Days 39 & 40/April 29 & 30, 2009 (Wednesday & Thursday) Clashing Options: Should I stay or should I go now? Resting can be hard work, particularly at high altitudes. The demands of the summit push will take everything I’ve got, so having physical reserve to make the climb, use good judgment and safely descend [...]

Scott at Everest – with the Sun Shining, Miles O’Brien “Eventually, we are going to get these vidchats from Everest Base Camp down to a science. At 11pm EDT on Wednesday – 8:45am Thursday at EBC, I spoke with Scott Parazynski and Keith Cowing. The weather is much better at this time of day there [...]

We had another 11 sherpas carry to the Col today, so we are starting to get a good sized cache of gear and oxygen up there. The plan is now to start fixing above the Col in a few days. Jangbu has put together a consortium representing about a half dozen teams to make it [...]

Day 38/April 28, 2009 (Tuesday) NASA Trek Team Lands at EBC! As Louis Armstrong once sang: “What a wonderful world!” I am so fortunate to have such great family and friends… A group of 31 ascended to the heights of Everest Base Camp this morning, full of energy and good health, bearing gifts and letters [...]

Days 32-37/April 22-27, 2009 (Wednesday-Monday) “Home” safe at EBC after epic 2nd rotation Exhausted but clean-shaven and showered, I can now transcribe my journal notes from my pre-summit bid rotation up to Camp III, 24,500 feet. As I wearily trudged down the final portions of the Khumbu Icefall this morning, I reveled in the thought [...]

Day 31/April 21, 2009 (Tuesday) You’ve read about SPOT. You’ve seen SPOT run. You’ve seen SPOT sit. Now you’ll see SPOT, as in SPOTScott and SPOTDanuru, go to new heights: Camp III is situated at 24,000+ feet above sea level, just a vertical mile from Everest’s summit. The brochure that comes with a SPOT unit [...]

Gearing Up for Everest, Gearing Up for EVA If you’ve ever been rock climbing or mountaineering — or you’ve ever seen Clint Eastwood’s The Eiger Sanction — you know that moving up steep terrain takes lots of gear. Climbers love gear, not just for the cool factor, but because it provides protection in case of [...]

Day 30/April 20, 2009 (Monday) You can’t just walk up to base camp, strap on your crampons and head for the summit, at least not here in the Himalayas. Climbing Everest is a marathon, and not a sprint. Morphing the kid’s riddle: “Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: One bite at a time!” [...]

Day 29/April 19, 2009 (Sunday) Medical Theme Day at Everest Base Camp The expedition is now in its 29th day, so it shouldn’t surprise me that the unusual and difficult living environment of EBC now seems so comfortable. I am home here: I can zip over to the comm. tent, a 100 yard trek, without [...]

<object width=”560″ height=”340″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/m-BGD4XHK_c&hl=en_US&fs=1&”></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/m-BGD4XHK_c&hl=en_US&fs=1&” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”560″ height=”340″></embed></object> This video was taken on 17 April 2009 at Camp 2 on Mount Everest at 21,500 feet. In it, IMG climber Scott Parazynski talks live via satellite phone Michael Barratt aboard the International Space Station on the occasion of his [...]