Trek description

"Great things are done when men and mountain meet; This is not done by jostling in the street". - William Blake

While I have already posted a copy of my itinerary it probably means next to nothing to most people, the only name recognition likely is Kathmandu and perhaps Lukla, so I decided to post a more indepth description of my journey.
My trek officially gets under way in Lukla the starting point for all trekkers and climbers headed North to the Everest massif. My party, however, will be headed East to the Hinku Valley along a high ridge that will force us to cross several cascading streams and take us through dense rhododendron and Himalayan pine forests. At Tangnag we will take a rest day to both aid acclimitisation as well as allow time to explore an incredible glacier lake North of the village. Tangnag will also be the last sign of human inhabitation we will see for atleast 13 days. Next we will continue on to Khare where we will establish our base camp for Mera peak at 16,729 ft. If all goes according to the schedule we will follow Mera glacier to Mera La and up to the summit three days hence. At 21, 247 ft Mera is the highest trekking peak in Nepal. From the summit no less than 5 of the 14 8,000m peaks are visible, (Kanchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, and Cho Oyu) making it easily one of the most incredible views in the Nepalese Himalaya.
Next we travel through the uninhabited Hunku Valley where isolation and wilderness are unlikely to be of shortsupply. Our destination, Island peak (renamed Imja Tse in the '80s), will require 5 days to reach and the climbing of the technical Ambulapcha La, 18,958 ft. Island peak lies at the base of Lhotse Shar which rises an astounding 8,835 ft from a small pass separating the two peaks. While standing a robust 20,305 ft Island peak appears to cower next to this towering giant. We will follow steep slopes up to high camp from which we will attempt the summit the following morning. A steep and exposed 300 ft ice ramp will necessitate the use of fixed lines to reach the summit ridge. Hopefully after having completed two successful climbs my party will follow the Everest trek route back to civilization, taking 4 days to reach Lukla.
All told I will have spent 23 days in the Himalayas with a couple of days before and after spent in Kathmandu.

The first

"Mountaineering /n./ slow walking uphill while not feeling very well." - Unknown

I should probably start off my blog by stating that although I aspire to be a competent mountaineer I do not yet suffer from the delusion that I am anything beyond a hill walker.
That being said I suppose its difficult to determine at what point one becomes a mountaineer (perhaps akin to determining when a boy becomes a man; in the case of many climbers, never). In many ways this trip is the puberty phase of what I hope to be a long mountaineering 'career' (for lack of a better word). With any luck the awkard phase will pass mostly unnoticed and see me no worse for wear at the end. And if I am fortunate enough to be spared the ability to form rational thoughts for the next few years or suffer from cronic climber's memory then I would very much like to climb one of the 8,000m peaks before I turn 30 (probably not so much while on the climb, but before and after).