MY KNUCKLES WERE WHITE AND MY HEART WAS RACING
INTREPID adventurer Ben Fogle, who has already rowed across the Atlantic and trekked to the South Pole, has embarked on his most terrifying challenge to date: an attempt to climb the world’s highest peak.
He arrived in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu on April 12 and is due to reach Everest Base Camp today.
Fogle, 44, will be sharing the highlights of his expedition in a diary written exclusively for Daily Express readers and you can read the first instalment of his dramatic account here today (see panel).
He has teamed up with double Olympic gold-winning cyclist Victoria Pendleton to make the ascent of a mountain that has claimed the lives of no fewer than 280 climbers since Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first men to reach the summit in 1953.
Before setting out on their riskladen venture the pair completed the recommended level of preexpedition training in Nepal, the Alps and the Bolivian Andes under the supervision of Kenton Cool, a world-renowned mountaineer and adventurer who will be joining them as they attempt to reach the summit. Having made the 38-mile trip from Lukla to Base Camp, situated at 17,600ft above sea level, Fogle and 37-year-old Pendleton will spend the next three weeks acclimatising to the thinner air at altitude.
During this time they will be making preparatory trips to Camps One, Two and Three – each time returning to Base Camp – before making their all-important attempt to reach the top of the 29,000ft peak early next month.
In his first diary entry Fogle describes “the most dangerous flight in the world” from Kathmandu to the remote village of Lukla; reveals that his cold-weather wear and expedition gear has gone missing forcing him to trek to Base Camp in holiday clothes; and identifies the expedition medic as Dr Jon Hunt, his 70-year-old father-in-law.