I was sick at home for most of March, hospitalized twice, under a fair bit of stress of not knowing how I was going to make this happen, under immense pressure of letting people down after a year of effort and then landed into a full blown expedition with less than 24 hours in Kathmandu.
Stack the 10 hour time-zone shift, altitude and trekking for 4-7 hours a day, 3 hours sleep a night and the rigamarole of pack, unpack, load up, shoot, run, fall behind, catch up, delegate to the amazing Sherpa film crew, deal with the rain and moisture and everything else the Himalayas was throwing at us and it’s fair to say it was rather overwhelming. My main goal was to just not get sick. It’s in these moments where you trust your experience and your abilities, the team you’ve put in place, the partners you’re working with and the people who believe in the big picture and suddenly the unknown quickly coverts to energy, positivity, creativity and pure flow.
I knew the first 7 days would be tough and I’ve come out on the other side. I feel great and I’m acclimatizing well despite all the running around on the trails with cameras. My Sherpa film crew are in sync, the guides and @garrettmadison1 are a dream to collaborate with and the women climbing from the Arab world are nothing short of inspiring.
Big thank you to PK Sherpa for having my back and being such an amazing support system. All is right in the world in this moment as we make the approach to Everest basecamp where the climb to the top of the world begins.