Toffee Please come back I have heard from many of your fans that your words of wisdom are truly inspirational.
All thanks for all of your comments it really helps
I am posting now here at 6 pm wed night it has turned very cold and I am ready to get in my bed.
have a great day
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Feeling better and went to Hospital
April 21st Wed.
I awoke with my favorite fragrance again this morning, the smell of pee. I am sure all of you would like to smell this when you wake from a good night’s sleep. Well I hope this will be my last. The last time I went this morning I was able to be regular and was able to hold it until all was in place so I was pretty happy with that process.
I was able to get up and go to breakfast and eat pretty well and then went in the communications tent to read email and talked to Mark Dale in Australia and it looks like we finally got a big deal we needed and some warranty issues cleared. So Life was getting back to normal mentally but the body is still shot. The weather finally cooperated and I was able to get those nasty clothes off (even Jim was talking about it) on me, took a nice shower (well as nice as it can be in 40F degree weather and I put on my favorite pair of long underwear (Thanks Sybil) they are best wearing and the thinness is perfect for what I need on the climbing trips. I am off to eat lunch now and then over to the hospital. Jim and I have been going through every detail of the last couple of days to try to nail down what really happen but at this point there is no real conclusion. I have been climbing 8 years and Jim has been doing it for 38 years and we cannot put a series of things that happen that point to a clear conclusion. I will update this letter before I post it if the Dr has anything else to add. Well we went to the doctor and guess what he gave me for the next 3 days, Cipro, surprise for you guys in the medical field. He said I could have a little bit of a kidney infection, (yes not normal for a man my age) but that is what we are treating. The lungs are still good but we had to wait on several who are not in good shape. I am so glad that is not my problem because that is something that is hard to overcome as you get higher.
Jim went and got oxygen for us to go up to camp 3 today so that made me feel good. This is a pay to play type deal when you pay for it is yours unless you are lucky to unload it at a fire sale. The cost was about $2500 so it is not cheap. These are refill bottles which we will use below but he did not spend the big money for the summit (new) bottles yet. He will wait and see how I do in the next few days of climbing which hopefully will be day 3 from now. I have to get food liquids and rest over the next couple of days so I can be ready to go again. I feel so much better but am still tired and have little energy but after the last couple of days I will take anything better.
I spent the day trying to reorganize worked a bit and saw the doctor so it was a pretty full day. The one thing is that I got up at 8 and am still up at 5:30 which is has been 4 days since that has happened.
Have a good day and may tomorrow be better than today.
I awoke with my favorite fragrance again this morning, the smell of pee. I am sure all of you would like to smell this when you wake from a good night’s sleep. Well I hope this will be my last. The last time I went this morning I was able to be regular and was able to hold it until all was in place so I was pretty happy with that process.
I was able to get up and go to breakfast and eat pretty well and then went in the communications tent to read email and talked to Mark Dale in Australia and it looks like we finally got a big deal we needed and some warranty issues cleared. So Life was getting back to normal mentally but the body is still shot. The weather finally cooperated and I was able to get those nasty clothes off (even Jim was talking about it) on me, took a nice shower (well as nice as it can be in 40F degree weather and I put on my favorite pair of long underwear (Thanks Sybil) they are best wearing and the thinness is perfect for what I need on the climbing trips. I am off to eat lunch now and then over to the hospital. Jim and I have been going through every detail of the last couple of days to try to nail down what really happen but at this point there is no real conclusion. I have been climbing 8 years and Jim has been doing it for 38 years and we cannot put a series of things that happen that point to a clear conclusion. I will update this letter before I post it if the Dr has anything else to add. Well we went to the doctor and guess what he gave me for the next 3 days, Cipro, surprise for you guys in the medical field. He said I could have a little bit of a kidney infection, (yes not normal for a man my age) but that is what we are treating. The lungs are still good but we had to wait on several who are not in good shape. I am so glad that is not my problem because that is something that is hard to overcome as you get higher.
Jim went and got oxygen for us to go up to camp 3 today so that made me feel good. This is a pay to play type deal when you pay for it is yours unless you are lucky to unload it at a fire sale. The cost was about $2500 so it is not cheap. These are refill bottles which we will use below but he did not spend the big money for the summit (new) bottles yet. He will wait and see how I do in the next few days of climbing which hopefully will be day 3 from now. I have to get food liquids and rest over the next couple of days so I can be ready to go again. I feel so much better but am still tired and have little energy but after the last couple of days I will take anything better.
I spent the day trying to reorganize worked a bit and saw the doctor so it was a pretty full day. The one thing is that I got up at 8 and am still up at 5:30 which is has been 4 days since that has happened.
Have a good day and may tomorrow be better than today.
long day at base camp sick
April 20 Tues
I got up around 8 am when the hot sun had hit my tent and it felt good. I got up and had a good breakfast of eggs, bacon and potatoes and my pop tarts. While I was sitting there discussing yesterday with Jim I also managed to drink 3 ½ liters of water and did not have to go to bathroom so that certainly told me something about hydration.
We chatted on until about 11 am and then I needed to go to the bathroom and I never got out of the tent again.
Now when I went back to the tent I had no blanket or sleeping bad (remember I had peed on it and they were washing and drying it for me so I was laying on my sleeping bad on the ground which was pretty cold not to mention every rock was piecing every bone on my body no matter which was I was able to turn.
Once again I thought I could shake it off and finally around 1ish I called Jim over and told him if he could go and see a doctor for me as I know I am sick and not just dehydrated. He went over and asked the favor and a Dr named Steve came and visited me about 230ish He was the one on call and the tent is pretty busy right now. (They have evacuated at least 5 people already this week) He spent about 20 mins with checking me and asking quite a few questions but he only conclusion was I had picked up probably 1 of the million viruses floating around here but if I could make it over the hospital then he could do a better check on me. I said ok and thought later in the day I would be able to get up but that time never happened.
It was funny I was lying against the back wall on the ground in the tent, my pad was just thrown in there with my blanket on top of my clothes and I was wondering what he was thinking. The Sherpa’s wanted to make my bed but I just couldn’t get up. It was all was cleaned and dry but it had begun to snow so we had to put it back in the tent.
After the doctor left they came into the tent and just put it in the middle of the tent and at sometime I eventually rolled over on my better smelling linen which was nice.
Jim kept trying to feed me with all my favorites but I could move much less sit up and eat. I was shaking one hour and going back to sweating the next. This went on all night as I slept very little except one time when they thought I was gone. They were screaming into the tent and I was not moving so the young boy Dawa was scared and he went out and got one of the other Sherpa’s to come and shake me to see if I was alive. When He grabbed my leg I came up immediately. I don’t know who scared who the most but at least I was alive.
All night was another “peeing” fiasco and by the time I woke up this morning my clothes smelled so bad I was about to vomit not to mention the smell of the pee bottle when it was open inside my sleeping bag so I knew what today held for me
There were many times I thought about throwing in the towel last night. I was tired scared because I didn’t know what was going on with my body and really how much does a man have to take to prove is manhood or reach some silly dream? You know I have spent well over $100,000 on this trip that I have planned for over 4 years and these 2 days has certainly knocked me back physically and mentally and I just didn’t know if I could go on. But I never called to Jim and made it through the night Thank Goodness.
Thanks for all the prayers as I really needed the past 2 days.
I got up around 8 am when the hot sun had hit my tent and it felt good. I got up and had a good breakfast of eggs, bacon and potatoes and my pop tarts. While I was sitting there discussing yesterday with Jim I also managed to drink 3 ½ liters of water and did not have to go to bathroom so that certainly told me something about hydration.
We chatted on until about 11 am and then I needed to go to the bathroom and I never got out of the tent again.
Now when I went back to the tent I had no blanket or sleeping bad (remember I had peed on it and they were washing and drying it for me so I was laying on my sleeping bad on the ground which was pretty cold not to mention every rock was piecing every bone on my body no matter which was I was able to turn.
Once again I thought I could shake it off and finally around 1ish I called Jim over and told him if he could go and see a doctor for me as I know I am sick and not just dehydrated. He went over and asked the favor and a Dr named Steve came and visited me about 230ish He was the one on call and the tent is pretty busy right now. (They have evacuated at least 5 people already this week) He spent about 20 mins with checking me and asking quite a few questions but he only conclusion was I had picked up probably 1 of the million viruses floating around here but if I could make it over the hospital then he could do a better check on me. I said ok and thought later in the day I would be able to get up but that time never happened.
It was funny I was lying against the back wall on the ground in the tent, my pad was just thrown in there with my blanket on top of my clothes and I was wondering what he was thinking. The Sherpa’s wanted to make my bed but I just couldn’t get up. It was all was cleaned and dry but it had begun to snow so we had to put it back in the tent.
After the doctor left they came into the tent and just put it in the middle of the tent and at sometime I eventually rolled over on my better smelling linen which was nice.
Jim kept trying to feed me with all my favorites but I could move much less sit up and eat. I was shaking one hour and going back to sweating the next. This went on all night as I slept very little except one time when they thought I was gone. They were screaming into the tent and I was not moving so the young boy Dawa was scared and he went out and got one of the other Sherpa’s to come and shake me to see if I was alive. When He grabbed my leg I came up immediately. I don’t know who scared who the most but at least I was alive.
All night was another “peeing” fiasco and by the time I woke up this morning my clothes smelled so bad I was about to vomit not to mention the smell of the pee bottle when it was open inside my sleeping bag so I knew what today held for me
There were many times I thought about throwing in the towel last night. I was tired scared because I didn’t know what was going on with my body and really how much does a man have to take to prove is manhood or reach some silly dream? You know I have spent well over $100,000 on this trip that I have planned for over 4 years and these 2 days has certainly knocked me back physically and mentally and I just didn’t know if I could go on. But I never called to Jim and made it through the night Thank Goodness.
Thanks for all the prayers as I really needed the past 2 days.
Unsuccessful trip to Camp I
April 19th Mon
Jim and I were awaken around 3:30 am in the morning as the Sherpa’s were eon their way up the mountain. We had decided before went to bed that we would go only if it was a clear morning and it didn’t snow all night. When the kitchen fired up the gas stove at 2:30 I heard it and I heard the snow so I was hoping that we wouldn’t go up. I had a terrible night sleep and didn’t feel well but that wasn’t what was on Nima Tashi mind. He was going up the mountain and when he awoke me at 330am and again at 331am I saw his hand come through my tent asking for my sleeping bag. This was the deal but I didn’t know I was only going to have 1 min to get organized before I had to give it up.
Just a little background on the sleeping bag.
When I am leaving early am in the cold weather I stuff all my clothes in my sleeping bag so they will stay warm until I put them on in the morning. So when he woke me up at 330am and at 331am wanted my bag that meant I had to get all of my stuff out of my bag and would have to get dressed in the cold tent. And when it is cold outside the clothes get cold quickly so the socks were the first thing on me but I had to put a band aids on my heels because my new boots made some slight blisters on the back of them when we had gone up a few days ago. After the band aids then a strip to duct tape to make it slick so the socks would just slide over the heel on those steep inclines. Now the trade off of the cold clothes was to carry that extra 4 kilos or not so you know the sleeping bag went out the tent when I saw the hand and didn’t think anymore about it.
Jim and I both were moving a little slow (later found out that Jim was feeling good either) but we made it to the dining tent and decided to have a little breakfast. I didn’t feel like eating much so I had just a little coke. It was a funny feeling, not nausea or headache or anything like that just didn’t have the “spring in the step” We sat in for about an hour and we finally decided to leave about 5 am. The walk to the ice fall entrance is about 15 mins and it is a nasty walk over the base camp glacier in your stiff boots. You are slipping and sliding all over the place and by the time you make it to the Ice Fall you are breathing like you know what. (I hate it like you wouldn’t believe)
Ok we are now at the Ice Fall and we put our crampons on, (now I do like this because it allows you to be lazy because you will not slip) and start of the mountain. I was not feeling good but kept thinking it would get better. We started in the Ice Fall and at the steep hills; Jim was stopping to catch his breath. I thought this was good because this would allow me not to be lagging behind. This went on for about an hour and Jim got better and I got worse. We actually talked about it on the mountain when he finally turned around and said that he was finally feeling better. At this point I was not being dead weight but I was certainly being slow but we continued. I thought if I could just get to camp 1 I could rest and surely I was strong enough to get there. We continued on and finally after 3:15 we got the first ladder in the Ice Falls. Now this was the same place that Martin, Nima, and I were at in less than 1 ½ hrs the first time we went up so this shows how slow I was on this trip. We talked again and I said let’s keep pushing up. I really didn’t want to go down. I knew what a commitment this was to get back to base camp. It was a long way but the bottom was so much up and down I just didn’t know that I could do it. Up was a lot steeper but it would be shorter and I thought I could just push through it but it wasn’t happening. AN hour later I ask Jim about the status and he said we were about ½ way. I told him we needed to go down. This was one of the hardest decisions that I had made so far because I knew what “crap” I was going to have to go through to get back to base camp. I just didn’t know if I could do it. I absolutely had no power in my legs. I was shot and really didn’t know why. I had climbed many mountains and never before had this happened to me. One thing that was happening was I was peeing about 10 mins without any notice and it was immediate ( less than 10 seconds),it hurt like hell, it was gold color( which I know is not good but not the worse it could be) and it was very little. Holy shit I am dehydrated some but something is wrong here. BTW I am a good water drinker as I learned this a long time ago on this High Altitudes climbs and I know my body well so I was baffled.
With a lot of patience from Jim, with me basically walking about 10 steps, going down one hill and going up one hill and me constanly asking him can he see the end we finally made it out 3 ½ later. Two days before we had madwe it down in less than 40 mins from not too much further down than when Jim and I turned around so you know we have a problem.
We made it to the crampon removal area and I just sat there and told Jim to go on home. It was only a couple hundred meters and quite honestly I didn’t know how I was going to get up that hill and especially didn’t know when but he wouldn’t leave me.
SO we ventured on up the hill passing by some friends who wanted to make sure we were ok because they had seen others that had seen me and told them that I was not doing well.
We were back at the camp in about 25 mins. We had just completed 8 hours of walking and we had gone nowhere. What a defeating thing for anyone to stomach and it was proablbly the hardest walk I had ever done in my life and I have had some hard ones ( the 26 Kilometers walk out of Acocongua is one at the top of my list)
Ok we leave at 5 am and I am back in my tent at 1 pm exhausted delirous and just wanted to be left alone. Only my pee bottle needed to be my friend.
I laid across the tent with my feet outside for over an hour trying to just remember who I was and the Sherpa’s were so helpful. They removed my harness, my boots and helped me get into bed. Jim later came with a homemade grill cheese tomato ham speciafiaclly made for me. The Sherpa’s had never seen such a thing but I was not hungry but knew I needed something. I did manage to eat one of them and then I rolled over to try to get some sleep.
I mention these next few items so one day I can laugh about them but if you want to skip reading this section I will not be offended.
After a while I realized that my pants and underwear were wet because I had sat on the snow so much on the way down and I needed to get them off or my bag was going to get wet and cold. Some how I did get them off down to my ankles ( I know this because I woke up later cold and my legs were tied to together) I had tied the bottom of my ankle tight to keep the snow out of my boots and I guess when I was trying to remove my pants I couldn’t figure out how to get them off so I left them until I woke up cold. I did finally manage to get them off b ut the Sherpa’s had destroyed my organized tent looking for my hat that not I could find any damn I do not know how long this sage went on but I finally found something to wear. Now add this drama with me having to piss at a moments notice. Ok 10 sec ( and I mean no more than 10 sec and it was flowing)to find the pee bottle, find the head lamp ( they couldn’t find mine so they gave me one of the sherpa’s which was totally different from mine so I could never find the regular light button, undo the screw cap and get it out of my pants and into this bottle. Funny huh? So you know what happen most of the night. I didn’t hit the bottle enough and my blanket and sleeping pad was in bad shape the next morning I now know what if feel like to be in an old folks home because when I awoke on Tuesday morning I thought I had moved my bed to the urinal. This was not good. The last funny of the night was on Jim. I had the pants story and he had the same thing happen to him with his shirt. He couldn’t figure out how to get his shirt because he couldn’t undo the buttons.
High altitude is a great thing, Huh?
Somehow I made it through the night and actually felt much better after that crazy day/night.
Jim and I were awaken around 3:30 am in the morning as the Sherpa’s were eon their way up the mountain. We had decided before went to bed that we would go only if it was a clear morning and it didn’t snow all night. When the kitchen fired up the gas stove at 2:30 I heard it and I heard the snow so I was hoping that we wouldn’t go up. I had a terrible night sleep and didn’t feel well but that wasn’t what was on Nima Tashi mind. He was going up the mountain and when he awoke me at 330am and again at 331am I saw his hand come through my tent asking for my sleeping bag. This was the deal but I didn’t know I was only going to have 1 min to get organized before I had to give it up.
Just a little background on the sleeping bag.
When I am leaving early am in the cold weather I stuff all my clothes in my sleeping bag so they will stay warm until I put them on in the morning. So when he woke me up at 330am and at 331am wanted my bag that meant I had to get all of my stuff out of my bag and would have to get dressed in the cold tent. And when it is cold outside the clothes get cold quickly so the socks were the first thing on me but I had to put a band aids on my heels because my new boots made some slight blisters on the back of them when we had gone up a few days ago. After the band aids then a strip to duct tape to make it slick so the socks would just slide over the heel on those steep inclines. Now the trade off of the cold clothes was to carry that extra 4 kilos or not so you know the sleeping bag went out the tent when I saw the hand and didn’t think anymore about it.
Jim and I both were moving a little slow (later found out that Jim was feeling good either) but we made it to the dining tent and decided to have a little breakfast. I didn’t feel like eating much so I had just a little coke. It was a funny feeling, not nausea or headache or anything like that just didn’t have the “spring in the step” We sat in for about an hour and we finally decided to leave about 5 am. The walk to the ice fall entrance is about 15 mins and it is a nasty walk over the base camp glacier in your stiff boots. You are slipping and sliding all over the place and by the time you make it to the Ice Fall you are breathing like you know what. (I hate it like you wouldn’t believe)
Ok we are now at the Ice Fall and we put our crampons on, (now I do like this because it allows you to be lazy because you will not slip) and start of the mountain. I was not feeling good but kept thinking it would get better. We started in the Ice Fall and at the steep hills; Jim was stopping to catch his breath. I thought this was good because this would allow me not to be lagging behind. This went on for about an hour and Jim got better and I got worse. We actually talked about it on the mountain when he finally turned around and said that he was finally feeling better. At this point I was not being dead weight but I was certainly being slow but we continued. I thought if I could just get to camp 1 I could rest and surely I was strong enough to get there. We continued on and finally after 3:15 we got the first ladder in the Ice Falls. Now this was the same place that Martin, Nima, and I were at in less than 1 ½ hrs the first time we went up so this shows how slow I was on this trip. We talked again and I said let’s keep pushing up. I really didn’t want to go down. I knew what a commitment this was to get back to base camp. It was a long way but the bottom was so much up and down I just didn’t know that I could do it. Up was a lot steeper but it would be shorter and I thought I could just push through it but it wasn’t happening. AN hour later I ask Jim about the status and he said we were about ½ way. I told him we needed to go down. This was one of the hardest decisions that I had made so far because I knew what “crap” I was going to have to go through to get back to base camp. I just didn’t know if I could do it. I absolutely had no power in my legs. I was shot and really didn’t know why. I had climbed many mountains and never before had this happened to me. One thing that was happening was I was peeing about 10 mins without any notice and it was immediate ( less than 10 seconds),it hurt like hell, it was gold color( which I know is not good but not the worse it could be) and it was very little. Holy shit I am dehydrated some but something is wrong here. BTW I am a good water drinker as I learned this a long time ago on this High Altitudes climbs and I know my body well so I was baffled.
With a lot of patience from Jim, with me basically walking about 10 steps, going down one hill and going up one hill and me constanly asking him can he see the end we finally made it out 3 ½ later. Two days before we had madwe it down in less than 40 mins from not too much further down than when Jim and I turned around so you know we have a problem.
We made it to the crampon removal area and I just sat there and told Jim to go on home. It was only a couple hundred meters and quite honestly I didn’t know how I was going to get up that hill and especially didn’t know when but he wouldn’t leave me.
SO we ventured on up the hill passing by some friends who wanted to make sure we were ok because they had seen others that had seen me and told them that I was not doing well.
We were back at the camp in about 25 mins. We had just completed 8 hours of walking and we had gone nowhere. What a defeating thing for anyone to stomach and it was proablbly the hardest walk I had ever done in my life and I have had some hard ones ( the 26 Kilometers walk out of Acocongua is one at the top of my list)
Ok we leave at 5 am and I am back in my tent at 1 pm exhausted delirous and just wanted to be left alone. Only my pee bottle needed to be my friend.
I laid across the tent with my feet outside for over an hour trying to just remember who I was and the Sherpa’s were so helpful. They removed my harness, my boots and helped me get into bed. Jim later came with a homemade grill cheese tomato ham speciafiaclly made for me. The Sherpa’s had never seen such a thing but I was not hungry but knew I needed something. I did manage to eat one of them and then I rolled over to try to get some sleep.
I mention these next few items so one day I can laugh about them but if you want to skip reading this section I will not be offended.
After a while I realized that my pants and underwear were wet because I had sat on the snow so much on the way down and I needed to get them off or my bag was going to get wet and cold. Some how I did get them off down to my ankles ( I know this because I woke up later cold and my legs were tied to together) I had tied the bottom of my ankle tight to keep the snow out of my boots and I guess when I was trying to remove my pants I couldn’t figure out how to get them off so I left them until I woke up cold. I did finally manage to get them off b ut the Sherpa’s had destroyed my organized tent looking for my hat that not I could find any damn I do not know how long this sage went on but I finally found something to wear. Now add this drama with me having to piss at a moments notice. Ok 10 sec ( and I mean no more than 10 sec and it was flowing)to find the pee bottle, find the head lamp ( they couldn’t find mine so they gave me one of the sherpa’s which was totally different from mine so I could never find the regular light button, undo the screw cap and get it out of my pants and into this bottle. Funny huh? So you know what happen most of the night. I didn’t hit the bottle enough and my blanket and sleeping pad was in bad shape the next morning I now know what if feel like to be in an old folks home because when I awoke on Tuesday morning I thought I had moved my bed to the urinal. This was not good. The last funny of the night was on Jim. I had the pants story and he had the same thing happen to him with his shirt. He couldn’t figure out how to get his shirt because he couldn’t undo the buttons.
High altitude is a great thing, Huh?
Somehow I made it through the night and actually felt much better after that crazy day/night.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Camp I Preperation and Sunday April 18th
April 18th 2009 Sunday Camp 1 Preparation day
I had a long night of a little sleep. It was cold, had some of those “crazy” High altitude dreams and I had my first day in 15 days that I just wanted to quit and go home. I actually think that this is not that bad. On every trip I have gone you always have days or nights when you really have to ask yourself what the ‘Hell” am I doing and it is time to quit and go home. In every case you just keep going because you have worked too hard to get to this point, not to mention the money you have spent on these silly adventures. In the past, I had my friends around to pick me up when you had these lonely “feel sorry” days as we call it, but here, I am all alone so I needed to a little more pick me up from the inside. Martin had left and I am sure that is why it happened today. After getting up, talking with Jim, getting a great breakfast burrito, drinking some Mt Dew and getting a shower, I am beginning to get back in the game and ready to go to camp 1. The weather in the morning was great but as we have seen every day the sleet/ hail/snow starts around 3 pm and it starts to get cold. I hope I will be at comp 1 tomorrow before the weather changes.
Note: Found out today that Jim’s dad is Jack Williams who was one of Jack Welch’s right hand men during his reign of GE. Jack and his wife lived in Asia almost his entire career but the Jim and siblings always lived in the US.
I spent the morning reorganizing my stuff to take up to camp 1 and camp 2. The Sherpa’s take stuff up and leave it and you just keep moving stuff up the mountain and hardly ever bring anything down until the end of the trip. This is a little difficult as you begin to split off your clothes and will have to make adjustments along the way as you can’t have 2 or 3 of everything to take up. NIma got my stuff and they will carry it up in the afternoon.
The next thing to day was go over the meal plan for the next 4 days. That was a little bit of challenge because of my eating habits but I believe we got it done. I also filled a bag up of my favorite snacks to make sure I will eat something for the next four days. I gave Jim credit for being a good snack shopper as I liked many things that he had brought.
Jim continues to get the antenna and mountain radios ready for use over the next few weeks. Looks like we are finally get everything set up for the long journey. Nima and a few of the guys are going back down the mountain while we are gone to get some more supplies.
Tracey, the base camp manager should have landed in KATMANDU today. She sent a note to Jim that she was leaving Singapore and she has more supplies including my condiments and also my 12 volt inverter so I can have my computer hooked up in my tent with a light and don’t have to worry about running the battery down. This will be nice as it will be much warmer in my tent in my sleeping bag. She should be here in about 9 days as she makes her way up the mountain.
They took out the 2nd person off the mountain today. We do not know what the condition was with this person but that is 2 people that taken the helicopter out in the last 3 days. Diarrhea is running rampart in the camp but so far we are all good. The medical tent has been very busy with this and the cough.
I took for the first time in my climbing career, the pill Diamox 250 mg. It supposedly helps regulate your breathing at high altitudes. One of the things that happen during the night, is because of heavy breathing you are constantly getting awaken during the night. I usually take Tylenol PM which numbs me through these times but Jim hates this as it suppresses respiration. I sleep through it but it is not good for my body. The down side to Diamox is that it makes you use the bathroom all the time so my “Pee Bottle” is close to me at all times. I will try this for the next few days and see what happens. It is interesting to note that all guides have differing opinion on the use of Diamox (some strongly against, some indifferent and some strongly for it) but most climbing people at Everest are “pro” Diamox vs other places than I have climbed. I will keep you updated on how it is working or not.
We were sitting in the tent when we heard a huge avalanche on the snow side today. Finally one of the overhangs that we have been looking at for a couple of days came down. What a spectacular seen. It is not over our pass but was right behind our camp. It was pretty hot today with the sun shining so I am sure this is why it finally came down.
The other thing we had to do today is to get our “bodily fluid” bags. This has been a huge controversy here over the years. There was huge push in 2000(with Jim Williams playing a huge part in it) to eliminate tons of waste on the mountain and it is much better but the battle with human waste is still a huge problem. I have seen it first hand at the Tetons and MT Rainer that these fancy (all in one) bags really work. It was decided yesterday that all teams would attempt to try and make these bags work.
Note: one of the reasons to why this has failed is that Sherpa’s do not like to handle human waste so this has hindered the process but in the case the climber will be responsible for removing his own waste. This is great, just added another 6- 8 kilos to my backpack. Note really upset but weight is weight.
I will let you know how this transpires over the next few weeks because if it works it should make a huge difference on the mountain. I still remember the smell at Camp Berlin (Aconcagua, Argentina) and walking up Mt Elbrus (Russia) when we got close to the Lodge. What a disgusting smell it was at these 2 places.
The other thing we had to get done today was to redo my harness with all the right hardware. I used Jim’s hardware in the Ice Fall when we went in to train a few days ago. I thought this was a pretty good set up and was very easy to use quickly to affix to the ropes so I wanted to changed my from previous climbs. The other thing I had to incorporate was my ascender. I have not used an ascender since I was in Bolivia in 2006 but here it will be used a lot since most of the climb is on fixed ropes and the ascender can help you get up the steep places because it allows you to use your arm (in my case right handed) to help pull you up the hill attached to the rope and it is also another safety attachment if you fell. We got this done and I am ready to leave tomorrow morning at 430 am.
The mountain has been quite calm today so tomorrow might be real busy. Jim is not too worried but did say we will probably walk about 2-2 ½ hours before we stop as this timing aligns itself with the sun coming up on us when we will probably have to make a clothing adjustment. We will install our crampons after about 20 mins of walking so I can make a clothing adjustment at this time. I get quite hot walking and wear very little clothing so we have to keep moving or I will get very cold very fast which is not good.
I hope most of you enjoyed Jim’s updated blogs yesterday but with all we have been doing today it is still behind a few days. We have discussed these blogs and have already picked out the pictures for the writings but there is not enough time in the day for him to keep it updated. I am sure while we have nothing to do at camp one he will get caught up but that will be 4 days from now. He is taking his little 10 inch computer but I will not travel with mine. Mine is almost 3.5 kilos so that is out of the question.
You will not see anything from me for the next 3-4 days. It could be 3 days if I perform well but it might be 4 days so do not panic. We might move on up to camp 2 if I feel good. This would be a good thing if it happens. Believe me if something happens to me all of you will know it pretty quickly.
Just got an email form Martin. He is “flying” down the hill in Record time as we all expected. He made it to Namche and I am sure by now he is enjoying his own private shower in almost 8 days. Take care my friend you are already missed.
I wish everyone a nice Sunday and please say a prayer for me to have a safe trip through the ICE FALL.
I had a long night of a little sleep. It was cold, had some of those “crazy” High altitude dreams and I had my first day in 15 days that I just wanted to quit and go home. I actually think that this is not that bad. On every trip I have gone you always have days or nights when you really have to ask yourself what the ‘Hell” am I doing and it is time to quit and go home. In every case you just keep going because you have worked too hard to get to this point, not to mention the money you have spent on these silly adventures. In the past, I had my friends around to pick me up when you had these lonely “feel sorry” days as we call it, but here, I am all alone so I needed to a little more pick me up from the inside. Martin had left and I am sure that is why it happened today. After getting up, talking with Jim, getting a great breakfast burrito, drinking some Mt Dew and getting a shower, I am beginning to get back in the game and ready to go to camp 1. The weather in the morning was great but as we have seen every day the sleet/ hail/snow starts around 3 pm and it starts to get cold. I hope I will be at comp 1 tomorrow before the weather changes.
Note: Found out today that Jim’s dad is Jack Williams who was one of Jack Welch’s right hand men during his reign of GE. Jack and his wife lived in Asia almost his entire career but the Jim and siblings always lived in the US.
I spent the morning reorganizing my stuff to take up to camp 1 and camp 2. The Sherpa’s take stuff up and leave it and you just keep moving stuff up the mountain and hardly ever bring anything down until the end of the trip. This is a little difficult as you begin to split off your clothes and will have to make adjustments along the way as you can’t have 2 or 3 of everything to take up. NIma got my stuff and they will carry it up in the afternoon.
The next thing to day was go over the meal plan for the next 4 days. That was a little bit of challenge because of my eating habits but I believe we got it done. I also filled a bag up of my favorite snacks to make sure I will eat something for the next four days. I gave Jim credit for being a good snack shopper as I liked many things that he had brought.
Jim continues to get the antenna and mountain radios ready for use over the next few weeks. Looks like we are finally get everything set up for the long journey. Nima and a few of the guys are going back down the mountain while we are gone to get some more supplies.
Tracey, the base camp manager should have landed in KATMANDU today. She sent a note to Jim that she was leaving Singapore and she has more supplies including my condiments and also my 12 volt inverter so I can have my computer hooked up in my tent with a light and don’t have to worry about running the battery down. This will be nice as it will be much warmer in my tent in my sleeping bag. She should be here in about 9 days as she makes her way up the mountain.
They took out the 2nd person off the mountain today. We do not know what the condition was with this person but that is 2 people that taken the helicopter out in the last 3 days. Diarrhea is running rampart in the camp but so far we are all good. The medical tent has been very busy with this and the cough.
I took for the first time in my climbing career, the pill Diamox 250 mg. It supposedly helps regulate your breathing at high altitudes. One of the things that happen during the night, is because of heavy breathing you are constantly getting awaken during the night. I usually take Tylenol PM which numbs me through these times but Jim hates this as it suppresses respiration. I sleep through it but it is not good for my body. The down side to Diamox is that it makes you use the bathroom all the time so my “Pee Bottle” is close to me at all times. I will try this for the next few days and see what happens. It is interesting to note that all guides have differing opinion on the use of Diamox (some strongly against, some indifferent and some strongly for it) but most climbing people at Everest are “pro” Diamox vs other places than I have climbed. I will keep you updated on how it is working or not.
We were sitting in the tent when we heard a huge avalanche on the snow side today. Finally one of the overhangs that we have been looking at for a couple of days came down. What a spectacular seen. It is not over our pass but was right behind our camp. It was pretty hot today with the sun shining so I am sure this is why it finally came down.
The other thing we had to do today is to get our “bodily fluid” bags. This has been a huge controversy here over the years. There was huge push in 2000(with Jim Williams playing a huge part in it) to eliminate tons of waste on the mountain and it is much better but the battle with human waste is still a huge problem. I have seen it first hand at the Tetons and MT Rainer that these fancy (all in one) bags really work. It was decided yesterday that all teams would attempt to try and make these bags work.
Note: one of the reasons to why this has failed is that Sherpa’s do not like to handle human waste so this has hindered the process but in the case the climber will be responsible for removing his own waste. This is great, just added another 6- 8 kilos to my backpack. Note really upset but weight is weight.
I will let you know how this transpires over the next few weeks because if it works it should make a huge difference on the mountain. I still remember the smell at Camp Berlin (Aconcagua, Argentina) and walking up Mt Elbrus (Russia) when we got close to the Lodge. What a disgusting smell it was at these 2 places.
The other thing we had to get done today was to redo my harness with all the right hardware. I used Jim’s hardware in the Ice Fall when we went in to train a few days ago. I thought this was a pretty good set up and was very easy to use quickly to affix to the ropes so I wanted to changed my from previous climbs. The other thing I had to incorporate was my ascender. I have not used an ascender since I was in Bolivia in 2006 but here it will be used a lot since most of the climb is on fixed ropes and the ascender can help you get up the steep places because it allows you to use your arm (in my case right handed) to help pull you up the hill attached to the rope and it is also another safety attachment if you fell. We got this done and I am ready to leave tomorrow morning at 430 am.
The mountain has been quite calm today so tomorrow might be real busy. Jim is not too worried but did say we will probably walk about 2-2 ½ hours before we stop as this timing aligns itself with the sun coming up on us when we will probably have to make a clothing adjustment. We will install our crampons after about 20 mins of walking so I can make a clothing adjustment at this time. I get quite hot walking and wear very little clothing so we have to keep moving or I will get very cold very fast which is not good.
I hope most of you enjoyed Jim’s updated blogs yesterday but with all we have been doing today it is still behind a few days. We have discussed these blogs and have already picked out the pictures for the writings but there is not enough time in the day for him to keep it updated. I am sure while we have nothing to do at camp one he will get caught up but that will be 4 days from now. He is taking his little 10 inch computer but I will not travel with mine. Mine is almost 3.5 kilos so that is out of the question.
You will not see anything from me for the next 3-4 days. It could be 3 days if I perform well but it might be 4 days so do not panic. We might move on up to camp 2 if I feel good. This would be a good thing if it happens. Believe me if something happens to me all of you will know it pretty quickly.
Just got an email form Martin. He is “flying” down the hill in Record time as we all expected. He made it to Namche and I am sure by now he is enjoying his own private shower in almost 8 days. Take care my friend you are already missed.
I wish everyone a nice Sunday and please say a prayer for me to have a safe trip through the ICE FALL.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Details and plans for the next 2 weeks
Jim and I plan to go to Camp 1 on Monday April 19th and we will stay at least 2 days but more like 3 days. This would include a full trip through the Ice Fall which would be about 2-3 hours more than what we did the on the training day. Camp 1 is roughly 19000 ft. 1 day while we are there, we will walk about ½ of the 7 miles up to camp 2. This gets us around the corner to be able to see camp 2 and then we will return home.
Our support staff has been up the mountain every morning the last 4 days to help set up the camps at Camp 1 and camp 2 so they will be taking tomorrow off to rest a bit and help Jim and I finish up the last little details of base camp setup. Then some of them will return down the mountain to get more supplies for our trip.
After we return home, I will stay at base camp for about 4 days and then proceed up the mountain again to camp 2, which is 21000 ft. I will go with the lead Sherpa guide (Nima Tashi) to work on our relationship. (Speed, habits and Language). We will need to work on our language issues as his English is not the best and neither is mine (South Alabama) which makes it worse for him because he doesn’t hear well. So we will have to work on a few signals to make this work. Don’t worry, Nima Tashi is a great person, an accomplished guy (summitted Everest 11 times) and is generally considered one of the hardest working Sherpa’s on the mountain. I climbed with him on the Grand Teton last September but this is a completely different climb with different rhythms. Martin spent 45 days in Oct/Nov (Baruntse) with him being the lead Sherpa including the entire crew (guides and Kitchen crew) and feels completely comfortable with them so his recommendation meant a lot to me.
I spent quite a bit of time discussing this with Jim this morning while we worked on the tent setup. This part is another essential part of the success of my summit attempt. I have had failure and have had success with a pretty stringent program over the years and I know what works for me to make it to the top so we just have to spend some time together to make sure the basics are messed together. I always walk in the back of the pack as this gives me time to adjust to almost anything and with me being the only one in between 3 Sherpas I am a bit uncomfortable with it since it a roped climb including mostly fixed ropes due to the severe steepness of the mountain especially on summit day so I just need some comfort with who I am with. Sherpa’s are real animals on the mountains and their pace can be quite fast and I need them also understand my little idiosyncrasies so we can be successful. Nawang Pasang is the other lead guide who speaks very good English and this will be his 4th summit attempt (with having 3 summits in the last 4 years) with numerous times up to the Southern Col and Dawa Tsuring will be the 3rd Sherpa and this will be his first summit attempt but has been up the Southern Col many times as a working Sherpa.
I feel pretty good about all of these guys as I have met and spent time with their families as we came up the valley to get here so I understand their motivation and commitment to get home safely as they have families who depend on them and Nawang’s wife will actually have their baby when we are on the mountain and she told us to bring him home safely personally when we had dinner with his brother and her.
I will fill the rest as we move through these next few weeks and once we start you can fill in your calendars as I will not be able to post blogs or answer emails when I am on the mountain.
Our support staff has been up the mountain every morning the last 4 days to help set up the camps at Camp 1 and camp 2 so they will be taking tomorrow off to rest a bit and help Jim and I finish up the last little details of base camp setup. Then some of them will return down the mountain to get more supplies for our trip.
After we return home, I will stay at base camp for about 4 days and then proceed up the mountain again to camp 2, which is 21000 ft. I will go with the lead Sherpa guide (Nima Tashi) to work on our relationship. (Speed, habits and Language). We will need to work on our language issues as his English is not the best and neither is mine (South Alabama) which makes it worse for him because he doesn’t hear well. So we will have to work on a few signals to make this work. Don’t worry, Nima Tashi is a great person, an accomplished guy (summitted Everest 11 times) and is generally considered one of the hardest working Sherpa’s on the mountain. I climbed with him on the Grand Teton last September but this is a completely different climb with different rhythms. Martin spent 45 days in Oct/Nov (Baruntse) with him being the lead Sherpa including the entire crew (guides and Kitchen crew) and feels completely comfortable with them so his recommendation meant a lot to me.
I spent quite a bit of time discussing this with Jim this morning while we worked on the tent setup. This part is another essential part of the success of my summit attempt. I have had failure and have had success with a pretty stringent program over the years and I know what works for me to make it to the top so we just have to spend some time together to make sure the basics are messed together. I always walk in the back of the pack as this gives me time to adjust to almost anything and with me being the only one in between 3 Sherpas I am a bit uncomfortable with it since it a roped climb including mostly fixed ropes due to the severe steepness of the mountain especially on summit day so I just need some comfort with who I am with. Sherpa’s are real animals on the mountains and their pace can be quite fast and I need them also understand my little idiosyncrasies so we can be successful. Nawang Pasang is the other lead guide who speaks very good English and this will be his 4th summit attempt (with having 3 summits in the last 4 years) with numerous times up to the Southern Col and Dawa Tsuring will be the 3rd Sherpa and this will be his first summit attempt but has been up the Southern Col many times as a working Sherpa.
I feel pretty good about all of these guys as I have met and spent time with their families as we came up the valley to get here so I understand their motivation and commitment to get home safely as they have families who depend on them and Nawang’s wife will actually have their baby when we are on the mountain and she told us to bring him home safely personally when we had dinner with his brother and her.
I will fill the rest as we move through these next few weeks and once we start you can fill in your calendars as I will not be able to post blogs or answer emails when I am on the mountain.
Martin's leaving and a good day at the office
Saturday April 17th
Woke up early as usual but couldn’t get out of the bed this morning as it was very cold. It seemed like it changed about 3 am when I needed to put some more clothes on and added an extra blanket. I finally got up about 7am. The sun is up but doesn’t hit on us until about 745am.
It has been a cold, windy and cloudy day. The wind is coming in from the north and has been real cold so I hope it is a better day tomorrow as I really would like to have a shower before we go up to camp 1 for a couple of days.
Martin left today, while it was a bit sad seeing too old men leaving each other with tears in their eyes, I was happy to have spent the last 2 weeks with a great friend who came in to support me personally on this adventure of mine and added more in his mountaineering career highlights. We had a great time discussing our last 6 years of adventures (and all the great friends we have made and miss) and are already planning the next one in Oct in PNG so all of you are invited ( details to follow when I get off this one, just let Martin know asap if you are interested). We went by to see Wally before he left and got some great pictures to remember and Martin was wearing his new hat ( Everest Doctor’s Hat 2010) which he said would be a collector’s item when he returns to Australia late week. He will be back in Katmandu in 4 day of hard walking and if gets lucky with the weather in Lukla for the return journey. He plans to spend a few days seeing his friend (ANG) and the 2 kids he supports educationally in Katmandu.
After I returned to our camp, I started helping Jim set up the communication tent. It has been a great day for working inside and we now have set up an official office at Everest base camp 2010. If you saw it you would think Jim and I were just working away back in the US. We have satellite phones; we have radios for Staff, a desk telephone, Printer and 3 computers. We have email service, internet service and blogs for me and for Exploradus so we should be set now to communicate when we are here in the camp. I will get a picture of this and show it when I return but Jim sets up a pretty good operation. If the damn heater worked a little better, I think I could be very productive.
I have set up an alternative email address which I will send out if David and I cannot get it worked out with my company email. We should have this done in the next couple of days as I just have been able to communicate with him via email so early next week should be good to go either with my new address or my company address.
The rest of the day we continued to get the mess tent set up and now we really have a home here and tried to stay warm.
Woke up early as usual but couldn’t get out of the bed this morning as it was very cold. It seemed like it changed about 3 am when I needed to put some more clothes on and added an extra blanket. I finally got up about 7am. The sun is up but doesn’t hit on us until about 745am.
It has been a cold, windy and cloudy day. The wind is coming in from the north and has been real cold so I hope it is a better day tomorrow as I really would like to have a shower before we go up to camp 1 for a couple of days.
Martin left today, while it was a bit sad seeing too old men leaving each other with tears in their eyes, I was happy to have spent the last 2 weeks with a great friend who came in to support me personally on this adventure of mine and added more in his mountaineering career highlights. We had a great time discussing our last 6 years of adventures (and all the great friends we have made and miss) and are already planning the next one in Oct in PNG so all of you are invited ( details to follow when I get off this one, just let Martin know asap if you are interested). We went by to see Wally before he left and got some great pictures to remember and Martin was wearing his new hat ( Everest Doctor’s Hat 2010) which he said would be a collector’s item when he returns to Australia late week. He will be back in Katmandu in 4 day of hard walking and if gets lucky with the weather in Lukla for the return journey. He plans to spend a few days seeing his friend (ANG) and the 2 kids he supports educationally in Katmandu.
After I returned to our camp, I started helping Jim set up the communication tent. It has been a great day for working inside and we now have set up an official office at Everest base camp 2010. If you saw it you would think Jim and I were just working away back in the US. We have satellite phones; we have radios for Staff, a desk telephone, Printer and 3 computers. We have email service, internet service and blogs for me and for Exploradus so we should be set now to communicate when we are here in the camp. I will get a picture of this and show it when I return but Jim sets up a pretty good operation. If the damn heater worked a little better, I think I could be very productive.
I have set up an alternative email address which I will send out if David and I cannot get it worked out with my company email. We should have this done in the next couple of days as I just have been able to communicate with him via email so early next week should be good to go either with my new address or my company address.
The rest of the day we continued to get the mess tent set up and now we really have a home here and tried to stay warm.
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