Warrington couple Paul and Shelley Hersey have left Kathmandu to attempt to make mountaineering history on an expedition in the Himalayas.
The couple reported on social media they were to start a two-day drive from Kathmandu to the Taplejung district last Friday and then trek for 10 days to establish a base camp at 5000m.
''This may be the last post we are able to do for the next five weeks.''
After establishing base camp, they had 24 days to climb 6800m Anidesha Chuli - also known as the White Wave - and if all went to plan, they would return to Kathmandu about May 22.
Anidesha Chuli is in the Kangchendzonga region of eastern Nepal, bordering both India and China.
Mr Hersey said in January that if his wife reached the summit she would become the first New Zealand woman to reach the top of an unclimbed mountain of that height and their climbing partner, John Price, would become the youngest Australian to climb an unclimbed mountain of that height.
Mr Hersey said he expected the most challenging part of the climb would be getting through the 1000m icefall on the last two or three days of the expedition.
Queenstown climber Ben Dare was rescued from the mountain last May when his climbing partner, Scott Blackford-Scheele, fell 90m, sustaining a head injury.
At the time, the pair were 400m from the summit.
