Matt squinted as he shielded his eyes from the snow, ice pick in hand. He had lifted his goggles to survey the climb ahead, but the world was a blur of white. Mount Everest seemed to climb ahead endlessly.
The swirling blizzard had suffocated the air with snow and shards of ice, reducing visibility to just a few steps ahead. A thick crust of silvery icicles clung to his beard and moustache, and his lime-green hiking jacket was frosted with white.
He heard a desperate shout from a hundred steps behind him, the words warped by the storm. “It’s no use!”, his summit team pleaded, “The storm is too great, he is lost!” Matt turned to look at the team, their jackets of orange and blue blurred in the distance, their features obscured by the freezing maelstrom of ice and snow.
“I’ll find him or I’ll go to Hell trying!”, Matt spat back with stubborn determination, replaced his goggles, and took a step toward the summit.
The camp appeared over the next crest, a collapsing and battered tent on a snowy plateau, being lashed by icy tongues of wind. A soft glow emanated from within, illuminating the tent a faint red through the snowstorm.
A hope; Matt’s friend had been reported missing many months ago. Many had called Matt a fool when he first vowed to track him down to the ends of the earth. Matt lifted the tent flap cautiously, allowing wind and snow to howl through the canvas.
He sat, cross-legged, watching his compass needle jump wildly by torchlight. His hair and beard had grown long, and his thick mountaineering coat was faded and torn.
Without lifting his head, he spoke, unsmiling. “What took you so long?”, he challenged. His gaze lifted from the hypnotizing torch beam, meeting Matt’s eyes for a tense few seconds. A wry smile broke across his friend’s face, ending the tension, and he held out a hand, meeting Matt’s with a fierce handshake. Their gloves collided with a puff of snow. “You son of a bitch, you’re alive!”
My time in South East Asia is almost finished, and i’ve had an amazing time! I’m flying to Nepal in a few days!
StickyMangoRice 
I will find you…..
Time is running out, we need to find the jade monkey before the next full moon….
Who wrote this? Dez?
Yeah man, it’s me Dez! Hows it going Alec? Sorry im late at replying to messages lately. been occupied in Asia these last 4 months!!
Come home you bastard! Youll be pleased to know that the kid from two hands who we thought was a girl (with the bum bag) is in the latest season of underbelly. And is male.