We awoke to snow this morning and an overcast sky and started our usual routine of breaking camp and taking our breakfast out doors. We then set off up the trail on our penultimate day's walk to Base Camp. We passed through some woodland to begin with and then headed away from the river and started to gain height. As we popped out of the vegetation we were rewarded with fantastic views of huge cliffs, which contain sacred Buddhist caves. Many Nepalese people trek here on their own personal pilgrimages.

The cliffs lining the valley were immense and we spotted many possible ice climbing lines to the top of these huge crags. As we progressed, the clouds thinned and we had fantastic views of Honku Chuli at the head of the valley. For the first time we now feel that we are truly amongst the mountains. As we continued towards our destination we noticed a considerable amount of bird life including a lone Golden Eagle soaring majestically above our camp site.

We set up camp at a place called Langmale Kharka, at an altitude of 4300 metres above sea level. There are a few stone huts here as Yaks are brought to graze during the summer. Tomorrow we look forward to the last day of the approach walk and the final pull up to Base Camp at 4800 metres (same height as Mt Blanc!). Finally, we will be able to put our tents up and leave them up as this will be our home for the next 7 weeks.