Deborah Leary OBE

Everest Base Camp

Having spent 9 years building the business I thought it was time to see some ‘big skies’ and instead of lying on a beach I looked for one of the most extreme things to do – a ‘Bucket List’ moment!

So Everest Base Camp it was.  All for a good cause, the charity being Child Victims of Crime.

This was a 17 day trek, with 7 people I had never met apart from corresponding on email and with at least one of whom I’d be sharing a very small two man tent. That was more daunting than the trek!

We all met up at Heathrow airport, took a flight to Bahrain and then flew from Bahrain to Kathmandu where we stayed for one night, taking a 5 am flight to the worlds fourth most dangerous airport – Lukla, I then spent the next 14 days walking from Lukla to Base Camp and back.  With temperatures ranging from 35^o to torrential rain and blizzard conditions, from sharing a tent, to stopping in teahouses, to sharing living quarters with cockroaches and the odd rat, to being knocked over a mountainside by an out of control yak and cracking my shin bone, this was one unforgettable adventure.

Days started at around 5.30 am with the exception of the final walk to Base Camp which started at 4.30 am.  The final push to Base Camp included a 12 hour trek over some of the toughest terrain imaginable at altitude.

Can’t wait for the next adventure – planning for 2013

So watch this space!

To find out more about the charity Child Victims of Crime go to www.cvoc.org.uk/