John O'Meara, who is our local Metro Parks Executive Director here in Central Ohio, is part of an IMG-guided team making an Everest summit attempt around the same time as Kurt (and on the same overall permit, as I understand it). This will be John's first Everest summit, if successful. He has already done Whitney and Aconcagua -- the two I can remember from among the other major peaks he has done. John's assistant, e-mailed us this morning with the latest from one of John's teammates' blog, dated late May 14 (Everest time):

Quote:
John and his teammates have begun the push to the summit and are resting at Camp 2 and if all goes well, hope to summit on Saturday (May 19).

Here is a link to another of John's teammates, Bandar, who is blogging and also doing audio dispatches. http://www.explorersweb.com/bandar

The post below from Bandar tells the story of what happens to the body on the way to the summit.


"The expected route for the Summit push is a bit different than the previous rotations. We plan to climb on the first day from EBC to Camp 2, without a stop at Camp 1. This should take approximately 8 hours. The next day will be a rest day at Camp 2 to hydrate and repair and then we will move to Camp 3 on day 3. Day 4 will have us leaving early in the morning to the South Col (Camp 4) where we will arrive around 12:00 PM. Camp 4 is at 8000 meters, the beginning of the "Death Zone", the altitude at which the body no longer recovers and is slowly dying. Although we will be on oxygen the whole time in the death zone, it is still a very unpleasant experience; therefore, we will leave on that same night, at approximately 9:00 PM, on our move to the summit, hoping to summit some time around sunrise. We don't expect to be able to eat or sleep at Camp 4; it is just too hard given the low oxygen. The summit push can take up to 18 hours, meaning that we would have been awake since leaving Camp 3, a total of almost 36 hours. It's going to be a hard, hard push.... especially with our already emaciated bodies. During the whole time we will be accompanied by our personal sherpa and will be carrying 17 lbs (8 KG) of oxygen.

Summit day is expected to burn around 15 - 18 thousand calories. Since we really can't eat up high, this will mainly be from our body's remaining fat (not very much there) and muscle. 18,000 calories is approximately 5 lbs or 2.4 KG. We will each carry 3 liters of water with us, 2 liters in plastic nalgene bottles in our down suits and 1 liter in a thermos in our packs. The goal is to drink the nalgenes first before they freeze (yes, even inside our down suits, next to our skin they freeze) and then drink the thermos. We also are carrying lots of gu type energy gels. These are barely palatable at sea level but provide quick energy. I will also mix cytomax and gatorade into my water for some calories while climbing.

We all carry in our pockets Diamox for Altitude sickness, Dexamethasone, a steroid used for treating High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) and Nifidipene for High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE), as well as immodium for lower GI issues, advil, aspirin, inhalors, etc. Preparation is key.

On the mountain will be our team of 10, plus 8 personal sherpas and 10 or more climbing sherpas doing odd jobs. Summit day is a bit hectic for everyone but I can take comfort in knowing that there will be a lot of people on the mountain were things to go wrong.

After our summit, we, ideally, will climb back down to Camp 2 (Camp 4 if we don't have the energy to get to 2), we will sleep one night and then head to EBC. After arriving at EBC we pack and get ready to go home!

It's a very mixed feeling you get during this time. Anxiety, fear of failure, excitement, and curiosity all in one. Let's hope the team is successful and none of us have to come back and go through this process again.

Bandar
14 May, 12 - 23:22"


CaT

If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them more than the miracle of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it.
- Lyndon Johnson, on signing the Wilderness Act into law (1964)