And in the words of Murray Walker, the great Formula 1 commentator, it’s “go, go, go!” Sadly the comparison with F1 is going to end there. Whereas Jenson Button and co. are flying around Silverstone inches away from each other at 200mph, we will be plodding along at 0.1mph, literally, on the Northeast Ridge. It still amazes me why Formula 1 and not mountaineering gets attention from the BBC.

Onto the good news then, you may have guessed it. We are heading up to ABC for our summit push. Depending on the weather we will spend one or two nights at ABC then have consecutive days to the North Col, then to 7800m, then to 8300m and then, hopefully, to the summit at 8848m!!

The past couple of days have been fun and knowing that other teams are heading up from the South makes the reality of this situation settle in. 14 days at Base Camp is finally at an end. The other day the winds dropped and being the Brit that I am means a rush to top up that tan. Sadly karma was at it’s very best. I soon realised that at 5300m, any skin not covered by factor 50 gets fried. Parts of my torso now appear to have been lobsterised – a painful mistake! Other than that, yesterday I arose from my tent to a welcome from Pete: “Happy Man Day!!” Max declared that the 16th May would be “Man Day.” I won’t go into any great details but I can assure you that the mess tent after dinner was not the most fragrant of places.

“Be ready when opportunity comes…luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet.” – Roy D. Chapin Jr.

To make the top of this mountain, there are a lot of things that have to click into place. The weather has to be good, my body has to cope with the minimal O2 in the atmosphere etc etc. I have prepared in the best way I know, Everest was the next step in my 7 Summits quest and despite being the highest mountain in the world, I felt ready to take it on. That hasn’t changed. I have acclimatised well and feel excited to try and climb to the top of the world!! This mountain has plagued me every day for a number of years and I hope to grasp this opportunity with everything i’ve got.

Over 3 years since this plan came into my head, a year since this expedition has been booked, 6 weeks since leaving Heathrow and 14 days of waiting at Base Camp – this is it. I am seriously excited.

I look forward / hope / pray to be able to write you a successful message in one weeks time. All your support over the past three years has been invaluable and I appreciate it more than you know, so, thank you. I also wish all my friends good luck in their exams at St Andrews and elsewhere.

I will leave you with one of the most important quotes I have come across from one of the greatest ever American climbers.

“Getting to the top is optional, getting back down again is mandatory.” – Ed Viesturs