10 Days to GO...

Only 10 Days till we leave for Nepal now...Starting to get excited.  Most of my kit has arrived and most of the rest of the guys have all but the last few bits sorted out.  We fly out of Heathrow on Friday 5th March at 11:50am to Dheli from there we transfer to Kathmandu.   After a couple of days in Kathmandu we are catching the small and rather dubious looking prop plane to lukla mountain air strip.  Anyone who has been into/outof lukla will tell you its probably the most scary airport take off/Landing in the world.  Check out youtube for videos of the air strip. 

Big thanks so far are in order for Mountain Equipment who have loaned a load of gear to the expedition including Proshell jackets and Pants, down jackets, shroud jackets as well as an iceline sleepingbag rated to an extreme rating of -44 degrees (comfort - 22).  All the gear we are taking is available through cotswold outdoor and can be found online at www.cotswoldoutdoor.com . . . or follow the links at the to pof the page!

We would also like to thank Network Veka, Satcom the Royal Marines and all of the team at Cotswold Plymouth whose advice has been invaluable.  Satcom have provided us with Satellite communications gear so that we will (fingers crossed) be able to update our progress as we go.   I am hoping to be able to update this blog and with any joy post a few pics up online too.  

II would also like to remind everyone of why we are doing this...We are climbing Mera Peak in aid of the Royal Marines Benevolent fund and also the Honour Our Troops (HOT) charity.  Both of these charities help our servicemen and women returning from the various conflicts around the world.  A very big thankyou to Santander who are the bank that are holding all of our funds that we raise.  They have pledged to match any offsite monies raised (ie any cash donations that come in not through the just giving page) will an equal amount. this means whatever we raise (cash only) the bank will double, this is fantastic news for our charities. 

Untill next time

NAT

Cotswold Outdoor Plymouth Assistant Manager