The Final Word...

Well after a year of planning, training and preparation the day is finally here. Tomorrow we fly out to Nepal to begin our adventure.

The last 12 months have been an incredibly busy but rewarding period for me, with the press launch at Trafalgar Square, hiking through the snow in Brecon Beacons and numerous team building events being highlights. The next 19 days promise to be nothing different, although I am acutely aware of the challenge ahead of us.

After a press conference at Lords tomorrow morning I will head home to pack my bags and head to the airport for our evening flight to Kathmandu. After an overnight stay in the capital we take an early morning flight to Lukla to begin our trek.

I want to thank you all for your support over the last few months, particularly those of you have have donated to our charities. Last month I had the opportunity to attend a 'Table Cricket' event organised by the Lord's Taverners, the UK charity we are supporting. 'Table Cricket' is a miniature form of the game developed to give severely physically disabled children the opportunity to get involved in sport. It was quite a humbling experience to see the enjoyment these children were getting out of participation and a reminder to me that this expedition has a real purpose.

There is still plenty of time to donate at http://justgiving.com/chrisbeale and any contribution is greatly appreciated.

Please be sure to follow our progress during the expedition. Every day we will be uploading progress reports via satellite from the mountian and you can view these on http://theeveresttest.com. As Nepal is 4.45 hours ahead of the UK, updates should be available by mid-afternoon UK time.

There will also be daily updates on ITV London Tonight from Monday April 13 and throught the expedition.

If you want to be involved in the outcome of the match then check out the official Stick Cricket version of The Everest test at http://theeveresttest.com/stickcricket.html. Here you have the chance to play as me in our own video game!!

Well, that’s all from me for now, so once again thanks for your support and please follow our progress online and on TV.

Finding Time To Breathe

So its been 2 weeks since my last post and so much has happened its hard to remember it all.

We had a couple of great events a final expedition meeting and the announcement of atitle sponsor in Nokia Maps.

From a personal perspective things have been non-stop as I try and get the last of the website changes made and work with the expedition leaders to get hold of all of the Tech Kit we need for the mountain.

I haven't really thought too much about my own gear although I think I have most of what I need. Hopefully 'll get a chance to look into that over the weekand although currently my biggest concern is getting hold of all our comms gear and making sure it works so we can provide updates from the mountain.

My final changes to the website will be be going up tonight hopefully - look out for some exciting stuff there in the next day or so. Once those are done hopefully I will be able to focus more on getting myself organised and prepared to walk for 10 days and play a game of cricket on a mountain. Although I still have to worry setting up a wireless network via satellite modem at 17,000 ft with no electricity so we can send the world daily updates....

Chris