To bed at 8pm the night before, I had the “intention of considering” waking up early to visit the Tengboche Monastery for morning prayers — with a pre-dawn and pre-warmth start of 6am. I rustled at 5:30 am to the sounds of gongs nearby, and then whispered over to my roommate Steve to see if [...]

Exploration is best achieved by pooling the resources, human capital and financial, of many. Our Internation Space Station program is a wonderful example of bringing together nations for a common purpose, taking advantage of the expertise each country has to offer, in order to do something extremely challenging. Although climbing Everest can be done without [...]

Firing on all cylinders today, we saw a bit over 13,000 feet in very good form, along with some of the most spectacular scenery on earth. Everest and neighboring Ama Dablam peaked out of the clouds for a brief period, their faces looking forbidding and their summits impossibly distant. Strange to think that in just [...]

High altitude mountaineering, like many other performance activities and sports, requires really taking care of your body, and listening to what it’s saying to you. While its possible to push hard for many days in a row, as in a summit push, our team is fresh to these altitudes. Although I felt very strong up [...]

Despite rain and dark clouds yesterday afternoon, the walk from dinner to bed was free of clouds — and thanks to the altitude and a complete lack of light pollution, it was almost as clear a view of the night sky as from the overhead windows of the Shuttle. Just brilliant… and the clarity foreshadowed [...]

The alarm in our room shrieked uncomfortably at 4:15 in the morning, but I was already wide awake — and had been for 30 minutes or more. Today was the day we escaped the bustle and chaos of Kathmandu for the mountains, The Himalayas! We boarded our twin turbo Dehavilland, run by the appropriately named [...]

Day 4/March 25, 2009 (Wednesday) Many last minute expedition details to attend to today, not the least of which is getting a “pre-mission haircut.” For each of my Shuttle missions, I would generally get a trim a day or two prior to going into quarantine (a week-long isolation from the general public, such that we [...]

Day 3/March 24, 2009 (Tuesday) Deja vu all over again When you go across the border to Canada, as an example, subtle things make you feel like a foreigner: the way certain words are said or written, the availability of certain foods (have you ever tried poutine?) or the fact that some signs are bilingual. [...]

Day 1/March 22, 2009 (Sunday) The first steps are some of the hardest Every journey begins with a single, critical step. Once in motion, keeping your heading and inertia becomes much easier, the goal more in focus. I am now thankfully very much in motion, half a world away from home, blogging from the comfort [...]

 In March 2009, just a few days before he departed for Nepal, Soctt Parazynski was interviewed by Miles O’Brien regarding the what, where, and why of Scott’s return to Mt. Everest. Scott Parazynski: Well, hello my name is Scott Parazynski I am 47-years-old. I am a former Astronaut and a mountaineer and I am about to embark on [...]