SA ‘Team North: South’ to embark on 11-Day Mount Everest base camp trek

The team will trek 130km, experience temperatures of -20°C and oxygen levels below 50% as they reach an altitude of 5,644m at Kala Pathar.The team is known as Team North South, as from the KZN's North and South Coasts as well as from Johannesburg.

- MONISHKA GOVENDER

They are slated for Kathmandu on Saturday and commence their climb near Lukla in eastern Nepal, which is 2,860m above sea level.

The team will reach base camp (5,364m) from April 22, and will make their journey to Kala Pathar (5,644m) on April 23, with the descent from Kala Pathar the same day, and the team will reach Lukla on April 25.

Team North South was informally conceived in casual conversations from lifelong friends around the first Comrades Marathon last year.

To prepare over the years, the team has done various hikes, such as Mont Aux Sources, Gray's Pass with Champagne Castle and Monk Cowl, Tomatu hike and Thaba N'tshiygwa, Rhino Peak, Tugela Innes, County Tops, Twins Peak and the Bell Traverse, Otter Trail, Mnweni, Kilimanjaro, coastal trails, fish river canyon and hikes abroad.

The team includes father and son, Sanjay and Praval Bodasing, as well as Subramoney Iapingo, Rajen Pillay, Anesh Rampurtarb and Mahir Dev Maharaj.