I leave April 3rd, 2012. We expect to be gone six to eight weeks. I am climbing with my old climbing partner Bill Burke who is the oldest American to climb everest www.eightsummits.com. We arrive in Kathmandu April 5th and fly out to Lukla (the most dangerous airport in the world – seriously that is [...]
Final Thoughts on Everest Summit Night. I am continually asked, which I think is to be expected, how I feel about not summiting. The thing that makes it easier is coming so close. The thing that makes it harder is coming so close. It doesn’t help that I feel confident that I would have summited. [...]
May 23 -24 Everest Summit Pyramid Extremely Cold, Windy and Dark I’ve always wished life had a sound track. Then you would know when the music was getting louder that the killer was behind you raising his knife. Just before we left our tent Puchhang changed out our O2 tanks for fresh ones. When he [...]
I have been unable to post since May 16 because of our summit push and retreat from the mountain. I’ve decided to post my summit day now since that is what most people are interested in and jump back and catch the interim days next. At present we are finally back in KTM after a [...]
C2 to C3, 23,600 feet Summit Push May 20 Sunny and Mild This morning I begin my push for the summit. I will move to C3 today and C4 tomorrow. If the weather is cooperating and I feel good when I get to C4 I’ll leave for the summit that night. From C2 there is [...]
BC to C2 20,000 May 19, 2009 Mild and Windy This morning we moved all the way from BC to C2. We skipped C1 as supposedly we are acclimatized enough now not to need the intermediate stop. Unfortunately, the food and water (or fuel to melt snow for water) that were suppose to be a [...]
Camp 2 May 19 20,000 feet Sunny and mild, not much wind Horrible night. I tossed and waited for day light all night long. It isn’t unusual to not sleep the first night at a new altitude but I have been here before for several nights. I didn’t have any appetite when I got here [...]
Tonight will be the next to last night at BC. I leave in the morning for C2 and eventually the summit, I hope. When I come down I will probably spend one night in BC to pack and then I will begin the long walk home. It seems surreal after all this time. I’ve spent [...]
Summit teams and dates have been set! It appears that the weather will be favorable for a summit attempt the 20th through the 23rd and possibly until the 26th. We have split into two teams. I will be on the first wave set to summit the 21st. The second group will shoot for the 23rd. [...]
We decided to spend another day here. It was snowing like crazy this morning and although it would have been a pleasant walk up to Lobuche in the snow the footing would have been treacherous. Parts of the trail are very rocky and the snow was just wet enough to have made it pretty slippery. [...]