Well just to say I'm safely down at BC tonight, at last, after a painful nine hour descent from camp two, mostly in baking heat, later cold. The pain was not just an expression of massive fatigue, but literal, as my feet and toes seemed yet again to rubbed to bits by my high-altitude boots (confirmed by eventual examination down here).
Of more worry to me through the day was my worsening left ear pain and swelling from presumed frost injury. Remember, I haven't seen it, but those who have been looking have started pulling faces of concern.

So Henry kindly sorted a doctor out to look at it , and indeed he kindly dressed it, also confirming some possibly quite deep frostbite to a significant part of the left ear, as I was fearing.. This may ultimately lead to some tissue loss, thus spoiling my looks for ever....though no doubt leading onto easy Everest introductions at parties and the like, if required.

Sort of on the possible plus side is the possibility of a medical HELICOPTER evacuation, for various medical/nursing difficulties, if I take ages to get out of the valley. I call that "sort of" good news as, if it happens, I'll have to walk down to Lobuje tomorrow, having been hardly able to walk at all by this evening. No luggage of note to bring out, most of my stuff will be freighted out behind me, eventually, damp, dirty and......ooh horrid.

We'll see what tomorrow brings
I'm on antibiotics now but we think it's infected, due to my prize-winning self care...which was pulling a hat over it!

Ray and Greg:

What a sad way for our trip as a trio to end, after such a lot shared together?
Ray was really struggling as we forced up to camp four at the col after the bad night before, and I knew Greg was shattered too. We had few words, locked in our own way of trying to cope with the doubts and suffering. Suddenly, like a comrade in battle, one of us has fallen. Weird. Almost no time or energy for much emotion.
Just a few hours later, with me and Greg briefly resting in separate tents for four paltry hours before our summit bid, we never managed to speak...both wrecked. At nine o'clockish, when I got my act together enough to set off up, head-torches already revealing other's ambitions to be before us, I thought Greg AND Nadir were ahead me.
Then within 20 minutes of summitting, I actually thought I saw them both on the ridge in front of me, such that when I was on the actual summit I was confused that of the fifteen or so down-suited climbers I couldn't identify them...indeed, I was puzzled they didn't seek me out!
I was going a bit mad then, I think.
So for a good while I thought Greg HAD summitted...but only in my dreams matey.
It turned out Greg couldn't get his head or gear together to get out the tent that fateful night...which is easy to understand for me, knowing how rushed we'd been,
due to the forecast etc. Greg wasn't as desperate as me, or indeed Nadir, to give that final push needed.
So when I'm crawling my way back next day to the col, Greg was gone too.
Now we're all out of phase, no contact as they walk out, and no doubt terribly disappointed. I hope to liase with them in Kathmandu, though it's very difficult to really enjoy any summit celebrations when it didn't quite happen for you...I know!

Ray and Greg are great blokes as many of you out there know, and they'll bounce back from their frustraton. I hope I'll be a small part of that process.
It's funny as we all know they are both fitter and stronger than me by a way...but as I said, maybe not so keen as me to finally finish the job off, for multiple psychological reasons, who knows?
This brings to Nadir! What a story? Never been above 4000m, never on crampons, I've still not worked out why he wanted to try it...but by God, he wanted to!
He was plenty scared on the Lhotse face, as was I, but he found his way down, and off he went today, like a veteran of the icefall that he now is...leaving the old experienced guy in his wake.
One word for him: "uncroyable!"
Brilliant achievement, by any stretch.

Messages:

Too many to mention right now, I'll try to deal with them ASAP, perhaps if I get time in Kathmandu..more chaos reigns for next few days?
Many of them made me tearful, but curiously I've not yet had the huge blub I expected yet. Beware.
Oh Ruth, little Ted, whatever call him, went right to the top with me, and back again safely....how about THAT?