet tent did indeed blow away).

Last night Allyson was put through the wars. With her face and hands swollen, tightness across her eyes, a headache and nausea Allyson was uncomfortable to say the least. The determination of this young lady is however quite remarkable. Allyson has suffered pretty much from the get-go yet she has made it here.

Allyson was medicated and the very good news is that the diamox treatment overnight has made very significant improvement. All of the swellings are gone as are the headache and nausea. At the moment and so long as there are no more adverse symptoms, Allyson has improved so much that she has been passed fit enough to start her summit attempt.

Antonio, who is probably the strongest climber in the group, and has not even been remotely out of breath on any occasion so far, continued to struggle to adjust to the high altitude and his blood oxygen level remained low. For Antonio the diamox has sadly not worked. At 65% blood / oxygen this can become dangerous, thus when Antonio arrived in base camp with a headache and measured 69% this remarkably fit man took the (in my view) absolute correct decision to call it a day at base camp and not attempt the summit.

Antonio was fit enough to start but the risk of something serious happening with such a marginal oxygen level is all too real and as he said himself - I love my family too much to take a risk for a photograph!

It just goes to show how altitude can affect anyone at random - even the fittest. Without question antonio's climbing strength would have seen him conquer the summit but the random nature of AMS has struck again on the most unlikely person.

All of the rest of the group ( save for me - see below) are in good health if somewhat exhausted. Shannon's headaches are better and everyone is looking forward to the hardest challenge of their life tonight.

Sadly as for me, whilst my fitness remains good and i have no AMS symptoms, I managed to pull a leg muscle on the climb into Base camp. It has of course no time to repair. Whilst it is not completely debilitating, it nevertheless prevents me from stretching too far. I am advised that It may also do long term damage if I push it too hard.

So it may be that this well limit my summit attempt to the first hour or so - but I will give it a go. Having done it before I am completely relaxed about it. I don't have that same urgency that i did last time and thus i can readily promise my family and friends at home that at the first sign of trouble I will descend. Promise!

So all that remains is for me to wish everyone good luck tonight. As I am sure everyones family and friends strongly echo. Everyone is bow resting to conserve energy.

I will do my best to update everyone around 12 lunchtime uk time tomorrow which is when the team will return to camp.

TTFN

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone