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The big day; we weren't too upset to be woken at 3.30am having both had a fairly sleepless night with pulse throbbing in our heads and being short of breath if you even rolled over in your sleeping bag. We had breakfast at 4 and met with the others - all very bleary-eyed. Our small group were the only one brave or stupid enough to set off so early - the rest of High Camp's inhabitants had decided to leave at 6 once the sun was up. It was still pitch black apart from a little star light when we set off up the hill at 4.30am. We were in single file using torches, but unfortunately our rechargeable batteries were not up to the task and our torch was useless within a few minutes. This gave us a good incentive to keep up with the others.

It was a beautiful clear night, with amazing stars (we saw Orion for the first time since we got here), although we had to concentrate hard on the path ahead and there was little time for gazing around. The mountains were silhouetted around us and had an imposing presence. Slowly light began to fill the sky, which went from grey to green to blue. However it was hard to appreciate as it was very cold, and extremely hard work ascending the last 700m to the pass. It was a mix of gentle slope and steep climbing, and it felt like you were being suffocated as you tried to work hard. We had to stop a couple of times to let heart rates slow down, but as soon as you stood still the cold started to sting in your fingers and toes (we were trying not to think too much of Herzog's frostbitten digits!).

Finally after a couple of false summits, we reached the top at 5416m - certainly the highest either of us have ever reached under our own steam. We took some photos, and there was a fair bit of slapping one another on the back. Heather managed to video Drew nearly being sick with the exertion and relief after the final push. The views were spectacular, and there were patches of snow on the ground (sadly rock hard, so no snow balls). Our stay was very brief though, as it really started to feel cold once you stopped - it was difficult to take gloves off to press buttons on the camera. Fearing frostbitten extremities, we had a last quick look around, and set off down the other side of the pass.

The descent was very steep and we had to concentrate hard to keep a good footing in the loose scree. We had gone back into the shadow as we started to go down, so it was a relief to reach the sunshine again and start to warm up. We sat soaking up the warmth and drinking our water which had nearly frozen in the bottles. Coming up the other way were a long chain of porters dragging an enormous heavy steel cable which will be used to build a bridge somewhere on Manang side of the pass. This made our bags feel lighter. We stopped for a cup of tea and to rearrange clothing at the first tea house we came to at 4230m. The difference in air was amazing - it felt like the warmth and oxygen we had been starved of were back in abundance.

The 1600m descent from the top of the pass to Muktinath was hard on the legs, and required a lot of concentration despite our weariness. We felt considerable relief that we'd made it over the toughest section of the trek as we neared the destination for the day though, and were rewarded with some great views of Dhaulagiri (7th highest mountain in the world, at 8172m) which we'd not been able to see until then.

We were in Muktinath by 11am in glorious sunshine. We made the most of this and got some clothes washed and up to dry (we'd been wearing pretty much everything in our bags as we climbed the pass!), then grabbed some lunch before a much-needed afternoon nap. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and enjoying the feeling of returning to an altitude our bodies were more comfortable at. Our little group celebrated in the evening with our first beer of the trek with lots of snacks, followed by the best dal bhat yet. Whether it was the beer, or the sense of relief (or a little from column A and little from column B) it was a very merry evening and we collapsed into bed tired but happy.

Dal Bhat for dinner; 9 out of 10 - tasty curry, generous portions and first greens for a few days.

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