In Xigatse we started to feel that we are on the way to Everest. Now and then we could see the international teams on the road. We met with a 14-climber team from the UK with the goal to climb North Col this year. A different team came from Russia with 5 climbers.

This morning we left Xegare for a four hour drive to Everest Base Camp. At first the weather looked really bad but as we climbed higher up the clouds moved away slowly. This is when everyone hopes Mt Everest will move out from the clouds. It’s almost like someone is trying to hide what we want to see. Suddenly we can see Cho Oyu with its 8500m and it looks so big and beautiful. We stopped our car at the altitude of 4900m and walked out into sunshine and no wind, just awesome and perfect weather. All cameras were on in all directions ofcourse. We had one big cloud left and it could only be Everest behind that one. Some kind of hole appeared in the big cloud and it was the eye of Mt Everest poking out and we became extremely excited as a group. It’s one year ago I saw this amazing mountain and it hit me again when I could see it. This mountain has an extremely strong attraction that nothing can be compared to. I feel it even stronger this time. During fifteen minutes the cloud dissolves completely and I can see the ridge from North Col to the peak. The entire ridge produces snow in the wind shadow. We still have 25km to go so it’s time to get on.

We gain altitude minute by minute and finally we arrived at the famous Rong Phuk Monastery which is attan altitude of 5000m. It’s a tradition to stop by and support the monks and receive a blessing from the monks living there. It’s a very small monestary and the connection to Everest is strong. We were invited into something that looks like a kitchen and living room at the same time. We meet with monks, both men and women, and other people living there. I am curious and try to understand what people do here but when a little five year old child appears in front of me I dropped that! I couldn’t and asked th monk if I could have the child on my lap. At first he was a bit afraid but soon we were friends. They served a special traditional drink tasting like a mix of milk, honey and salt which I already last year had a hard time to drink which the monk new and laughed at me. People at this monestary are very relaxed and show true happiness. I have so many unanswered thoughts about them but it’s time to drive on the last ten minutes to the Base Camp.

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My plan was to combine the arrival with the sound track “Alive – Empire of Sun” and so I did! This might sound silly but before I left Sweden I decided to try to combine activities that would strengthen my happiness even more and this was one opportunity. I believe one important part of my success in this climb will be about happiness! I think you need this, have you tried this in your daily life? I met with too many people not feeling happiness in the daily life, you need this just like food.

By now the road is really bumpy and you have to watch your head in the car. Suddenly a huge one by one km large and old flat glacier appears in front of us. Its Everest Base Camp after five days traveling. It’s covered by an endless mix of stones and gravel in different colors. Our camp is setup in one corner of this big field and several others are in the other end. Our camps position is great so we can sleep well without being disturbed by climbers seeming to be here for something else than climbing. The weather is surprisingly warm with 11 degrees, we have a blue sky and the wind we want. What a great start!

The Sherpa Shakare and his team arrived by truck some days ago and have worked intensively with getting ready for our arrival. There eyes and faces express some type of proudness when they welcome us to the camp.