On the surface Kathmandu appears not to have changed, but when I said I hadn’t been here since 2015, I lied, I passed through in 2019 on the way to Bhutan and the Snowman Trek with Stephen, but it was a brief visit, as is this. The airport had changed out of all recognition and within 45 minutes of landing I was through passport control and had my luggage, this is an airport where I’ve waited over two hours for my luggage on more than one occasion. Tshering was there, with both his hands outstretched with a wonderfully warm welcome. It was good to be back.

The taxi ride in Chicago from the hotel to the airport was interesting to say the least. The driver swerved from lane to lane on the six lane freeway and used the exit and entry ramps as shortcuts, but I will emphasise that there were six lanes and all the vehicles obeyed the unspoken rules of the road, however the taxi driver in Kathmandu from the airport, had no such qualms. There are no marked lanes, but there is comfortably room for two lanes of traffic on each side of the road. It all starts becoming chaos when there is no centre line that the oncoming traffic obeys. Two possible lanes turn into three, four or even five, depending on how much of the road the traffic in one direction can get away with! And I say lanes in the very loose sense of the word, these lanes are imaginary and are inconsistent in width and length from even the vehicle in front of you. So in short, total and utter organised chaos. Organised because the traffic moves in both directions fluidly, but understandably there isn’t a single vehicle without a number of dents and scratches, nor is there a Westerner with his or her eyes open! Seven trips to Kathmandu… still not sure which side of the road they drive on and to be honest I don’t think the Nepalese do either.

I walked into the coffee shop in the hotel and bumped into Nick Farr, not entirely a coincidence as I knew he was in the Radisson at the same time as I was there, but it was a great surprise to see him. He’s leading an Australian group up Mera Peak and invited me to spend the evening with them at a local restaurant. I met Nick on Island Peak in 2011 and we kept in touch and I’m always grateful to him for Skyping Carolynn before my attempt on Cho Oyu to reassure her, and one thing that she came away with from that conversation is ‘no news is good news’. The group he’s leading is large, 20 plus, I think. A mixture of families with teenage children, thirty somethings and of course those in the Autumn of their years, like me, well maybe my leaves have lost their beautiful mature, vibrant colour and are starting to float gently to the ground! But you get my drift, a diverse group. A group of that size with so many different dynamics, makes for an interesting challenge , but a band of brothers united in their goal. I’ve only ever walked with a group of that size once and it can be challenging for any leader. Nick is very experienced and building confidence, resilience and a team spirit is what he does best.

To day is for over indulgence and relaxation, a day to reflect on what lie’s ahead… in the warm Autumn sunshine all looks good, life can look very different when clouds are swirling all around in 60 to 70 km winds and a temperature of -20 degrees. Different, but not necessarily unwelcome!