Everest Blonde Interviewed!

I actually didn't have any appetite reduction at all amazingly enough I think I was the only member of our team that didn't loose any weight! I just knew it was very important to keep my body "fueled" so to speak, and if I had lost weight I would have put protein powder in my cereal to try and keep the weight on.

If we were at base camp (we were obviously on the mountain a lot of the time) and trekkers come to our camp we were pretty hospitable - we had a bunch of trekkers come to our camp for lunch or tea. It's nice to see some different faces and hear a more recent update as to what's going on in the world.

Luckily I was one of the first people on the summit this year so I didn't come across any bottlenecks at the Hilary step. Although, I think it could be a problem causing serious time delays which you really don't want up at that altitude. On the fixed lines, its chaotic. It was like a huge fishing net up there, old ropes from numerous past expeditions - you just grab the whole lot and heave yourself up the rope and hope for the best. There were no separate descent fixed lines which would definitely help reduce traffic (there weren't any when I went for the summit anyway)

Yes I will, I'm putting together a talk and I would like to write a book some time soon.

Firstly I would like Darren to know that I didn't look remotely photogenic when I was in Nepal!! I met two of the climbers trekking in, and as we were one of the first teams on the mountain (as were Discovery Channel) they asked me to feature in their documentary, they also liked the angle that I was a fairly inexperienced climber, only been climbing for three years and wanted to see how I fared. The Irish girls arrived at very different times; Sam arrived two weeks after Claire so the competition was never that prevalent as it was always assumed Claire would go for the summit way before Sam, which is what happened.

I didn't have a moment where I thought it was actually over, however there were a lot of times on the mountain especially in the Khumbu icefall and above 25,000ft where that objective danger risk is high. I had to confront a lot of my inner fears throughout the climb. 

My most useful kit was my hand warmers. Unusual kit, probably something girly that I took onto the mountain that the guys would give me grief about!!

There is not a huge amount of offering going on during the climb. As I mentioned I think both men and woman find it tough and it's very much an each to their own kind of deal. If I needed help I generally asked for it.

I hadn't done a huge amount of climbing prior to Everest, I climbed with the Chilean team about four peaks in Chile and two in Ecuador- all around 6,000m. I had also climbed Aconcagua and a few in the Tetons etc, nothing like Everest. It was way more difficult than I thought it would be, it's a tough mountain.