Hi everyone!

Boy, does it feel good to be thawing out in Australia, going to sleep in a real bed, having at least one shower every day, and not having to squat to go to the toilet. Not that I didn't enjoy the temperatures down to minus five, sleeping in a sleeping bag, showering only twice in two weeks of trekking, and manouvering through tied up yaks in the dark to get to the squat toilet. Yes, I survived Everest and have returned to tell the tale!

Our team consisted of myself, my mum, my friend Jenny, and my mum's personal trainer Kelly. To help us achieve our goal of Everest Base Camp, we had a sherpa, assistant guide, cook, four kitchen helpers, four cows/yaks to carry our stuff and a yak man to look after the cows/yaks and make sure they didn't fall off the mountain and become dinner. We were taken care of so well, and I am forever grateful to all the help given to us by our support crew. There were times when I wanted to turn around and give up when the going got tough but my sherpa never gave up on me and his unwavering faith is what got me through to Base Camp in the end.

The trek was fourteen days all up and a typical day would begin at 7am with a steaming hot cup of sugary black tea being bought to our tents. Ten minutes more to enjoy the cocooned warmth of our sleeping bags before its time to get up and get dressed. Breakfast would be porridge or rice pudding, along with omelettes or pancakes. Not bad a way to start the day really. Then we would trek a few hours, carrying our day packs and admiring the spectacular scenery before stopping for an early lunch. Whilst we were trekking the crew would be packing our tents,etc and practically run past us carrying their incredible loads to get to the lunch stop ahead of us to prepare an amazing feast of carbs of all varieties, with a few veges thrown in and maybe a sardine or two, all deep fried of course to kill any bugs. Then a few more hours trekking in the afternoon before we make it to our next camp, where we would huddle around the dung fire eating bikkies or cheese and crackers. A bit of down time to reflect on the days walk or read or write in the diary, then our three course dinner would start coming out - soup (always with lots of garlic to prevent altitude sickness), more carbs and veges, then tinned fruit for dessert. With all this food its no wonder we didn't lose any weight on this trip despite all the walking!

The scenery in Nepal is breathtaking. We had perfectly clear weather, great for taking lots of photos and video (I do hope to email some photos out shortly). We mostly saw other mountains of the Himalayas as we trekked, but from time to time we caught a glimpse of Everest, poking up behind Nuptse and Lhotse. It was surprising that considering the size of Everest we didn't see more of it, but its location behind other quite large mountains keeps up the mystique. In fact, from Everest Base Camp itself, you can't actually see Everest. The other interesting thing was that Base Camp was nothing like I had expected. Theres been a lot of conflict between China and Nepal lately, and as a result Everest was closed to expeditions, so Base Camp was more like it was in Sir Edmund Hillary's day - no tents, no rubbish/waste and not swarming with hundreds of people. In fact, there was no evidence of civilisation there at all. Just us and Khumbu Glacier. On our descent, Everest has been reopened for expeditions to the summit so there was a lot of traffic ascending for upcoming climbs. Every yak in the district was recruited to take supplies to Base Camp in anticipation of another busy season.

We walked about 150km all up, from 2800m to 5340m altitude. Trekking about five hours a day meant my legs had plenty of time for recovery in the evenings and generally they held up pretty well. I was very much surprised by the fact that I didn't get any pain in my legs during this trek. In the first week we had a couple of acclimatisation days where we trekked up to higher altitudes but then came back down to sleep at a lower altitude. This, along with the diamox tablets and generally taking it nice and slow, meant that our team escaped relatively untouched from altitude sickness. Yes, we all had loss of appetite from time to time and poor sleep, and of course feeling breathless simply rolling over in your sleeping bag at night, but no major symptoms. It was surprising the number of people we met along the way that didn't make it Base Camp for whatever reason (going too fast, not having acclimatisation days or generally just being more susceptible to altitude sickness) - it makes our success all the sweeter.

The day of trekking to Base Camp was extremely hard. At nearly 5000m in elevation already, we trekked three hours from Lobuche to Gorak Shep before trekking another six hours to Base Camp return. A lot of the terrain we covered was loose gravel/rocks and unstable boulders to climb over. I found this particularly tough due to having impaired balance and ankle stability as a result of the shooting, not to mention my legs finally feeling very fatigued after a week of intense walking. At times, it was difficult putting one foot in front of the other, and any lapse in concentration would see me slipping and stumbling. The assistant guide took great care of me, leading me by the hand to not only help me balance (I also had a walking pole for balance too) but if I lost my footing he would be there to stop me falling, although on one occasion I did pull him down too.

The next few days coming down the mountain were also difficult. My legs were fatigued and having some weakness in my core stabilising muscles meant that it was hard work concentrating on staying upright and stabilising every step down. Prior to the trek I thought I was at my strongest since the shooting with very little disability apparent. Unfortunately, when you move beyond your comfort zone and start to stress your body in diffferent and more persistent ways, every deficit, no matter how small, becomes apparent. Weak pelvic floor muscles, weak right quads, weak left buttock, weak left calf, poor ankle stability, poor balance and proprioception. Each deficit became more noticeable as the days wore on, but my body is resiliant and I found new ways of adapting so that the stronger muscles worker harder to compensate for the weaker muscles. And all the while, I am grateful that I didn't experience any recurrence of pain.

Thank you all so much for your support for me and Spinal Cure Australia. Together, we have raised over $12,000 which is amazing. A big thank you to my friend Jenny and my mum for their continued support and encouragement on the trek - it was an amazing experience to be able to share with you both and no doubt we will remember it for years to come.

A big thank you to you all!
Verena