Archive for the ‘Everest 2009’ Category
Gloves not mittens
June 6th, 2009
Went to the dr. yesterday. Good news is that I’m now in glove dressings instead of mittens. I can bend my fingers, spead them apart–yipee. I’m doing exercises to loosen my fingers and toes back up.
Now we wait and see what its heal and what doesn’t. Surgery / surgeries will come…
The bad news was he gave me a script for 80 vicodin. I’ve only had bad pain a couple of days, but there’s more to come apparently.
Can’t drive for a while. The next week will likely be spent in front of the tv; after that I hope to get out more. I think the pads on the balls of my feet are peeling off, which makes it tricky to walk any distance.
Jet lag is doing its normal job on me. Doesn’t matter since I can sleep all day 
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Home at last
June 4th, 2009
I got home yesterday. As usual, jet lag is whacking me hard. I go to my first doctor appointment tomorrow.
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Corrections for ExWeb
May 31st, 2009
I haven’t looked myself, but a friend recounted a report about me on ExWeb. Here is a corrected version, which ExWeb is welcome to post.
*I used oxygen above C4 and carried 2 bottles from the South Col. I did have problems with my oxygen.
* I did not use Sherpas on summit day, or throughout the climb.
* To the best of my knowledge, nobody other than Walter and Bernice gave me significant material assistance on my descent to the South Col. The events at the South Col are described in the last post. At this time I believe that I descended all the way to the South Col ( and indeed to BC) under my own power. I’ll be happy to correct this when other evidence becomes available. That will happen after I get home.
ExWeb, I hope this clarifies things.
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My status
May 30th, 2009
Finally I have a chance to get my own update posted. It will be brief, because I’m pecking this out with a toothbrush.
A quick summary: after reaching the summit at about 1:30pm on the 22nd, I descended. During the descent, I screwed up and didn’t reach the South Col until dawn the next day. Phurbu Tashi, HimEx sidar, took me to his tent and gave me oxygen and fluids. Later that day I descended to C2 and the next day to BC.
I hope to leave Kathmandu in a day or two. My frostbite is stable. My hands and feet are wrapped for protection, making life quite difficult. I’ll likely lose some bits of a few fingers and toes, but nothing major. I will be able to do all my normal activities after I heal. My nose is black and for a while I looked like a very evil clown.
After I get home I’ll begin the task of figuring out exactly how I screwed up. I’ll be contacting those folks who saw me that night for their recollections. Until, then, thanks to all of you. I’m a lucky guy.
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Helicopter to Kathmandu
May 27th, 2009
With weather closing in the helicopter made it to Pheriche and took Mike back to Kathmandu with a couple stops on the way. On arriving in Kathmandu his first stop was the clinic where they changed the dressings on his hands and feet. He said he looks like a clown, with a black nose, and bandages on his hands that look like boxing gloves. He was still in clothes he wore to the summit and when he finally took them off he realized he has lost weight. He hopes to arrange a flight back on the U.S.A. soon. He will need to use a wheel chair in the airport and will try to arrange a seat with more leg room. At least he could joke that because he looks so awful I(his wife) don’t have to worry about other women chasing after him.
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Back in Base Camp
May 24th, 2009
After spending a night at Camp II on the descent, Mike is now in Base Camp. Doctors at the medical tent checked out his frostbite and have given him some meds. Weather prevented helicopter evacuation to Kathmandu today. If they cannot get a helicopter in tomorrow, he will start down on horseback. Being at lower elevation with more oxygen will help with the healing. He will spend several days in Kathmandu before flying back to the U.S.A. It is too soon to tell how much damage there will be from the frostbite. He sounds good for someone who took a side trip on the summit of Mt. Everest!
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Summit Reached
May 23rd, 2009
Mike called from Camp IV to say he reached the summit at 1:30 p.m. on 5/22. His oxygen delivery wasn’t working correctly so it took him longer than expected to reach the summit. He was alone on the summit and as he came down by himself he missed a turn and was out all night [edit: I thought I might have been off route, but I wasn't]. As a consequence he has some frostbite. Sherpas will help him get back to base camp. He will finally get to remove his boots once he reaches the medical tent and they can determine how much damage there is from the frost bite. As this point it is important for him to descend as soon as possible.
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Summit Push Continues
May 22nd, 2009
Mike called from Camp IV to say that he was leaving for the summit at 10 p.m. on 5/21 (Nepal time) and hopes to be on the summit the morning of 5/22. He has 16 hours of oxygen which should allow him to reach the summit and all or most of the way back to Camp IV. The weather looks good – no precipitation, but there may be some wind. He will not have his satellite phone on the summit so will call when he is back to Camp IV.
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Camp IV
May 20th, 2009
Mike called from Camp IV to say that his summit attempt will be one day later than planned. He reached Camp IV late and will rest overnight.
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Summit push is on
May 17th, 2009
After a long time down low, it was time to come back up and do what I came to do–climb the mountain.
My cough is amazingly better, thanks to drugs provided by Torie, one of the docs at the BC clinic. I wouldn’t have believed my throat could be this much better after less than 24 hours! I should have gone there before heading downhill (sometimes I think I know more than I do).
Here’s the schedule: 5/16 rest at BC, 5/17 BC to C2, 5/18 rest at C2, 5/19 C2 to C3, 5/20 C3 to C4, 5/21 C4 to summit to C4.
After that, it’s a matter of clearing my gear from the mountain. I’ll tell you in advance, I might pay for some Sherpa help to do this as I’ll likely be quite exhausted!
With my cough under control, I feel ready to go. Remember that I’ve been almost all the way to C4, so only the summit day is new ground.
Of course, everyone else is heading up but there are several possible summit days so the crowds will be spread out.
I will try to get a couple of blog updates posted, but they will be short.
Wish me luck!
Photos (click to enlarge) Me coughing.
Yak and Ama Dablam above Dingboche
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