Logistics team blog

?Mac Mackenney, Mac Mackenney, this is Michael Brown. Radio check over.?

I came to and fumbled for my head-torch. It was 3:00am and Mike Brown was going to try and leave Base Camp again, but this time he already had his radio issued to him and I didn?t really want to get out of my warm sleeping bag.

?Mike Brown, this is Mac, you are loud and clear?.

I rolled over in my sleeping bag and tried to go back to sleep. The rest of the team planned to leave at 5:00am, so I had to be up and about at 4:45. I lay there for what seemed like an age, wide awake and unable to switch off. The next thing I knew was that the alarm on my mobile phone was ringing.

As a dressed, I peered out of my tent and could see that it had been snowing again last night, but nowhere near as much as the day before. The sky was clear and there were climbers on the icefall, all looked well for the team and their climb to Camp 1.

The climbers came in, one by one, to receive their radios, spare batteries, box of matches (to light the stoves) and ration of Cadbury?s chocolate bars. I bid them farewell, wished them a safe journey and then popped down to the dining tent for some breakfast.

We watched a film after lunch and no sooner had the film ended, I received the final radio call to say that Sundeep and Denny were the last to reach Camp 1 and that the team were now complete. It was good news. The icefall is probably the most dangerous part of the whole climb, bar summit day and to have them there all safe and well was a relief.

I hadn?t seen my family since Christmas, so I decided that today was the day to give them a call. Fred and Amy are like grandparents to me ever since mine past away 20 years ago and it was good to hear that they were both well and itching to win money off me at cards! They may be both around the 80 mark, but when it comes to cards, they are as sharp as a dye. I called my Uncle and then my Mum, it was nice to speak to them and it will be good to see them all when I get back to the UK. This project has been my life for over a year now and my family and friends have suffered due to me being so focused on what I had to do.