Morale

It's never easy when people drop out of things, especially as far into a journey as we have already come. In the last few weeks we've actually lost 5. Tenzing have lost a couple of players (Charlie Meek and Charlie Brewer) and our support crew, The Trektators have lost Laura, Elaine and Greg.

All had really valid reasons, and it was a tough decision for all of them to come to. We always knew we'd lose a few before even getting on the plane, I'm just grateful that these guys did the hard thinking and made their choice early enough for us to find suitable replacements.

This has all come as a disapointment to many and of course morale is some quarters has dipped a little. When this sort of thing happens, innevitably questions are asked - what could we have done differently? It also throws focus a little on the project as a whole.

In setting up this expedition, Wes and I have created an environment where people can get involved as much or as little as they like. Those that step up and make the effort will and already are taking more out of it. It's impossible to hold people's hands through all this, but we're always available to hear concerns.

As much as I'm gutted to lose those members of our little project, I have amazing faith in the principle members of this expedition. We're already massively on the case filling the spaces and should soon have a full medical team, along with DOP, photo-journalist and round the world yachtsman!

In the meantime, just in case anyone's marale is still flagging, can we remember that we're going to be playing cricket on Mount Everest almost 5 months to the day from here. If that's not enough, check the photo that I took last time I was there (taken from Kala Patta, which overlooks our cricket pitch as well as Everest Base Camp.)