Chris Leyshon and Matthew Vance Daniel have completed a trek to Everest Base Camp for two Welsh charities: Prostate Cymru and the Emyr Owen branch of Latch, the Welsh children’s cancer charity. The pair arrived in Nepal on Friday 8th November for their eight day challenge.
The first day of the challenge involved landing close to the start of the trek at Lukla Airport. The airport has a single runway for both landing and take-off, measuring 527 metres by 30 metres. It is often referred to as “the most dangerous airport in the world” due to the size of the single runway and the high mountainous surroundings. The airport is at an elevation of 2860m above sea level which allowed Chris and Matthew to acclimatise to an already high altitude before beginning the trek.
Day two saw the pair reach the small town of Namche Bazar in the sunshine, a further 580m in elevation from Lukla. The area is popular with trekkers for altitude acclimatisation and meeting the Sherpas who assist them on their trek. On day three the duo trekked to the village of Pangboche which was another 599 metres in altitude. In Pangboche Chris and Matthew visited a local monastery and a statue of Sir Edmund Hillary, the famous New Zealand mountaineer and explorer who was the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest with Tenzing Norgay.
The pair had a smaller hiking day on the fourth day to reach Dingboche on the Chukhung Path. The next day was an increase of 630 metres in altitude as they reached the settlement of Lobuche. Despite the difference in altitude which was starting to affect the duo, Chris and Matthew enjoyed the spectacular scenery of the snow topped mountains.
The sixth day saw Chris and Matthew reach Everest Base Camp at 5364 metres. The pair proudly displayed their summit flag which featured logos and messages of support from sponsors and a Welsh flag upon the base camp marker. The final two days of the challenge were spent heading back to their starting point and exploring Nepal.