Everest<\/a> Base Camp (EBC). Milan and I have had a great relationship from the start and I am grateful for it. As I am for the lads coming back down with me. Now, maybe you could argue it was for Wifi access as much as to support me, but I\u2019ll give them the benefit of the doubt!<\/p>\nPhone calls home and a good night\u2019s sleep and I was truly on the mend. The difference in my body is hard explained. My headache has subsided, my appetite is returning. Basically an overall sense of relief, even without the support of flat 7-Up.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 14th<\/p>\n
This morning was a breath of fresh air, literally. I woke feeling strong and grateful for my health. With O\u2082 stats above 85 again, I used the morning to send messages and write home to the kiddos and close friends. As recovery days go, this was solid. We spent our time down in the Cafe 4410, eating and playing chess and watching movies over hot chocolate. My unbeaten run was taken away by a Swiss wizard who summited Everest in 2011.<\/p>\n
The form is great today and everyone is feeling the benefit of dropping lower. But I did have a personal concern that I was keeping close to the chest. This fear that when we returned to EBC, my body would not respond well. That I would fall ill again and that would be that.<\/p>\n
Considering the level of training I have put in over the last 18 months at altitude, I knew it was unlikely. But equally, I knew the question wouldn\u2019t be answered until we returned. Imagine you came all this way and couldn\u2019t pass base camp. How pathetic.<\/p>\n
I kicked the thought as far down the valley as I could before closing the eyes for another night\u2019s sleep. Tomorrow we are riding in style. Instead of taxing the body too much, we\u2019re using the chopper to head back up to EBC.<\/p>\n
Wednesday, April 15th<\/p>\n
We returned to EBC today via helicopter. It was absolutely sensational to see the Himalayas and Khumbu valley from this vantage point. What took nine hours to hike down only took six minutes to return back up. I felt great upon arrival but that burning fear still lay behind my smile when greeting Jason Black, our team leader and the guy who started me on this journey.<\/p>\n
Will my body respond to the altitude this time? I know I won\u2019t be comfortable until tomorrow but this is a good start. Washing the hair in a bucket of hot water was truly elating after such a long time. That, coupled with a phone call home, meant today was a great day.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s bad news too. The word from the icefall and the ice doctor who set the route is negative. They say it is the most dangerous it\u2019s been in over 20 years. At the moment, it is impassable. No way around it. Not good news for any of us summit hopefuls.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 16th<\/p>\n
What a beautiful feeling to wake up fresh. The question has been answered. My body has adjusted to the altitude and we are right back on course.<\/p>\n
That being said, today will always be the day of pivots to me. With the information back from the icefall, we (along with every other team) are trying to plan a new acclimatisation strategy. Our plan had been to climb part of the way up Everest several times in order to get our bodies used to the extreme heights. Now we have to find another way to do that.<\/p>\n
Do we go for a 6,000- or 7,000-metre mountain? Lobuche East, Baruntse, Himlung Himal are all in the area so there\u2019s no shortage of candidates. Or dare we tackle Ama Dablam? There are benefits and risks with all.<\/p>\n
We spent the best part of the day looking at the logistics, time frames and potential gains. The decision won\u2019t be made today. This call feels like a huge factor in the success of this expedition.<\/p>\n
The Everest history and energy is palpable here in EBC among other teams and particularly the sherpa. The tragedies of 1996, 2006, 2013 and 2016 are still fresh in the minds and the spirit of the mountain must be listened to. I fully believe this to be true. The mountain will dictate all.<\/p>\n
This is something I have spoken about with the psychologist Karen Weekes before leaving. Respect the nature of the mountain. Respect the spirituality that comes with this space.<\/p>\n
Friday, April 17th<\/p>\n
The mind is a bit all over the place today. So many unknowns and possibilities. We are heading out on to the glacier this morning to do some specific fixed line rope work. The heat bouncing off the ice is something that needs to be felt to be understood. Even the simplest of mountaineering techniques like jumar (ascending) and belaying (rope work) become incredibly difficult at 5,400m while wearing high altitude gear.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like trying to thread a needle with oven mitts on while in a sauna at 90 degrees. My team-mates Adam Sweeney and Eanna McGowan were the same as me \u2013 we all found out pretty quickly how challenging some of these simple tasks will be at 8,000m when seconds cannot be wasted or lost.<\/p>\n
After lunch we have finally decided that Lobuche East will be our target. We felt that Ama Dablam was the one we desired but the physical attrition involved would put Everest in jeopardy. I finished off the day sitting out beside the icefall, just breathing. Trying, in my own way, to ask the mountain to give us all safe passage when the time comes.<\/p>\n
Saturday, April 18th<\/p>\n
Today we headed off towards Lobuche East high camp. Eanna is feeling the impacts of antibiotics for the last couple of days but he ploughed on with little complaint.<\/p>\n
I had a strange moment on route into Gorakshep, bumbling away in my own mind, thinking about the summit of Everest. I thought about how it would feel, the kids, the people who helped me. As I felt the eyes watering I caught myself and was so disappointed.<\/p>\n
How am I letting myself feel emotion like this at the idea of the summit? I have planned for this. My whole strategy has been to not lose any control when I do make it up there. Emotion and celebration can wait for base camp on the way down.<\/p>\n
That is the conversation I have had with myself over and over again. Emotion leads to poor decision-making and that cannot happen at 8,848m. More work is needed in this area was my last thought on that.<\/p>\n
Lobuche High Camp was a far cry from EBC. Food was hard stomached. Jason and I tucked in after it and got full night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n
![\"Pádraig](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/UOIY5WJEKFFHVNBJ5CQWXTUGSM.jpeg\")
P\u00e1draig O\u2019Hora Everest Sunday, April 19th<\/p>\n
The most watery bowl of porridge with frozen honey was the offering and it was swallowed with force along with two much more edible boiled eggs. You eat for energy, not for enjoyment. I will eat absolutely anything up here, regardless of preference. We started moving at 8.30am.<\/p>\n
Crampons were locked on from 5,500m and albeit not the most technical climb in the world, she was still plenty tough. I was just happy to be moving. This is what we are here for. To say we moved efficiently is to be fair and relatively modest, considering we overtook many groups on the way up and down who left 8-10 hours before us.<\/p>\n
The summit view was partially stolen by the clouds, but the glimpse of what surrounded us was enough to take your breath away. I think it\u2019s fair to say I\u2019m in awe of this place. It is magical. I love our mountains, rivers and sea back at home but this place speaks in a way I cannot explain.<\/p>\n
It was a long hike back down to Lobuche. Dinner and a bit of craic with other groups from the UK and China and that was that for the week. Back to EBC tomorrow to plan out the next steps.<\/p>\n
P\u00e1draig O\u2019Hora is climbing Everest to support the Mayo Mental Health Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monday, April 13th Oxygen makes some difference. The feeling of warmth is what I will remember from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,152569,198396,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,66684,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-450203","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-everest-base-camp","11":"tag-everest-expedition","12":"tag-featured-news","13":"tag-featurednews","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-latest-news","16":"tag-latestnews","17":"tag-main-news","18":"tag-mainnews","19":"tag-mount-everest","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-top-stories","22":"tag-topstories","23":"tag-world","24":"tag-world-news","25":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116455161697358841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}