Back at base camp after summit

May 23

Just got back to base camp after the 22 hour epic to the summit.  It was by sure the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  We were also very lucky to have very reasonable conditions for some hours, but had to climb most of the night in some wind and snow.  Luckily I was able to push through and summited in day light.  We were on the summit for less than 10 min when the weather turned on us.  Only a few people where on the mountain (less than 40), we got to the summit just by ourself. 

I don't remember all of it at the moment, but have the pictures (and rocks ) to prove it....  Also, after safely returning to camp 2 I had some temporary vision problems, for a few hours my eyes were on fire, most likely due to some of the cold air exposure during the night hours.  That’s why I spent yesterday at camp 2 to get  most of my eye sight back, and came down to base camp this morning.

The plan is to leave tomorrow for Lukla, if all goes well.

I also now understand why people take a few weeks before they can talk about this. I think I need some time off myself from all the drama, the awful injuries, and the sight of dead people.  Just over night, four people were luckily pulled off the mountain still alive, but with awful frost bites to feet and hands, and had to be flown out to Kathmandu via helicopter this morning. 

I definitely need to remind myself how lucky I have been to be able to pull this off...