One of the core philosophies of The Everest Test is that we want to do this thing properly. Be it tasks that can be done in front of a computer, in meeting rooms, on the training field or even in the pub there is no point doing a job half-heartedly and it is with this in mind that Kirt and I flew to Kathmandu on Christmas Eve to make sure preparations for our April expedition were going according to plan.

Lots of people go to the Everest reegion and do various adventure activities, and while many of these are fully accepted by the people of Nepal, some are done without their knowledge, and without the consent of the government.

We are not those people, at least, not anymore! Over the week we were there we met with so many high-ranking people that we returned to London with delusions of grandeur! The Nepal Tourist Board were very welcoming and appreciated our visit, as did the Himalayan Rescue Association.

We had several meetings with both these sets of people and both are a very handy bunch of people to have on board. They also really believe in our idea and feel it could benefit the people of Nepal greatly in terms of generating intrigue about the place. Hopefully we won’t let them down.

Another significant meeting was with the Cricket Association, specifically Binaya Raj Pandey, the President which was a personal highlight. It shows that we are serious about making a difference to the place we are visiting, not just using the place and heading home again. This guy has been involved with Nepali cricket for almost 45 years, that’s longer than anyone on the trip has even been alive - even Zooby!

Outside of these meetings we also spent plenty of time with our Trek Leader, Nir Lama of Peace Nepal Treks as well as several of the guides who will be coming with us up the mountain. We also finalised our route up to Gorak Shep which made the expedition feel all the more real.

Kirt and I will tell more about the other aspects of our trip in our own blogs…eventually, but for now everyone can rest assured that all is being done to make sure the trip is a success.

(Below from left to right is Nir and Billy on Christmas Day, and then myself, Prakash, Bikram - Chairman and President of the Himalayan Resuce - and Kirt)