Here I am sat in the Qatar Airways lounge at Heathrow Terminal 4. Over the top service all the way through the Terminal, no queues, excellent, attentive service, a choice of an ‘A La Carte’ meal or buffet. I settled for a beautiful salad buffet with Eaton Mess for dessert! And the punchline… the flight’s delayed. The one thing I would like them to get right, in fact the only thing that really matters when flying, is that the flight is on time. Over the last couple of months Carolynn and I have taken a number of flights and I would think 50% have been delayed, for what reasons I’ve no idea, that information is never forthcoming and it is very frustrating. The only consolation is that I’m sat in relative comfort.

Matthew my youngest son would say ‘why do you get to the airport so early?’. I don’t think I’m the only one, but I always allow a margin of contingency for traffic on the M1 and M25 and for possible delays at getting through security. I regularly get stopped and searched as my hand luggage is generally full of electronics and batteries, I can only assume that dodgy characters such as myself smuggle items in their cameras! So unlike Matthew, I relieve the anguish by leaving just that little earlier than he would and unlike him I very rarely have to run to board my flight… unless, of course my flight is delayed and the connection time between flights becomes somewhat slim!

Anyway enough moaning, I’m on my way to Kathmandu after more than seven years. I’ve said my farewells to Carolynn, never easy for either of us, especially for five weeks. We celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary whilst in the USA the other week and these separations don’t get any easier, in fact they get considerably harder. It’s not just the conversation and companionship, it’s the fact that I know she’s not there. I know these trips are self indulgent and I can hear you all saying, ‘well don’t do it’. It’s hard to explain…I struggle with it, so to try and explain it in writing is near impossible.

I’ve gone off point again. Kathmandu, as always excitement and a tinge of anxiety or maybe even a tinge of fear. Fear is a natural, powerful and primitive emotion. It alerts you to imminent danger, whether physical or psychological… fight or flight? Fear and Risk are, I think, entwined. Everyone’s fear and risk response’s are different and the climb of Baruntse at 7,129 metres is a level of fear and risk I have not taken since 2013 and my attempt at Cho Oyu at 8,200 metres. I need to firstly control any psychological fear to eliminate a risk which is purely imaginary and concentrate on the physical fear and a risk that can be controlled and sensible decisions made. As I get older I find that I have become far more risk adverse and you realise that you are no longer immortal… please don’t misunderstand me, I think I’m very capable of climbing Baruntse, but more importantly, I’m very capable of turning around 50 metres from the summit if the conditions dictate.