Saturday, May 8, 2010

Personal Thanks and recognitions

Personal May 8, 2010
Friends, colleagues, family and friends of friends
This has been 1 of the most remarkable things I have ever done and seen. Without you as a supporter, I would not have experience what I have done over the past 35 days.
Climbing is one thing,( something I have been doing for almost 8 years now with little fanfare) but helping people understand what I did everyday when I climbed ( fun fast paced learning is what it is called), in a place that is the most unbelievable place on earth, is a feeling that I will never forget.
I was your lab rat and it was fun and exciting and I hope one day again, you can come along and learn even more in a another part of the world where I will be climbing. I have never done a blog. I have never even done a diary. I had always lived for the moment because this was a personal thing but this was the first for me. I opened myself up to the world on a mountain when all odds were against me, even though I had trained exceptionally hard for this for over 2 years. I was not comfortable in doing it at first due to the high success rate of failure in reaching the top but I would not trade this experience now for anything in the world as it shows me that if something is interesting and someone people know is doing it, it can be a learning experience for everyone even when the goal is not met. (I still have to tell you that I am so disappointed in the way it ended and I am sorry I was not able to give you even more)
Everest is a special place and I know each of you learned more about Mt Everest than you could have ever imagined. I know this because I got email, I got blog replies, I got phone calls and my family got more personal contact on a daily basis that ever before on any topic since I have been alive and that was 48 years ago. I heard from people on 6 of the 7 continents and a lot of them knew nothing about me climbing before much less Mt Everest. That is totally amazing!!!! I appreciated your prayers and support and it must have worked because I am coming home safely with everything attached and the mind is still good.
At this point (as I sit in this cold tent begging for some warm weather), I really am not interested in coming back to MT Everest but I also know time heals a lot of old wounds. (But it will have to be a lot of time) It still has a special place in my heart but it has taught me some very hard lessons with my physical body but also with my ego. I have my list to go back and reevaluate what happened, why? What could have been done different etc. I have quite a long list to go through but rest assured if I can conquer some of these things in a different day under different circumstances, I will make another run at this great mountain.
Again Thanks for all you have done for me. I hope that I will see some of the people that I have corresponding with in the last month before I have to climb this mountain again.

Reflexion day and get travel plans home

Sat May 8th.
Planning to go home (logictics)
I was awaking by the sun from a long night of restless sleep around 730 am. I met Jim for breakfast (ate 6 sausage patties with Heinz %& and they were delicious along with some great scrambled eggs and to discuss “now How do it get out this place to get home?” and let me tell you that it is not that easy.
I had already told him that I wanted to take the helicopter out to save me from walking 3- 4 extra days so he had already checked on this potential situation. The other problem we have is that Katmandu was going through almost the identical situation that BKK had been going through with the “red shirts” It had caused a “strike” in town and the town was only operating on a 12 hour day (6am -6 pm) and things were getting pretty difficult to navigate. Restaurants were running out of food, business running out of fuel etc and the town is on the verge of major shutdown and I want to get back to bkk ASAP.
I think we now know I will walk down to Pangboche and catch a helicopter all the way to KAT now where we were looking at Luckla and then trying the plane ride. I just didn’t want to do this and chance another luggage deal and maybe a deal with bad weather than would keep me in Luckla an extra night.
I am trying now to be back in BKK on Thursday May 13th if all goes well and hopefully be in the US sometime the last part of the month.
I will continue the blog as I traveled home.

Decison Day and the second guessing

Friday May 7th
Decision Day on the future of the climb
I was awaked about 7 with the noise of the kitchen. I knew when I open my eyes I had no other choice but to go down so when Nima opened my tent I told him that I needed to go down. He wanted me to discuss with Jim and confirm our path. I chatted with Jim on other options but I knew in my heart, I had no other choice but to go down. The CLIMB WAS OVER FOR STEVE AND TEAM FOR EVEREST 2010.You could feel it in the tent when Nima was in there to make the judgment call with Jim and I, even though the group knew it already without understanding the conversation. Then they were scared to be around me and didn’t know what to say so the next 15 mins or so was very awkward.
Nawang, the only one who speaks good English, came up to talk for the group. He was a monk for 12 years and is a very soft spoken compassionate man. All he could do is hug me and tell me about his life of climbing Mt Everest. He started at 19 years old and it took him 6 times before he could summit. It was a nice feeling that almost made me cry as I know it was from his heart but he just didn’t know what to do in this situation. After this, it was time to move. Things had to get back down to base camp and I had a long day to get back to base comp back through the Ice Falls.
Ok enough of the soft stuff, Nima and I decided we needed to leave in the next 15 mins. This was around 9 am and with the heavy snow and me less than 100% we were planning on 6 hours where we had done it in less than 5 just a week ago.
We started walking to camp 1 and the weather was actually pretty good. A little hot with some sunshine but the fog was coming up from base camp which I thought would be good. We made it down to camp 1 in 1.5 hours and I still felt pretty good. We fought each other about crampons all the way down the mountain because I didn’t want to wear them due to the heavy snow. I knew at places it was a little more dangerous to be without them but the snow buildup would be time consuming along with fatiguing if we added this to the equations. I won the battle until we reached the last ladder before the Ice Falls. I was glad I did as the last 100 meters I walked with the crampons before we entered the Ice fall was pure hell with the snow build up but we had made it safely.
The first 2 places in the ice fall to me are the most dangerous. It is 3 vertical ladders hanging on the side of a mountain that has shifted several feet since this adventure has started. The ladders also were now about 10 feet below the top line of the wall. I have a picture but as usual it doesn’t show how I viewed it. I navigated the top to get on the ladder and made my way down it slowly. Finally I was at the bottom of the crevasse, now we had to go back up the other side with 3 different ladders. Now 1 hard one down and I more wall to scale down. This is another drop of some 100 foot down but without ladders. (I really don’t know which I prefer but I think without ladders is better) I made it down with a hitch and know I knew the worse was over. There was plenty more of downhill stuff to navigate but not the length of these too wall descents at 1 time.

We continued on and I felt pretty good but I also remembered that most of all of this section above the “football field” was all downhill so all I had to do is to hang on and point them down hill.
We had just called Jim and told them we had entered the “popcorn’ area and we should be down in about 2 hours. We continued to move pretty good when I came to a crevasse that was about 6 ft across and it struck me as being a little wide especially for Nima who is so short. Then a few more feet and I had another large one which was probably closer to 7 feet wide and I went on over because I had momentum but then I stopped Nima. The next step was about 14 feet down and the ladders were just hanging by the ropes. We had just had a collapse in the ice fall and we had entered the region. About that time Nima was yelling to me to clip into the safety rope and get back up the hill until we knew what was happening.
About that time Wally’s 3 Sherpa’s came upon us and wanted to take a look at what had happened. They clipped and took a look and we called the Ice Dr’s for their help.
During the next 1.5 hours, Nima and 1 of Wally’s guides tried to fine ways around this pass but found nothing. It was snowing, it was cold and it was getting late and the Ice Fall doctors were still an hour away from us so Nima took it upon himself to repel down to the area and retie the ladders well enough for us to get across. (This was a place of 4 ladders covering about 80 feet across various crevasses that had dropped about 14 feet from the original location. I have a picture) It was funny that Nima got in front of me and said let’s go and was moving quiet quickly. I later found out that this was because he didn’t want me to think about anything but following him so we could get out there without any issues. It really didn’t matter as I was cold, numb and tired due to sitting there 2 hours while we waited for it to be repaired and it was snowing like crazy. As I sat there I thought this was probably another sign for me to go home. We met the Ice Fall Dr’s about 30 mins later and Nima informed them to go up and repair the place as he had only done it temporarily to get past it. (Nice!!)
Now we were finally on our way home and we had called Wally to have the camp send us some lunch in the bottom of the falls. At about 30 mins from the end we were met by Tracy, Jetta and Dawa with drinks and grilled cheese sandwiches. This was very nice of them and it help ease the pain to the finish line.
This was the end of the day for me because I was finally out of the Ice falls and off that Mountain.
As we arrived home everyone was so nice and I just went to sit in the dining tent to talk to Jim. I was still struggling with the decisions that I had made earlier in the day and I just wanted confirmation that I had done the right thing and also for the right reasons. Climbing mountains are learning experiences and you have to be smarter and wiser every time you go up a mountain so I needed to discuss many issues with Jim. The People in the camp knew what was happening and was very accommodating to me with clean socks, new shoes, my jacket and all of this while this discussion plus a few personal phone calls to some of my friends and family.

We had dinner and I headed off to the tent for a nights’ sleep at a lower altitude and everyone had said how much better I already sounded vs that morning at 21000 ft.
The night would turn out to be another hard one as I began to question all the decision that I had made that morning as I was feeling better but at the end of the day it was still the right decision and one thing for sure the mountain is not going anywhere and I am so much smarter today than I was when I started this adventure 35 days ago. I have not giving up climbing I will just have to change some habits if I want to come back to Everest.

Rest Day ABC camp ( inspiring words from a new Friend

Thursday May 6th
Rest Day at Camp 2

We awoke at sunrise on the tent which is around 740am. It had snowed all night again so it was nice to have the sun get all the frost melted off the inside of my tent. It was really cold last night.
I didn’t feel that well when we woke up but I did want to get out and move around for the day. We had planned to go for a walk around 10 am maybe for an hour or so just up towards camp 3 (Nawang and me)
I could hear Dave Morgan and Melissa talking in the dining tent so I just stayed in the tent enjoying the morning until I heard them leave for their tents. We were sharing dining tents with them and it just happened that we overlapped one day as they had come down from camp 3 late last night. Dave is a good friend of Jim’s and an accomplished guide in his own right with multiple summits of Everest under his belt and he is guiding (filming for First Ascents (Eddie Bauer) for Melissa who is trying to become the first American woman to summit Everest without oxygen. She had tried last year with the First Accents Dream team but could ONLY summit with Oxygen. She is a very nice (early 30’s) woman and she later came back in the tent to talk to me while she waited on Dave to get ready to come back down to base camp. She was a very nice, compassionate woman and I enjoyed and appreciated her comments. Her occupation is a guide all over the world and she lives in Idaho but guides for RMI. She had heard about my problem and synthesized with me and was a very open and nice and offered some suggestions. Typically people like her are all about themselves and do not think much about us “weekend warriors” up in their territory but I can tell you that she was very nice and very nice looking also. They were heading down to the lower cities to breathe some heavier air and eat some different food because the high camp food is really bland. This really makes you feel bad when she has done this a couple of times and I am sitting there lumbering to make it to camp 3. Anyway you get the picture. All of us need to be humble at times to push us forward and she did this for me.
After I finished a good breakfast of pancakes, oatmeal and bacon, Nawang and I started out on our trek.
It was nice and sunny and we trekked up to the top of the campsites where all the big boys had their sites. Quite impressive and we then continued towards camp 3. After about 40 mins to a good pace walking I needed a drink of water. It was nice and I got a good education from Nawaang about the mountains and where all he had guided. He is a really nice guy and a good guide. We got up after a short bit and I told him that I had had enough. I wanted to get to the base of the Lhotse face but at that time I told myself to conserve energy for tomorrow climb. I felt ok and then we proceeded back down to the camp. Jim was happy that I made it past the upper tents and we would then plan for tomorrow’s run to the top of camp 3.

We returned home and had lunch then I headed to the tent to rest and thin about tomorrow. We had a talk scheduled wit Jim about 6 pm to discuss tomorrow.
When 6 came I talked to Jim about a couple of things. Could/should I stay another night to see if I could recover or just make the decision to come down? Nima stepped in and said let’s not decide tonight but wait until 8 am tomorrow. He really wanted me to go up but he was afraid I would be too weak to come back down and was concerned about my size if they had to get me back down. (I later found this out)
He brought me a good dinner (chicken, Hot dog wieners and boiled rice with butter) and I settled in for the night knowing that I had to make a major decision about tomorrow.
I rolled around for more than hours wrestling with the decision based on the way I felt and the magnitude of my decision. I can tell you it was not easy. I can tell you that the Lhotse face scared me in the condition I was in right then because with the conditions of the mountains one slipped and I could e hurt or even killed. But I also can tell you that I didn’t want to give up. I had never given up under these circumstances and I didn’t want to do it now. SO I can tell you May 6th at ABC was a long night for me to digest.

I finally fell asleep and waited for the 8 am call in the morning

Hard lonely day on the way to ABC camp

Wednesday May 5th
Trip from Camp 1 to Camp 2
We got up at 8 am about the time the guys arrived from the base camp. They had left about 4 am on their way to camp 2 with Nima and me. I got out of the tent and knew we were in for a hot day so I double checked to make sure I had full water bottles and some sweets to help me along the trial which should be no more than 4- 5 hours. Jim and I had done it in 3.5 hours the last trip but the snow was about 15 inches deep and this would make it slower with crampons and even slower without so we chose crampons until we go finished with the ladders.
I was doing well about the first hour and was moving up but I was sweating faster than I could get water in my body. I continued on up until we got to the last steep ladder and I told Nima he had to help me with my backpack. I was out of gas. I finally made it over the last ladder and was out of water, couldn’t pick up my backpack and quite frankly couldn’t go anywhere. I told Nima to go ahead and get me some water that I would keep moving if I could and I would meet one of the other guys but please bring me more to drink. He didn’t want to leave me but we had cleared all the ladders and I could see the trail even though visibility was only about 15 feet. We finally called Jim and Jim told Nima to go on up and get some help (water etc) and Jim and I decided it was best if I could to camp 2 and I agreed.
I sat there almost 45 mins. I was completely dehydrated for some reason. I had been drinking on the trail, I had drunk almost 2 liters during the night in the tent but I was out of gas. It was later determined that I was out of “protein” I had nothing left to give and it was now just living off my muscle and it just took me down. I would get up and just fall over. I was beginning to think that I couldn’t go up or down and I was halfway up. I had never in my life been in this kind of condition but I just couldn’t go nay where. Finally after about 30 mins it started to snow pretty hard and get colder. This cooled my body down and I had eaten a few candy bars and I was finally was able to move again. While the viability has worsened to about 5 feet I could still see the trail. I began moving (very slowly) and in about 30 mins I was welcomed by Mata and he had a litter of pineapple juice and a coke. I sat down and drank ¾ liter of the pineapple juice and then about ½ of the coke. He picked up my backpack and we proceeded up the mountain in a slow but steady pace. After 5 mins, Nawang showed up with some water and I drank about ½ liter of it. I was beginning to feel better and we all got in step and finished off the last 1.5 hours before we arrived at camp 2.We had to be slow and steady because we could barely see the trail and we could barely each person in front of us. The cold weather and snow felt good on me and the 3 Sherpa’s gave me the confidence to make it home.
Even with the 45 mins I was still able to make it to camp 2 in 4:45 so not too bad with the heavy snow.
I was ready for bed and the weather was bad so Nima brought me my dinner in my tent and I was actually hungry as I ate and went to bed.

Back to Camp 1 and the ICE FALL

Tuesday May 4th
We get up early (3:30am) and Nima and I head for the Ice Fall. The weather is cold but no snow and w began our accent. Nima is a bit quicker than I like for my pace but we are doing well and making progress. Not too many people in the ice Fall as most people are still at camp 2 and camp 3 for the last time.

It is always amazing to me what has changed in the Ice Fall just in the last few days since I was there last. In this case, on the lower end (The popcorn) I think the changes are better. They might be a little steeper but it also cut off some ups and downs that to me are the killers.
We made it to top of the Popcorn to an area called the “Football Field” and area that at some point collapsed and it looks like a football field, and we were there in about 3 hours, my best time yet and I was feeling pretty good.
Then the sun came out and really started slowing me down along with the steep ups we have to climb to the rims with the 3 vertical ladders and the 2 straight up faces we have to climb to complete the Ice Fall. They continue to evolve but after slugging my way up these faces I had been on my feet for almost 6 hours, again my best time but I was beat and I still had almost 1.5 miles left ‘zig zagging” the ice field. This should have taking about 30 mins or so but it took me 1.5 hrs as I told Nima to go to the camp and I would be there when I go there. After all was said and done I was there in 7:30 mins total or about 30 mins quicker than the last time. I was happy about this but disappointed after such a good start to the “football field” area. I was dead tired and ready for bed. Since Camp 1 is only a tent site there is nothing to do other than sit in the tent. Nima gave me some food and I went to sleep we had to move up to camp 2 the next morning and I needed the rest.
I did talk to Jim and Wally by radio which made me feel good about the day but I knew my time was still too slow. I still didn’t understand why I just couldn’t sustain any stamina over the long haul but hopefully tomorrow would be better.
Weather was cold as we continued to get hammered by the snow in the Western Cwm, more than what they have seen in the past years.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Monday Preparation Day

Monday May 3, 2010
Preparation Day
Got up this morning about 730 am with the sun shining and heating up my sleeping bag. Slept well and was warm and had a good breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, bacon and of course my coke that they bring to me every morning at 7 am. I was hoping that the weather would be good today for me to shower but after about 1.5 hours of sunshine the weather turn to crap with snow and wind.
Made a few phones calls to people before I am to leave tomorrow and started getting my stuff together.
We have left stuff at camp 1 and camp 2 so I will not bring much stuff up with me this time. I will put the top on my backpack, take a thicker pair of mittens and a few more shirts and that will be it.

Got my boots refitted with my crampons, got my harness refitted so I am good to go.
The BEGAN Satellite is not working so I hope I will be able to send this out before I leave tomorrow.
We just had a helicopter land with a few people ( The Italian team( Simone Mora) climbing Lhotse and Everest) who have come back from a few days off in Katmandu. (Rest and relaxation)The client that is climbing Everest, is a really rich Industrialist from Italy. With the Helicopter grand entrance today plus his offer of $25000 extra to spend up the process of establishing fixed lines last week, this “excess” showing one’s of wealth is beginning to bother the “old faithful”, they are starting to complain of the use of the air strip for personal use. Of course, the Sherpa’s are going as fast as they can but due to the weather on the top they have been held up, so the $25000 doesn’t mean much if you cannot live by putting in the fixed lines. Interesting to see how people react to these types of things. Even on Everest money talks even when it might not be appreciated. Funny!
The fixed lines are complete to the Southern Col right now and with the weather clearing in the next couple of days I am sure the Sherpa’s will complete the task by week’s end.
If this happens, I am sure the Russians will be on the summit right behind them as they have done nothing but complain from almost day about the fixed line even though they did not offer to help install them.
I am off until the weekend Take care and have a great week

Sunday REst day May 2nd and schedule for week

Sunday May 2nd
We woke up at 6 am with more than a foot of snow on our tents. I knew something was wrong when I awoke because my tent had formed around my body and when I tried to stretch I couldn’t move. It was a strange feeling but before long the Sherpa’s were shoveling the snow off the tent and around the base. The dining tent almost collapsed but the Sherpa’s and Tracy got it back upright without any damage.
The day was long because the weather was not very good all day. It was cloudy and cold so a lot of time was spent in the tent. I should have been more productive but turning the IPOD on and getting warm in the sleeping bag was too tempting.
I did spend some time on the internet looking at what was happening in the world (especially BKK) and of course keeping up with the Celtics who lost a hard fought one to the Cavs in game one.
We had dinner with some friends and had a great meal, Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and salad. The dessert was apple strudel. After our friends left, I spent some personal time with Jim to discuss the next few days.
I wanted to try his harness as it was lighter and easier to put on and off. He said he would be happy to let me use it for this climb.
I also hope this helps me adjust my backpack so I can put more weight on my hips. The last few days with my harness on, the weight of the pack has been transferred to my shoulders and neck and this really hurts after a while pulling on the ropes with the weight also on them.
We also discussed boots. I think I will change my boots this time. I will go with my Sportiva’s with the built in gaiters. This will allow me to change my clothes on the bottom and maybe regulate my heat better. Also it will give me the boot to climb the Lhotse with a warmer boot for the colder weather. I will try this and see what I will do on the summit push. Maybe my Crisper’s up to camp 2 then switch to my Sportiva’s. I am just trying a different combination to make it better than the time before.
I also talked to him about camp 3. We are now in the time to “fish or cut bait” I need to be able to get to camp 3 in a reasonable amount of time. Jim doesn’t want me to sleep at camp 3 but would like for me to climb to camp 3 and touch and come back down all in a day (8-9 hrs) This will be a challenge due to the steepness, the ice surface, the lack of oxygen moving from 21000 to 24000 ft and the lack of my familiarity of fixed lines. If I did make it to the top and was too tired to go back down, this would be ok ( 2nd option)but we would have to stay at 24000 ft without oxygen and he believes that this just “hammers’ the body and he hopes this does not happen due to my health. Now all of this is providing we will have good weather so as they say” It is all on me” for the next few days.
I have eaten better and have stayed hydrated so I do not think I will have any issues but the mountain will let me know if I am ready enough to go to the top.



I will be gone Tuesday- Sat / Sun so do not expect any email or blogs posted
The plan is to go to camp 1 Tuesday
Camp 2 Wed
Camp 2 Rest Thurs
Camp 3 Friday if I return to camp 2 (option 1)
Camp 2 Sat if I spend the night at camp 3 ( option 2)
Base Camp Sat Option 1
Sun Option 2 Mother’s day

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Personal comments

Thanks Jerri for the prayers from Prattville. I look forward to sitting around Gammy's table also but I would love have some biscuits and saugage also.

Lauren - a Mexican surprise should be interesting.

Philippe- Thanks for you comments Hope you and Veronique are well

Ashley- Thanks as always for your encouraging words.

I sure hope the "Red Shirts" are gone by the time I get back to BKK.

All thanks for the encouraging comments.

Rest Day #2 base camp Sat May 1st

Saturday May 1st
May Day at Mt Everest
Happy May Day to all. Wish I was home to see some of my friends and enjoy some warm weather. I am only 3 days away from being gone 1 month and how times fly. I am ready to be home but there is still much work to do before that happens.
It has been a long time of cold, snowy weather and food that I would love to swap for a Nathan’s chili dog, Poe’s hamburger, Pizza Company double pepperoni pizza, Outback onion loaf, anything at Bourbon Street (BKK), Chili’s fried cheese, Wild Wing lemon pepper wings, etc and if lucky, I have less than a month left before I can enjoy this kind of good food again.
I finally got my bath today because the weather was so much better today in the morning. I know you think of a shower at home but this is just a bucket of hot water with a ¼” spout on it to let it run over your body. Doesn’t sound like much but it still feels good. 90 degree F water falling over your body in 40 degree F weather actually feels good and at least you smell better. Add a little baby powder, deodorant, body lotion and some clean clothes and you feel like a million $’s, at least for a few days. Again the little things are big things up here.
Yesterday (April 30th) was the 25th anniversary of Dick Bass starting his climb of MT Everest and become the 1st person to summit all the “7 Summits and he later went on and wrote the book “The 7 Summits.” This really started the mountaineering craze and has led to the increase in people around the world in people trying to complete 7 summits. Dick is 80 years old now and was trying to make it base camp with a lot of help but this plan did not work.
This is for sure a dream of mine but is not the end of mountaineering career if I do not get done. I have slowly been getting them done but also have been experiencing other great mountains in the world also. If I can somehow complete this summit then I for sure will try to make the last 2 mts (Denali (Alaska) and Vinson (Antarctica)
We are having dinner at our place tonight with some guys from RMI ( Seth a friend of mine and Mark Tucker) and Peter Hackett ( Father of High Altitude medicine), and Ruth who is Dr in Alaska. This should be interesting conversation. We are having country ham from a place in Paris TN called, Swifty Ham so I am looking forward to dinner.
I am off for today so read up and give me your comments.
Thanks for all for the support and kind words.

Rest Day at base camp Friday April 30th

Friday April 30th
Back to base camp rest day
Sleep well after the long trip down form camp 2 and the weather was much more pleasant. It was a little windier but it was at least 30 degrees warmer than what we had left. I wanted to take a shower but the wind was too much for today so I will wait until tomorrow. It has only been 6 days since my last one so 1 more day couldn’t hurt but I know I needed and wanted one.
I got my tent re organized for my next 4 days in camp. I am still a little sore on my shoulder, my legs hurt a bit, and I lost 1 toenail off my left foot ( 2nd toe which I damaged in Kilimanjaro in Feb )but it looks pretty good and I feel pretty good.
I also got a good hot shave. I have been trying that new 5 blade system my little Leah told me about but I hated to pay so much for the blades. But after a few shaves up here, I am beginning to like it. It shaves the longer beard better and it stays shorter longer. Thanks Little Leah as always you are the “savvy” consumer.
I will be trying to eat 3 meals a day and drinking as much as I can in the next few days to try and get ready for the next round on Tuesday morning. We will leave on our way up to camp 3 and will be gone for 4 more days. It will be just Nima and Nawang as Jim will stay in camp to get things ready for the summit run when we return. If you look at Jim original itinerary, we will only be a day behind if I successfully complete the next run so that is not so bad after I lost a week due to sickness. At this point he is worried about the “blue ice” on the Lhotse face and the fixed lines. They have installed 1 rope for going up and 1 for going down but in the opinion of many, the ropes are too far apart and could cause some issues with people trying to switch back and forth due to slow people. When it is nothing but ice to climb on, the crampons do not have much “gripping” power so people easily could have accidents as they unhook to try and get around people and the other rope not is a safe option to use due to the distance. I know it is hard to explain but to a mountaineer, it makes sense as not every person moves at the same rate and you have to have ways to pass on these steep slopes.
I sat down and wrote 5 days worth of blogs to cover the last 5 days on the mountain. Words cannot describe the feelings of what I just went through over the 5 days.(Good , Bad and the Ugly) I try in many ways to write words to make sure I keep the memories for the future but sometimes I cannot find the right way to express myself.
We had trouble with the satellite today and could not get on the internet yesterday. Jim and I downloaded our UUPlus email off the Thuraya Satellite which wasn’t the most efficient but we managed to get them downloaded and I responded to as many of you as possible. I really appreciate all the emails of support and information. As of yesterday, I have heard from people spread over 6 of the 7 continents and have heard from people I have not seen or heard from in more than 10 years in the last 3 ½ weeks so this is pretty incredible.
The weather turned bad around 3 pm today and the snow started. After several hours in the Communications tent (freezing to death and trying to type in below freezing weather), we retreated to the dining tent to just sit and talk and stay out of the weather in front of the heater. By the time we had finished dinner it was almost 9 pm and we headed for the comforts of the sleeping bag to warm up the cold feet.
By the time, we laid down the sky was full of stars and the moon was shining bright. I could only look at the Ice Fall and know I have only a few more days before I go back into there. The night was quite active with avalanches all around and we even heard a big “Thud” that sounded like it was in the ice fall but at this stage we do not know where it happen and what it did. I will most likely see when I go back on Tuesday.

Long walk down from ABC back to base camp

Thursday April 29th
Going home to Base camp from Camp 2 (ABC)
I didn’t sleep well last night possibly because I had been in the tent for some 14 hrs and was restless but when the call to get up at 5:15 am I for sure didn’t want to get up. I was warm in my sleeping bag, there was frost on the entire inside of the tent and every time I touched the tent frost would fall down onto my clothes. I am so big my head hits the top all the time so it is like it is snowing in my tent in the mornings when I get up before the sun dries it out. It was -4 degrees Fahrenheit and I did not want to get out of the bag.
I had put my pullover and jacket inside my sleeping bag to keep them warm and dry but as I was putting stuff on the frost was being knocked down on me. It was cold and wet. I finally got my clothes on for my trip and then I had to put everything in my stuff sacks for the clothes that I was leaving at camp 2, stuff that was being left at camp 1 for next week and stuff that was going to base camp which is what I was taking down in my backpack.
I finally had pushed everything outside to Nima and gang for the trip down and headed to the dining tent to get some breakfast, put on my harness and get my crampons. We finally walked out the door at 6:50am for our trip down and it included all 5 of us (Nima, Jim, Naawang, Zhagbu (camp 2 cook), Steve) We all had our crampons on and I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the tent so Nima didn’t have his on so he went back to get them but told us to go on down and he will keep going. I left with Nawang and Zhagbu and Jim waited on Nima. We covered the 7 miles pretty quickly and when we got to camp 1 we dropped the stuff off and Nima told us to keep going.
As I had told you on a previous day, there was 1 nasty vertical ladder in between camp 1 and camp 2. Well when we were going down it I got my crampons and the rope hung up and fell off the ladder. First it was a pretty quick deal. The carabineer (on my harness) attached to the safety rope caught me about the same time that the ground caught my shoulder. This was a wakeup call for me to be careful for the rest of the day to be more careful and also showed me how quick something can happen. It scared me to death. I got right up and tried to get loose of the rope that was attached to my harness and was a little dazed and then Jim yelled at me not to do it as I was standing next to a huge crevasse located right behind me. Well what a way to start the day but all is well. (BTW the shoulder is a little sore today (Friday April 30th) but will be ok)
Then we proceeded to the ICE Fall where I was now dreading those first 2 sets of 3 ladders. It was hard work on the first one and we had a lot of traffic around them which makes it even more complicated with everyone trying to find a place to stand and get up and down efficiently. As far as I can tell in the 3 days I have been in the falls there are no common courtesies. People come down and go up at random rates with little regard for the others. I might be wrong but this is how I have seen it.
While we were working hard, I became very hot and needed to take off a layer of clothing and I told Nawang. He told me we couldn’t do it here as it was too dangerous to stop and we would have to wait. I said ok but I didn’t know that meant 45 mins later. By then I had been overheated for that long and my energy had been sapped. We did finally stop and I drank almost a liter of water. I was smoking with the work but the stressed of those few ladders especially after what had happened to me earlier. After a few mins of changing clothes and drinking we continued on down the ice falls. I was moving steady but quite a bit slower. I was just drained but I knew I wanted to get down. Quite a bit of stuff of changed in the fall since I was there 4 days ago but something that didn’t change was it was steep and slick. The sun was now full on and I couldn’t take enough clothes off so I would have to just gut it out for the next 3 hours.
We continued down and about 30 mins from the exit. We had some tea and a coke delivered into the ice fall. Zhagbu had gone ahead and had some of the guys bring us the drinks. It was perfect timing as I was out of water and needed a drink. We had our break gave them our backpacks and proceeded home and was there in the next 20 mins.
We were tired and wanted something to eat as it was almost 12 pm. We had the done the run in about 5 hours, 1 hour less than what Jim and the Sherpa’s had predicted. For me, it was not a min too early. I was shot and needed to sit down for a while.
When we got to the base camp, we went and sat in the dining tent for lunch and wait for Tracy (our base camp manager) to return from Gorak-shep. She had gone down to use the internet and was back within 30 mins of us arriving. She is nice and a friend of a friend of Jim’s who was looking for the neat trip. We sat around and talk and had lunch and I never left the tent until around 6 pm when all of a sudden I just went down and said I had to go to bed without dinner. Jim made me stay around a little while longer while they ate but I could barley hold my head up. I was tired getting cold and wanted to go to bed.
I did finally get into bed with my hot water bottle and went to sleep very quickly and slept all night. It was nice not to have to wake up for anything.

Day 2 at ABC

Wednesday April 28th
Day 2 @ Advanced base camp
Due to the weather, we stayed in our tents until about 8 am when the sun can shine brightly on them to warm them up. As I awoke early the entire tent on the inside was frozen. The sunglasses had a thick layer of frost on them and I just didn’t want to get up until the inside was thawed out.
By 845am the ice was gone and I was able to get up and go to breakfast. Pancakes and bacon was on the menu and I ate about half of it and a couple of pieces of bacon.
The wind had stopped during the night (Thank goodness) but it was still cold. The sun provided a good deal of warmth if you stood in the rays or was in your tent.
After breakfast, we all went back to our tents. The sun was shining and it felt good for about 30 mins. After that I did everything imaginable to try and stay cool but the heat in the tent was unbearable. I finally had to get up around 11 am and went to the dining tent. We stayed in the dining tent until around 12 when we had lunch and then I went back to the tent due to the cold weather again. I thought we were going on a 2 hr hike around 2pm weather permitting but before I knew it Jim was making his 5 pm base camp call. The opportunity to move up another 1000 ft had been lost but the weather was just too bad to go.
The snow had been falling for hours and the temperatures had been dropping and the sun was long gone. We would have another night of -0 Fahrenheit weather. It was a clear night when I looked out at the summit of Everest below a sky full of stars. The snow capped mountains were just unbelievable as the night looked like daylight inside the tent with all of the reflections off the snow.
It is amazing how much one can sleep his life away up here. The altitude, the cold weather outside vs the warm weather in the sleeping bag and the hiking just takes its toll on your body and I am not a lazy person at all.
One thing at this campsite that drove me crazy was the big rock in the middle of my tent. I could not find a way to keep my head up. I moved around every way I could in the tent (didn’t really care about where my feet pointed for religious purposes) and I couldn’t find a way to do it. The rock was perfectly placed right in the middle of my tent. I didn’t have the heart to tell the guys because they would have tried to fix the ground but I had seen the work they had done just to get it at this level which was not easy. The rock was right in my hip bones and it just worked on me all night. I was popping Aleve to help but it was not going to be helped until I got out of this tent site. What these guys accomplish on a “side” of nay terrain and on top of any surface (rock, snow and ice) is an amazing feat so doesn’t let it sound like I am complaining but did want to remember my 2 nights at ABC on my “teeter totter” rock in the middle of my bed.
We got up about 630 for dinner in the dining tent. It was another good meal of chicken and rice but it was so cold I could hardly eat. I had my Mountain Hardwear jacket on and I was still cold. I drank a couple of cups of hot tea but nothing was going to get me warm but the sleeping bag.
We went to bed at 715 pm and the wakeup call was going to come about 5 am for our trip back to home (base camp) and I was ready to go home. These 4 days were good for my acclimatization but I was smelling pretty bad and I needed a shower and I wanted the comforts of my bed in base camp vs these last 2 camps.

Walk to Camp 2 ( Advanced Base Camp)

Tuesday April 27th
Walk to Camp 2 (ABC)
As we expected, the Sherpa’s shook the tents at 6:30 am. (They had left base camp at 3:30 am and had scampered up the Ice Fall in 3 hrs, freaking amazing guys with 50+ lbs on their backs) Jim and I were just about ready to go when this happened so we continued to get our pads, sleeping bags and our other stuff in stuff sacks so the Sherpa’s could take our stuff up the mountain.
After about 45 mins of getting stuff together the Sherpa’s were on their way and Jim and I was ready to start our trek to Camp 2. Jim had anticipated about a 4 – 5 hour walk (about 7 miles) but it just didn’t seem like it would take that long looking at it the previous day but he had reminded me to sometimes your eyes can play tricks on you when you just look uphill. Our starting altitude point was about 19000 feet.
At 8 am we got started and were moving very well. This made me feel better as I was still frustrated about the 8 hour Ice Fall trip. The weather was good when the Sherpa’s left but by the time we were leaving Jim noticed the weather was getting bad from the west/southwest which he said was not a very good sign. We started and it was cold but we had made it to our previous day point about 30 mins quicker. One reason was because we had put on our crampons the 2nd day which made it a little quicker to move on the icy slippery slopes and we actually was feeling good after a good sleep. We had a few ladders (one pretty nasty vertical) and several “scary “crevasses that we had to navigate but after this was just one long continuous slope. I have thought over and over something I could use to describe the last 5 miles of walking but I could only describe a road in Tellico that I went for some training years ago on a recommendation by a friend Kevin Tumlin which was up as long as I wanted to walk that day or any day. I didn’t like it then and I didn’t like it this day either.
We walked about 2 1/2 more hours and we finally made it. What a frustrated feeling to just keep walking up for 2 + hours and never having a break of anything thing but up and almost dead straight. Again the slope was not steep or high but it was truly like a “death march” and I was tired when we got there. I did have to remember we were actually moving up more altitude than the Ice Fall 8 hr day (about 2000 feet) but we were getting there in an entirely different way. Jim did stop and continued to give me more history of things that had happened in these mountains over the years which I always thought was interesting. We also moved through 2 large patches along the trail where it showed the remains of 2 very large avalanches where some very large rocks and pieces of ice were now in the middle of the valley. I am glad I didn’t see these happen or be here when they did.
As we entered the camp, the weather started turning bad, the wind had really picked up so what Jim was saying early this morning was coming true. We were in for a cold afternoon and a miserable night.
I was now sleeping at the base of Mt Everest about 8000 feet from the summit and I could see it from inside my tent. What a view????
When we got there, we went straight to the tent and waited for lunch call. After about 2 hours, we got up and went to the dining tent for lunch. Good lunch but wasn’t too hungry so Nima was again concerned about my eating habits.
ABC- (Advanced base camp) this camp is similar to base camp with a dining tent and a kitchen. This is nice as you have someone else to go besides your tent to enjoy your food and conversation.

After lunch we returned to the tent until dinner time due to the weather situation. I just listened to my iPod as it was too cold to do anything outside the tent unless it was an essential task. The snow began to fall and the temperatures continue to drop. When dinner was ready, Nima came to my tent trying to serve me dinner. I refused and said let’s eat in the dining tent. Honestly if I would not have gotten up then I would not have eaten the food. It was a good dinner of chick and rice but I do not know if the cold weather was worth the walk to the tent.
Jim joined me but it was pretty scary with the wind just blowing the tent all over the place. Jim was actually worried that we might lose this dining tent if the wind got much stronger and blew the tent in a certain way and it would break the poles. After a quick dinner, we actually thought it would be safer in our individual tent. (Guys remember Berlin camp Aconcagua 2007; it was close to that but not quite)
I was tired, it had been a better day and I was ready for bed. The next day would be yet another adventure as we are going on a hike towards camp 3.
The temperature was -0 Fahrenheit and the wind continued to blow and it was snowing quite hard but in my bag with my hot water bottle it was pretty cozy. I could only think about those people, who had just moved up to camp 3 with this wind and the temperatures. Maybe tomorrow would be better or it would be a long day in the bag.
We did hear that 3 people were killed on the mountain on the North side (China) by an avalanche but nothing was confirmed yet. We also have heard that the weather from that side has been a lot worse than our side. I hope all is well over there as that is where the 13 year old boy is and Nawang’s bother is also over there.

Day 2 at camp 1

Monday April 26th
2nd Day at camp 1
We went to bed in the cold and wind and awoke in better weather. I felt better after a good night’s sleep and our plan was to get up and go for a 2 hour hike up the mountain in hopes of at least seeing camp 2 (ABC- advanced base Camp).
We finally got up around 10 am and started walking towards the (ABC) to see how we felt and take pictures. We were at the base of the valley looking at Nuptse on the right, Lhotse face in the middle and the big one, Mt Everest on the left. What an amazing place to see in one’s life. (Jim got some pictures) We started our walk up the 7 mile journey and was actually moving pretty good with what we had been through the previous day and in about 1:30 mins we were at a great place with a view on ABC and we could even see the first of the tents being placed on Lhotse face at camp 3. The weather was pretty good and we got some outstanding shots of the summit of Mt Everest. We took some lunch up there on the trail admiring all the views and listening to stories of climbs Jim had done over the past 20+ years and I was just was in awe of where I was and what I was doing. I appreciate all the people who allowed me to do this adventure. When you see things like this in nature, it really gives you an appreciation for the world we live in and the opportunities we are afforded and that we must take more of them or we will die and never really have seen the world around us.
After lunch, we decided to go back to the camp. We made it rather quickly and by then it was in the afternoon and the clouds and snow came back to welcome us into the evening. Again the main purpose when you return to the tent is to get warm. Jim and I both went to sleep with little conversation and you didn’t hear anything from either of us until about 9 pm and then it was too late to eat or try to cook and we just kept sleeping. We had to get up early in the morning for our trek into ABC and we knew the Sherpa’s would be up from base up around 6 am.
It was a long cold night and you cannot sleep 14 hours so you end up turning over and over hoping it is daylight when you open your eyes. I can only sleep on my side and the hard ground (even when you have a sleeping pad) make your hips hurt so that adds to the anticipation of the morning sunlight.

hike up to Camp 1 ( 3rd attempt through Ice Falls)

Sunday April 25th 1st trip to Camp 1
We left camp about 6 am on our way to camp 1. It was Jim, Nima and I, who quite frankly was a little nervous for many reasons. The fact that I hadn’t done much in the last 6 days due to the sickness, the horrible experience that I had encountered the previous Monday trying to get to camp 1 and the fact that the Ice Fall scares me to death was enough to make me a little apprehensive about the day.
I started good and we were making good progress as we progressed through the part called the “popcorn” but I felt myself start to slow down. We had been in the Fall about 3 hours and after we exited the “popcorn” section( 4 hrs) Nima left Jim and I to go on up to camp 1.I thought this was a good sign and we were making progress but then it seemed like it would never end. We kept moving and I saw 2 sets of ladders at the rim of the Ice Fall and Jim said we had those 2 sets left and then a “short” walk to camp 1. These ladders were both the same. They were 3 10’ alum ladders (30’ high) mounted completely independent of each other, with the middle ladder mounted offset about 4-5” and reinforced on the mountain face with rope (so they were flexible) with a good 1.5 ft overhang of snow and ice. (Don’t worry I will get pictures the next time through if they haven’t changed). They both were definitely not put there using any sound physics logic (just Ice Doctor knowledge of 20 + years of doing this) but it seem to hold all the other climbers I have seen go up so far but it still didn’t make me feel easy about being on them because where there were located meant some serious physical damage if you fell. Any way we finally made it out of the Ice Fall in 7 hours and I was happy we had only a short walk left (wrong). It was about a 1.5 mile winding through crevasses, ladders and hills. I had my doubts if I was going to make it. I kept looking for the trail ahead but I couldn’t see it and about that time I saw some people way in the distance and the people looked like they were ants (which mean a long way) but I saw no tents. At that moment of weakness, I thought it was no way that I could keep walking that much longer and then all of a sudden I walked on top of the ridge and saw tents in the valley. I cannot describe the feeling that I felt at that moment. I had only about 100 meters left and I would have a tent to sleep in for the next 2 nights. I got in to my tent and went right to sleep. Jim had got there just before me and he had gotten in his tent. We had finally made it after 8 hours of constant push. After a few hours I awoke and Jim made me some rice to eat and I ate it plus some coke. I had a “2 man tent” and Jim had the “3 man” because he had to cook for us. It was cold (below 0) and I just wanted to get warm in my sleeping bag. It was all I could do and I went back to sleep. What a day it had been and I was a bit disappointed in the time it took me to get to camp 1 because I had felt so good earlier in the day but we made it and that was all that mattered on this day. The night was good, I slept well and my health was still good but I was tired.