Local time: 20:00 3 Nov 2007
Location: Khumjung
Altitude: 3880m
Weather: Cloudy,windy at times.Cold. 8 degrees during day.

G'Day All,

It's Darren here and my turn to write a few words tonight on behalf of everyone.....

Today was another pretty cruisy day starting with a nice big breaky and a wander around the village of Namche before a stroll up the hill to the Everest View hotel and down to the village of Khumjung. We've really been doing it tough here so far; the day starts with maybe thinking about getting out of bed with a warm cuppa at about 7am (in bed). Big breaky then starts around 07:30 as we ponder over how tough the day will be with the forthcoming 3 hours or so of trekking to the next village to spend the night.... After breaky we collected our Naks (female for a Yak) horn from the bootmaker with straps fitted for the designated person to wear for the day. From yesterday I was the unlucky person to be the designated wearer of the horns for the entire day, for the harsh offence of being the last person to mention a banned word on this trip (the word being the name of a skipper we had on the trip to Antarctica...).

Leaving Namche the walk up the hill allowed for a magnificent view from a couple of hundred metres above Namche looking down onto the town. On top of the ridge we arrived at the 'Everest View Hotel', or, as we named it, the 'No Everest View Hotel' due to cloud cover restricting the view. It's become quite cold up here now with temperature dropping to below 8 degrees. Leaving the 'No Everest View Hotel' it was a 20minute walk down into the town of Khumjung. This town is a really neat looking town with the farms having some really cool stone walls and lots of cute little baby Yaks/Naks. The views from the town of the surrounding mountains is spectacular, with the best view being of the very impressive Mt Ama Dablam.

For those unaware, the reason for such a relaxing/slow trip is due to altitude acclimatisation. Too quick will jeopardise our chances of all of us summiting Island Peak. Plans from here is to travel to Gokyo lakes, ascend Gokyo Ri, then across a pass to Everest Base camp with a climb up mt Kala Patthur on the way. From there its across to Island Peak base camp and climbing Island Peak before returning to Lukla.

I'd like to make special mention to Pauly B and the sacrifices he has made coming on this trip. On our trip to Antarctica Paul took a huge amount of luggage and for this trip he has really made sacrifices and cut back. He's probably only brought twice the amount of stuff he really needs and is doing well so far.....

For those people that have been posting messages to us on the website these are much appreciated and read by all each night with much pleasure (and laughter in some cases).

Time for dinner now and to vote on the person who has been 'Yakked' for the day and have to wear the horns for tomorrow.....

Darren and the rest of the '5 on Island Peak' team.

Messages

Hi Peter & Tonia,
Thanks for your message which I recieved last night. We have started our trek and so far the group is all doing well. Paul Beck and myself are new to altitude and both enjoying this different challenge. The effects of altitude even above 3000 metres really takes your breath away.
Good to hear that Erin and Gromett are both doing well.
Take Care Dave.