Davis Langdon’s record of achieving highs in the construction arena is well known but their “highs” in the recreational and geographical sense, particularly related to Mount Everest as the highest point in the world, are less well known. They include the following:
 
1841 – Sir George Everest, after whom the mountain was named and who was closely related to the Everest who was a founder of Davis Belfield and Everest (the original name of our firm), carried out the original survey of Mount Everest.
1998 – Bear Grylls, sponsored by and representing Davis Langdon, became the youngest Briton to summit Everest and return alive.
2010 – Davis Langdon business cards seen at Everest Base Camp when Roy Turner, long time ex-director still working at the Durban office, trekked there in May 2010 and flourished them for the attached photo.

Having been to the top of Kilimanjaro in 2007, last year I was suffering from “mountain withdrawal symptoms” and decided that, even if I cannot get to the top of it, I should see and feel the highest mountain in the world (8,848m) by making the trek to the Everest Base Camp.
 
After a lengthy flight via Johannesburg and Doha in Qatar, our ten person team led by Sean Wisedale, who summited Everest in 2003, flew into Katmandu the capital of Nepal on Saturday morning 24 April. Even in the capital the roads are very basic and narrow with swarms of motorbikes and small cars and taxis buzzing and weaving between the pedestrians with hooters blaring creating a busy vibrant city feel. The Hyatt Hotel, where we stayed for two nights, provided a serene sanctuary from which to sortie out into the bustling street markets where most goods are considerably cheaper than here in SA.
 
We felt the pulse of the largely Buddhist populace in visits to the large Buddha, a domed temple topped by the “all-seeing” eyes on all four faces,  adorned by colourful prayer flags - and where we spun the prayer wheels which are believed to send the message of peace out into the world.
 
Fortunately the weather was clear early on Monday morning so that the old twin- engined Otter aircraft (which seats around 16 passengers) was able to make the half hour flight between the mountains and land with a jolt on the steeply sloping uphill runway at Lukla, which at 2,800m is the highest commercial airstrip in the world, and come to a stop before the wall cut into the hillside at the top.
 
Trekking through the scenic Himalayan foothills of Nepal is well organized but very basic with accommodation providing a bed, toilet and washing facilities together with good basic food at the “teahouses” in the hamlets along the trodden routes. The buildings in the foothills are generally constructed from the local stone which is painstakingly squared and laid by the local stone masons. There is no vehicular access so all other materials as well as all the provisions are carried in either by yaks or Nepalese porters who carry huge loads on their backs with the main load strap across their foreheads - don’t apply for this job unless you have a short strong neck!
 
Over the next seven days we worked our way up to a height of just over 5,000m at Gorak Shep, which is the last hamlet before Everest Base Camp. We scrambled down and clambered out of steep river valleys, crossing the rivers on cable bridges, sometimes around 200m long, and skirted along the sides of glacial valleys. During this trek the first sighting of Everest in the distance was on the Wednesday morning and thereafter one is really walking in the shadows of the icy giants of the natural world including Nuptse, Lhotsi, Makalu, Ama Dablam, Pumori and Everest - and feeling the awesome splendor of these powerful snow-clad peaks which cannot be sensed from photographs.

We arrived at Gorak Shep before lunch time so that some of us had time to climb to 5,600m on the summit of the nearby peak of Kalar Patar from which we snatched excellent views of the high peaks through the breaks in the snow which was falling intermittently that afternoon, as a prelude to a substantial snow-fall that night, making the climb and descent quite tricky.
 
Despite the steady ascent to allow for acclimatisation to the altitude, one feels the effect of the reduced oxygen above 5,000m and there were a few sore heads that evening. Snow blindness is also a hazard to be avoided by wearing sun glasses to reduce the glare of the bright sun off the snow and ice. I spoke to the girlfriend of one young trekker who was suffering from this and they needed to stay at Gorak Shep for 3 to 4 days for the burnt skin on the surface of his eyes to recover so that he could see again.
 
On Tuesday morning we left Gorak Shep early and walked along the side of the Khumbu glacier, with its blue ice blocks, up to Everest Base Camp, en-route seeing several icefalls when avalanches of snow and ice came cascading down the opposite side of the Khumbu valley. These avalanches of snow and ice feed the glacial flow but are a nightmare for climbers who would be quickly buried if caught in their path.
 
Base Camp at the time of our visit contained approximately 100 tents, mostly small two- man mountaineering tents and a few larger team communal tents. Only genuine climbers who are attempting to summit Everest together with their support teams are allowed to stay at base camp, so that our visit was limited to enjoying the mountain aura, walking through the camp and chatting to the climbers who are expectantly waiting for a favourable forecast of a window in the weather to set out upwards through the glacial snow. The monsoon summer rains fall as snow at this altitude and winter temperatures are too low to survive so summit attempts are only made in the months just before and just after summer.
 
The Davis Langdon business cards were on display for the photographs taken at the EBC entrance to celebrate reaching our destination, and after savouring the spirit of the environment and the tour of the camp, we embarked on the lengthy return trip to overnight at Gorak Shep.
 
The next three and a half days were fairly leisurely as we enjoyed plenty of stops for tea, coffee and buns on the trek back to Lukla, where we had a celebration farewell party with our Nepalese guides and porters who had carried our overnight bags.
 
Sunday morning was just clear enough for flying and after a high speed take-off from the short downhill runway with a sheer drop-off at the end, we winged our way back between the mountains to Katmandu and a comfortable couple of nights at the Hyatt as a reintroduction to civilisation before flying back to sunny South Africa.