Today we got taste of action by checking each other’s technical climbing equipment and getting them ready for Everest. On the way to the peak, we will be using fixed ropes on the most difficult stretches. We measured two fixed safety ropes for everyone’s harness, with a carabiner on the end of the other and an ascender on the end of the other. We also secured the ice tools with extra lengths of rope to make sure they will not fall under any circumstances.

The highlight of the day was a large religious ceremony in which a Lama we met a few days ago blessed our expedition and prayed for its safety and success.

He also blessed the ice tools and crampons, food and all other equipment.  At the close of the ceremony, a pole was raised at an altar we had built, with prayer flags extending in all directions. At the same time everyone took some flour, threw it in the air and smeared on each other’s and their own faces. We looked like we’d been in a flour fight. For the Sherpas, the flour and smearing on each other’s has important spiritual meaning and the worst mistake to do would be to clean your face after the ceremony.

I suppose it’s clean itself in a few days.

The sky was clear and our expectations were high. Perhaps that’s why we walked too fast. After three hours we reached an altitude of 5560 metres. On the way we could still admire some scenery, but at the summit we were met with a hard, cold wind and no views whatsoever.

The weather can change very rapidly in the mountains and thick clouds enshrouded the entire valley before we reached the summit.

Returning by Gorak Shep was surprisingly hard. Our pace backfired and when we reached the base camp, we were exhausted, cold and suffered from head aches. On our acclimatiosation expedition we climbed 1000 metres and travelled 12 kilometres across ground. Lunch included, it took seven hours.

Drinking continuously, eating, dressing warmly and resting really help at these altitued and by the time I got into bed, half a painkiller was enough. In the base camp are suffering from a cold and a bad cough. We’ll see if it catches and if my cough is the famous Khumbu cough or an actual cold.

It is quite like a large scout camp in Finland: an entire village built in forest for a few weeks with all the infrastructure, cafeterias and kitchens. Here, they’ve worked hard to provide us with the same for the next two months.

What’s especially astonishing is the attention that has been paid to detail in the camp. The principal construction material is stone. Although the ground here is moraine, the tents are exactly horizontal, the ground underneath is level, there are massive slate steps leading into the mess tent, the kitchen has a massive stone worktop, the toiled seats are also solid stone, there are paths leading from tent to tent and the floor of the shower tent is paved with small stones with a small wooden grating in the middle.

Depending on the weather, we will spend several weeks in the base camp during the next month in a half, so it’s great to have all the comfort. Life here is rather different from polar expeditions where you pull your camp with you in a pulka. Well, I hope we can enjoy normal expedition camp life above the base camp, without all the gratuitous amenities.

The Everest base camp is popular place to visit for trekkers, as became increasingly obvious the closer to the camp we came. There were several groups of ten to twenty people going both ways from Norway, France, Germany, Japan and United States. Next week there will also be a Finnish group.

The altitude is now 5350 metres and you can certainly feel it. Even the slightest action makes you breathless, every step you take uphill is much heavier than what you’re used to and there is a slight persistent ache in the back of your head. Tomorrow we will rest and recover.

From the village of Chukkung, the route goes over the 5500-metre Kongma La to Lobuche. In the bright sunlight the scenery is perfect.

The Kongma La ridge was a very pleasant spot for lunch, too. From the ridge the route is a steep downhill along the northwest-facing mountainside. We ascended along a snow-cover field of rock, which was extremely slippery. With Lobuche looming ahead, the harsh truth of the final stretch of today’s trek is revealed. We cross the Khumbu glacier which starts on Everest’s slopes. It is now entirely covered in moraine, rocks and sand. On several occasions we have to scale hills of 50 or even 60 metres. The final kilometres seem endless.

Tonight is the last night in a long time that we can sleep in a bed in an inn, under thick blankets. Tomorrow we will continue to base camp and start living in tents. Finally getting down to business!

a total difference in altitude of 800 metres. After three and a half hours of slow trekking and climbing we had a chance to admire some amazing scenery. Next to us is Lhotse, reaching past 8000 metres, and further away is Makalu. Behind us is Ama Dablam and in the east Island Peak, which is a popular and easy to climb 6000-metre mountain. A summit is always a summit, it feels good to reach one and enjoy the views. The wind at the summit is stiff, however, and no-one wants to linger too long.

Climbing up we had to take it easy and it’s no different on the way down. Going downhill it’s easy to go too fast and push your heart rate up, something you want to avoid. The effects of altitude hit on the return trip: slight faintness, headache and dizziness. The headache is made worse by dehydration despite having packed two litres of water for the five-hour trek.

It’s time for a relaxing nap again. After plenty to drink and a good rest, I feel normal again.

The mountains around Pheriche are truly majestic. Three routes out of Pheriche run along the valleys between them. This is where the routes toward Everest and Island Peak separate. The third route is the one leading to Namche. We take the Island Peak route and climb another 100 metres higher. We pass the village of Dingboche and continue for five kilometres towards the tiny village of Chukkung.

After three or four hours, we’ve completed the day’s trek, and just rest, eat and drink. In fact, we should drink from three to four litres each day even though we don’t sweat at all.

The altitude is now 4700 metres and some are showing the first symptoms of the effects of thin air: slight headache and fatigue. My symptoms are nearly non-existent but a little rest is always welcome. After an afternoon nap everyone feels better and the evening is easy going fun.

The inn fills with buzzing conversation between the ten in our group and a couple of other groups and solitary trekkers.

The climbers’ and trekkers’ stories cover every corner of the world.

Unexpectedly, I meet Rob Smith, whom I last met four years ago on Antarctica. It is a small world indeed.

No sign of Easter here. I was planning to celebrate with a chocolate egg but I accidentally sent it with the rest of my equipment to base camp. Well, I’ll have my egg when I get there.

The clouds that had appeared in the afternoon disappeared in the evening and the light of the rising moon illuminates the mountainsides around us.

We’re making gradual progress as we head higher into the mountains. The bearers were ready with our baggage already at half past six in the morning. Thanks to them, we were on the move bright and early, as dawn was beginning to break.

The air was nice and cool until sunlight poured into the valley between the mountains, turning up the heat. It quickly got very sweaty. We followed a broad path that snaked along a river bank, going higher and higher. It was a fascinating trek, with oncoming traffic consisting of mules and horses and processions of fully-loaded yaks sneaking up from behind. There were also bearers in flip-flops, carrying their own weight in baggage and equipment.

There were children playing in front of their homes, taking their own space, and people washing laundry along the path, too. Life here happens along the path. For five, six hundred years, the Everest path has been shared by local people, yaks, horses and mules alike, and it’s still the only way to reach the area’s villages and the Everest base camp.

Our march ended in a steep climb, at the top of which we could see Namche behind the mountains ahead. A century ago, Namche, was already one of the principal market villages in the area. Today, it is a quickly growing tourist town. We stopped at Khumbu Lodge for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

We gained more than 1000 metres in elevation and lost a couple hundred during the day, which means that the total gain was 800 metres.

That’s quite a lot for one day of acclimatisation.

None of us seems to be experiencing any trouble yet, however, and my hope is that this will not change overnight.

The 1000 metres of uphill treated us to a glimpse of Namche.

It is a place where salt merchants from China traded with merchants coming from the south. It was a quick six hours up a congested path alongside yaks, mules, bearers, playing children and tourists.

We are now at 3500 metres of altitude. For someone like myself, having grown up at sea level, it is a lot. Yet we are barely pass the easiest third of the elevation at Mt. Everest’s summit. I wonder if I’ll have a sore head in the morning?

The earth

The end of the journey is getting closer. After many different turns, we will eventually board the Madrid plane. We also have our Helsinki tickets in our pockets. If everything goes as planned, we’ll arrive in Helsinki at 3.35pm on Saturday.

During the expedition, we have experienced everything between heaven and earth. Today’s photos are, in that way, very appropriate for the last days of the diary. The first things we remember are the space and desolation of Antarctica, nature around us. For one and a half months, sastrugi filled the snowfields everywhere, whether we looked forward, behind or to the sides - just snow and ice and flat emptiness everywhere. Often there was mot a single cloud in the sky. In the photo there’s one of the very few.

Clouds

When living so completely in nature, you sense your environment in a new way. One of the best things on the expedition was realising the uniqueness and eternity of the icy surroundings. We would like to keep it that way.

On to the sastruga

We chose a ski image from a couple of weeks ago as our diary image today, since we were then still moving quite fast compared to today. Now we are stuck in Santiago de Chile. We had to stay here overnight because of the cancelled Iberia flight to Europe. They have promised that we will fly tomorrow around noon. At the moment it looks as if we will arrive in Finland on Saturday, 3rd of January, at 3.35pm from Madrid. We’ll believe it when we see it.

If the expedition was long and covered a big distance, it looks as if the journey home has similar attributes. We arrived at the South Pole eight days ago and since then we have been mainly waiting for different flights.

At the terrace

Everything went well with our luggage and sleds today. We have everything with us and checked through all the way to Helsinki,so we don’t need to figure out how to manoeuvre over-two-metre-long sleighs in the crowds at the airports. We had about 60 kilos of excess weight, which was what we estimated.

There was something good in the delay also: we opened this year’s terrace season today, or was someone faster?