Some reflection

May 13, 2011

A few words about what is now about to happen over the next 6-10 days, from my point of view. The plan is to rest and spend the next few days here at base camp until the weather is stable enough for a summit attempt. As I mentioned earlier, the weather has been very unpredictable over the last couple of weeks. There seem to be little stability at the current time, and the storm three days ago that came in out of nowhere appears part of a strange pattern. Furthermore, today the summit winds turned out to be in excess of 55 mi/hr, despite the fact that the current forecast had predicted near ideal summit conditions. As result, all summit attempts going on today had to be abandoned, with one climber getting as far as to the to the South Summit.

On the way down from camp 2 through the ice fall we came across a blue bundled-up sleeping bag, the tragic ending of yet another ill-attempted trial to set an “age record” for climbing Mt. Everest. I do not know the exact age of the climber that was attempting to do this just that he was a citizen of Nepal. Just a few hours ago we learned that another Japanese climber had died high up on Everest, near the South Summit. All we know is that he was very experienced with several 8,000 m peaks to his credit, and that cerebral edema may have been a factor in this tragedy. 

For me personally, at this time I have seen just about all I ever wanted to see about climbing Mt. Everest, and I want you to understand my intentions for these last 10-14 days out here. First of all, and without a question, I am going to try hard to reach the summit. I feel well prepared, and I think that the summit is well within my possibilities. Nevertheless, I will not go to some “place of no return” to reach this goal, and there will only be one attempt, hopefully under some favorable conditions. And finally, independent of the outcome of the summit attempt, I have no intentions to return to Everest at any time in the future. After all, there is life after Everest, and I am very much looking forward to it…