People

Back Row: Sherpa Pemba, Steve, James, Head Sherpa Dawa, Sherpa Dendi, kitchen boy

Front Row: kitchen boy, Mike, kitchen boy, Sherpa Nima, Tim

(The kitchen boys are one up the ladder from ordinary porters and often carry the heaviest weights)

Six of us did the Terra Firma Makalu Base Camp trek in April 2001.

• Tim had recently joined Terra Firma. They had sent him off to Nepal to get some trek experience. He was very fit, having just returned from their Everest Base Camp trek.
• Mike was Danish, but resident in London. After a long spell selling boats, he was about to go back to college again. Mike had travelled all over the world, often completely on his own. In his mid twenties, he was active, competitive and perpetually hungry.
• Steve, a heart surgeon (and top tri-athlete) and James, a student, was father and son. Both had done lots of walking on Scottish mountains.
• Pat was in his later fifties and had joined the trek at the last minute. He was accustomed to doing most of his climbing by himself, at a cracking, non-stop pace.

Sherpas

• Dawa was the Sirdar in overall charge of the expedition. I had trekked with him twice before and have the greatest respect for him as a man and as a guide.
• I was delighted to find out that Nima was head cook. I had sampled his excellent cooking on a previous expedition.
• Other Sherpas were Dendi, Pemba and three kitchen boys and there were around twenty porters.

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