Great news!!!! I still am trying to believe it. I summitted Mount Everest at around 8:15am the 23rd of May. It was certainly one of the most difficult challenges of my life. It was definitely the most technical and dangerous climb I have ever done. Fortunately, I am suffering only a little frostbite in one finger ( I may lose the tip only) and some peripheral edema that I am mostly over. Everything considered, I am very lucky.

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May 18th we left Base Camp at 2:30am and for the 3rd time, climbed up through the treacherous Ice Fall to C1. We waited at C1 for a few hours for the sun to weaken and then moved up the Western Cwm to C2 in the afternoon. We rested the next day at C2.

May 20 we left C2 for C3 at 2:30am. It was somewhat windy but our weather report called for decreasing winds. Once past the bergschund and climbing up the steep Lhotse Face the winds increased dramatically. We had about 3000 vertical feet (1000m) to climb to C3. The winds kept getting stronger and probably were gusting at 70mph (120 kph). It was hellish, especially the last 500’ when the slope gets even steeper and rock hard icier.

C3, 24,500’ (7500m) is carved out of the icy steep slope. The tents are stepped-up from each other. You must use crampons even to go to have a pee. If you slip you are gone. It has extraordinary views but very risky geography.

We literally got pounded by the winds for the next 30 hours. We were burrowed in our tents like moles in their dugouts. Sometimes it felt like our tent would get ripped up and blown off the mountain. The winds sounded like a freight train as it came over the South Col and blasted down the Lhotse Face. The South Col is famous among climbers as it is the neck between Everest and Lhotse and sits at 26,000’ (8000m). Our Camp 4 is situated there and it is in what is called the ‘death zone’, where the body cannot sustain itself. Effectively the body is breaking down and dying at this altitude. The less time you spend there the better.

Finally at the end of the day May 21 the winds calmed so we planned to leave early the next morning. May 22nd we started out early at daybreak and climbed another 500’ higher up the Lhotse Face and then precipitously traversed across the Face to a steep rocky vertical section called the Yellow Band. It is a famous band of rock clearly visible from a distance. Next we got to the Geneva Spur and using our ascenders (jumars) climbed up and around this rocky outcrop to the South Col, C4. I arrived around noon.

We rested in our tents, tried to eat and drink, and sucked back supplemental oxygen to prepare for our summit bid that night. It was sunny with light winds. Perfect. We were all psyched. Two months on the mountain acclimatizing, climbing higher and higher each time, getting up at 2 or 3 am, freezing, living in tents on the glacier. Now, the moment has arrived. We are going tonight. Each person facing his own destiny. No second attempts. We will use up all our energy on this shot. Each member of the team has already lost a lot of weight. Some as much as 35 pounds. It all comes down to tonight.

I am the 1st one to leave high camp at 8pm. It is dark but my headlight beams my path. The route up begins with an easy slope. The winds are stronger now but still quite manageable. It is 1500’ up to the ‘Balcony’, where we will change oxygen bottles, drink and snack a little. We are soon climbing on a 45⁰ pitch, probably more in places. Mingma Sherpa is climbing with me. Step by step we move up. It is rocky and icy in places. I am on an oxygen flow rate of 2.5 litres per minute. It gives me energy and helps keep me warm. The tank weighs about 18 lbs (8+kg) and is in my backpack.

Hours later we arrive at the Balcony 27,600’ (8400m). I don’t know the time. It is still night. It is very cold. I change O₂ bottles and we start traversing a narrow ridge with very steep faces on both sides. One side falls several thousand feet directly down to C2 and the other side down to Tibet. It is dark but also it is very clear that there is a huge void on both sides. I will soon realize that there is not a single spot on the mountain to stop and rest except the Balcony. Even there it is exposed and crammed. Anyways, resting in such extreme cold often results in a stupor and surrender. 

Although we are clipped in to a fixed rope with our safety line, the prospect of falling even 50 or 100’ and banging against rock or ice would definitely cause serious damage to life and limb. Rescue, especially at the higher sections above the Balcony is extremely difficult if not impossible. The line up the mountain is technical and unforgiving. Clipping-in to an anchor is possible but on a steep slope you are very exposed and if you lose anything (mitts, pack, goggles, jacket) you are doomed. Snow-blindness from sun exposure and reflection is very common and dangerous. Loss of a mitt means instant frostbite and loss of fingers and hand. The room for error is razor thin.

I arrive at a rocky segment where the lower part is 90⁰. Another climber ahead of me from another expedition is already there. He is repeatedly trying to jumar himself up this face. He fails each time and I stand waiting almost 45 minutes freezing until finally he makes it up.

Honestly, a lot of the next few hours I do not remember clearly. It was dark and I was so focused on every step and detail. It was really one step in front of the other. The oxygen fed my lungs to keep my heart rate from smashing human records. When I would need to climb over a really hard spot or a very intimidating rock ledge, my heart rate would still jump exponentially. I had total blind confidence I would make it. Frankly, I didn’t even question myself, I was on a mission. Just remember to keep track of your toes and fingers. Make sure your crampon points bite the ice and rock. Attach your safety carabiner and line. Focus! Concentrate!!!

The first band of horizontal reddish light appeared on the distant horizon. Next I saw the ephemeral pyramid shadow of Everest emerge in the distant sky. It is always magical for me to see this momentary image appear like a ghost out of nowhere. Now I could finally see Everest’s true triangular summit still far above me. However, I was already higher than every other mountain in the whole range. From Base Camp all these mountains are so huge.  Now I looked down on them as if they were just snowy hill tops. Only Mount Lhotse and Makalu vied for status in this extraordinary vista.

Step by step my dream came closer. First the South Summit at 28,707’ (8750m), next the Cornice Traverse, and finally the Hillary Step. The Hillary Step is only about 30’ high but it is a straight rock wall. You have to jumar yourself up finding tiny footholds as leverage. It is very scary considering you have the 8000’ Kangshung Face on the north side and on the south side another colossal wall. Once on top you want to say to yourself, I will make this, I will summit. But you also know that even if you are so close, a lot can still go wrong.

Above the Hilary Step at 28,740’ (8760m) it becomes a straight forward climb to the summit. Before you know it, you are standing above Buddhist Prayer Flags left behind by the Sherpas and other summiteers over the years. You are on a small oval platform the size of a big sundeck.  You suddenly realize that you have climbed to the very 'Top of the World'. There is nothing anywhere higher on earth. You have, against all odds, accomplished your dream. It has been years of training, preparing, learning. You have really made it.  Oddly enough, I didn’t feel anything great. It hadn’t sunk in yet. I was too busy trying to take photos and video. Nothing was working well. My hands were stiff with cold. The video camera wouldn't work. It was just too cold. Some other climbers arrived from the North Side. Then some of my team members also arrived.

You would think after all this incredibly tough effort, one would want to stay up there and enjoy the moment. It is so cold and hostile, perhaps your mind is not working 100%, all you want to do is get down. The hardest and most dangerous part of any climb is the descent.  Down-climbing the Hillary Step I slipped and found myself hanging precariously over 5000’ of empty air. I recovered but not without seeing my cardio zoom out of control. "Just because you're finished with the mountain doesn't mean the mountain is finished with you".

I arrived back to C4 (South Col) sometime around 4pm. I was held up by a small rescue operation lowering a man with cerebral edema just above the Balcony. It was a 20 hour day and I was totally spent. It had been a busy day because the weather had focused other expeditions to vie for the summit and the going up and down was unusually slow. I crawled into my tent without even looking at what photos I had taken. I needed to sleep and recover.

On May 24th I woke up realizing I had frostbite on my index finger and ‘peripheral edema’ on my face.  My eyes and cheeks were all puffed-up. I packed up quickly and descended with Mingma down the very dangerous and technical terrain of the Yellow Band and Lhotse Face. We arrived at C2 sometime in the afternoon and slept there that night. Next morning the 25th we all descended together as a team down the Western Cwm to C1 and then continued down through the Ice Fall to BC. What a relief to finally be finished going through the Ice Fall. So many deaths and serious injuries occur there.

The whole team was desperate to get going and off the glacier. We packed-up and early the next morning the 26th and started our long hike out to Lukla. It is about 40 miles (65 km) of trekking over scree and every type of terrain, back down the Khumbu Valley to Lukla and a short flight to Kathmandu. We covered it in 2 days and arrived this morning in Kathmandu worn out and physically exhausted. However, we are happily back to real showers, real food, and a real bed.

I will attempt to write an overview in the next few days on or after my return flight home.  Also, I would like to say how delighted I was to have by chance summitted Everest on Dave’s birthday. It makes the event even more special for me.

Don't forget to checkout all of the pics here: 2010 Everest Photo Albums.