I have to admit I did not sleep much last night and it looks like tonight will be much of the same.  Bud called this morning to update me on the summit schedule.  He said they have decided to spend the night at Camp 4 and plan a summit for around 10:00 a.m. our time on Friday morning.  This will allow a trip back to Base Camp in one day. 

They had a long day getting to Camp 4 as they had to deal with a congested climbing trail. Since the weather window for summit opportunity has narrowed this year, this was a pretty predictable outcome.  One of the results of that congestion is that it took longer than anticipated to arrive at Camp 4.  Hurry up and wait!  Hurry up and wait!  How frustrating, but mountain climbing seems like alot of that to me.

Camp 4 is at 26,300 feet and must feel like the top of the world. Bud is not a real excitable guy.  But he was giving rave reviews for the “unbelievable vistas” and “awesome views.”  It was about at this point he began to get a little breathless and decided he needed to put his oxygen mask back on.

He will call me from the summit, provided he can convince his sat phone that he is in Nepal, not China.  He told me that some of the communication problems we have had are due to geographical phone confusion.  I can certainly understand that.  You have a hard time convincing me that we don’t go North from Columbus, Georgia to get to Destin, Florida.  I will post his summit as quick as I can get on the computer after he calls me.
Wow, this is surreal.

Terri