With only days to go before the opening game of the soccer World Cup in South Africa, the country is absolutely buzzing with excitement, and I’m very happy to be back here to witness it. In November 2009 I left my position as CTO of mobile instant messaging company MXit Lifestyle to take a much anticipated sabbatical. I’ve climbed some high mountains, visited some far-off places in Tibet, dived in the Caribbean and spent time in Silicon...

End of expedition, Kathmandu, 11 December 2009 I’ve been in Kathmandu now for a couple of days again, after the always-exciting flight out of Lukla. Beers has been drunk, and some great dinners had in Kathmandu’s finest local restaurants. After spending a month in such a remote area, it took a while to get used to the mad traffic and bustle of Kathmandu again.  At least the Hotel Shanker provides old-world colonial style peace and...

Monday, 7 December 2009 So after leaving Namche I met up with the rest of the team again at Thame. It was good to be walking again, and I felt healthy and keen on the challenge of Parchamo. We overnighted in Thame and moved up to Parchamo base camp the next day. It was a stiff hike, gaining more than 1000m in altitude to get us to base camp at 4900m. Parchamo base camp is just a rock pile – very rough, and very cold. After another of...

Monday, 30 November 2009, Namche Bazaar After Pheriche we moved up to Lobuche base camp – the only team there. I was still struggling with a chest infection. To put it a different way, when the others were climbing at 6000m, due to reduced oxygen update capacity, I was effectively climbing at 7000m – and for that I was simply not prepared. This was not just the common Khumbu cough. In the end 2 of us with the same affliction had to...

“Summitted Island Peak at 10am local time, Monday 23 Nov. Back at basecamp, and too tired to write more. More to follow tomorrow. Did this one for my friend Michael, and will give more info tomorrow.” Thursday, 26 November 2009 After the summit we spent the night at base camp and then moved down to Dingboche the next day. From Dingboche we move to Lobuche base camp via the settlement of Pheriche. Pheriche has been home to a...

18 November, Dingboche, 4:13pm We left Namche Bazaar and the very comfortable Khumbu lodge early on the 16th for the walk to Deboche. The Khumbu Lodge is where many of the big expeditions like the 96 Everest IMAX one stays and has also been frequented by Jimmy Carter and Robert Redford. We were trying to make good time in order to attend a puja ceremony at the Tengboche monastery along the way. This specific puja is only done once every 12...