Hi Guys
Just back from a very successful Mera Peak trip. Made it to the summit. Quite a toughie I must say esp as I got D+V day before summit day. Still made it though. I'll try and do a full walk report but still sorting through tons of pics first. Jagged Globe were awesome and we were really lucky as the group who departed the week before us got crap weather, only 2/12 made the summit and 2 got heliocoptered out with HAPE and HACE (allegedly)
It was very cold, very windy and a lot more snow than anticipated so the itinerary had to be changed somewhat. I got sick in Khare (lots of snow and poo everywhere) so stayed an extra night there while the group ascended to the Mera La, they had an awful night but I made enough of a recovery (thank god for ciprofloxacin) the next day and did a bit of a mammoth ascent from Khare straight up to High camp missing out the Mera La. We had a rough and windy few hours kip at High camp before the summit. There were really strong gusts at the summit so we literally only had a few seconds there. It was a great trip though and jagged Globe were superb.
About the gear - this is difficult. The weight limit at Lukla is now 15KG in TOTAL i.e. main bag and hand luggage, this is impossible to meet with all of the kit advised by JG. We nearly ended up with our bags on a different flight as they said we were overweight despite only 10 people on the plane. A good bribe sorted that out. Its so stupid - they weigh the bags but not people so just wear every bit of gear you can including your plastic boots!!!
I was really happy with all the gear I took. I probably wouldn't change much. I didn't need 2 down jackets - that was seriously overkill and I only wore my big Mountain Equiptment Cho Oyu jacket on summit night - it came off after less than half an hour as i was too hot despite the -25degrees! The only thing i didn't use was the helmet which was annoying as it took up loads of space in the bag - it really isn't needed apart from maybe the walk up the Hinku with rock falls on either side but we just ran passed
if you have any spare gear its great to be able to leave stuff for the porters at the end of the trip, they were truly delighted with it all. I'm very happy to provide a run down of everything i tool if it helps with packing.
Have a great trip Steve you will have a ball
Bex