AN adventurous Scottish family are celebrating reaching base camp on Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world.
Clare Burton, her husband Greg and their two children, Leo, 12, and Daisy, 11, who are all keen Munro baggers, reached new heights with their trip of a lifetime together last month.
After tackling Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales, completing more than 30 Munros – up to seven in one day – as well as finishing the West Highland Way, they were ready for their next challenge.
Clare said: “We wanted to climb to Everest base camp after falling in love with the Scottish mountains.”
The family, from Stoneybank in Musselburgh, set off for Nepal on October 10, flying from London Heathrow to Kathmandu via Doha, where they spent 24 hours as their connecting flight was cancelled.
“This meant we got to Kathmandu 24 hours later than planned, at 2am, only giving us a few hours to get our duffel bags packed and ready for the trek,” said Clare.
“We got picked up by our guide at 5.45am for our helicopter to Lukla, where our trek began. We also had a porter to carry the duffel bags with our spare clothes and equipment.”
Clare said they all found the trek relatively easy, with Greg and Leo battling headaches due to the altitude, although they were always feeling better again in the mornings.
“We stayed in tea houses on the way up the trek. We were very lucky with the weather with mainly clear skies giving us amazing views of the Himalayas,” she added.
The family scaled an altitude of 5,364 metres (17,598ft) to arrive at base camp on day nine (October 24) of the 13-day trek, which included four days for the descent.
“We were all buzzing to stand on the iconic base camp stone,” said Clare.
She added: “The main goal was for us to reach Everest Base Camp together, which we achieved. The kids absolutely smashed it, we couldn’t be prouder.
“I felt good after base camp and, later that afternoon, went up Kala Patthar with our porter Prem for a better view of Everest. This was 5,550 metres.”
The family are keen to continue their climbing challenges to include Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Toubkal or trek the Tour du Mont Blanc in the future.
