I can finally stop holding my breath: Discovery is getting ready to release the EBTL series. Well, it’s still a few months off, but you can register your email, and they’ll probably ship around July 13th:

http://store.discovery.com/detail.php?p=257946&v=discovery

If you’d like to see me and my buddies slug it up the mountain beforehand, you can even visit Amazon.com (Amazon Video On Demand) and view my episode (#3) or the entire series with a credit card and a click of a mouse:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00326Z888/internatio086-20

I received an exciting email tonight from Karel Masek, an Everest climbing buddy from the 2009 season, who’s back to try again with my other 2009 compadres Louis Carstens and Chris Berghum. Wishing them a safe round trip to the summit and back…

Climb on!

The lunar and Everest rock samples (and fancy Pringles/duct tape holder) with Zambo

The past few weeks have been a blur of Everest-related activity, and hypoxia is not to blame! The Discovery Channel’s “Everest: Beyond the Limit” series detailing the 2009 summit season went live just after Christmas. Last week we held the official hand-off of the “nuggets” — the small Apollo 11 lunar samples I took to the top, and a summit rock I brought down — over to NASA.

The “Everest BTL” episode in which I was featured, along with buddies Dawes, Danuru, Mingma, Ed, Mike, Louis and Paul, is mega-dramatically entitled: “Deadly Countdown!” If you missed one of the dozen times it played that week, fear not! All is not lost! Assuming you don’t have a heart ailment or fear of heights, here is the full episode online: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/everest-beyond-the-limit-deadly-countdown-full-episode.html

Last week three great friends joined me for probably the last pages of the “Everest chapter” in my life… Keith Cowing and Miles Obrien flew into Houston for a ceremony to formally hand over the small rocks, picked up literally worlds apart. The recipient was my good friend George “Zambo” Zamka, about to command the STS-130 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. Keith and Miles, both fellow Directors of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education (www.challenger.org), were driving forces in sharing the expedition with countless thousands of kids around the world through our blogs and videochats. They encouraged me and helped me find sponsorship despite the longest of odds, and I’m eternally grateful. Zambo flew with me on my final Shuttle mission, STS-120, and he and his new crew will now be the couriers of what I consider to be precious cargo. Although this is  a very minor duty on a very complex mission (!), I hope that having these tangible objects of exploration will help inspire future astronaut explorers as they venture off to places even more distant in the years ahead. You can see the hand-off ceremony (Miles was MC) and a presentation on my Everest years on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3St_RRXZLU

Apollo 11 lunar samples and a piece of the "Roof of the World" mounted and ready for a trip to the International Space Station; they will eventually reside in the appropriately-named "Tranquility Module."

Everest summit gear on display at Space Center Houston

Other mentions of recent events (Big Thanks to Robert Pearlman for the photos above!):

• collectSPACE (Robert Pearlman’s great site): http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-010610a.html
• Air & Space Magazine photo of the day: http://www.airspacemag.com/snapshot/80860072.html
• MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34757736/ns/technology_and_science-space/
• Mother Nature Network: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/rocks-from-the-moon-and-from-everest-join-crew-of-the

I watched the final episodes of EBTL at home with laptop in lap, a first for me. Alan Arnette (@alan_arnette) had virtually assembled a group of Twitterers — both climbers and interested armchair mountaineers — to view and comment on the show in real-time (#EV09). My friend from Everest Base Camp, Keith Cowing (@keithcowing), who had orchestrated an enormous amount of educational outreach during my climb, was also online to reminisce and share his unique perspectives of the mountain and the recent season. Alan’s wrap-up of the night can be found at http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/archives/1777

The two final episodes concentrated on Russell Brice’s HIMEX summit teams, and featured stunning high altitude photography — owing to the fact their teams summited a bit later in the morning than our IMG teams did (their Sherpacams captured more of the upper mountain in full color with full lighting, instead of grainy infrared in B&W during our sunrise summit). By making somewhat later departures from high camp, and perhaps with larger numbers of climbers vying for the summit on their chosen days, the conga lines to the top made me break out in a cold sweat (!), and reaffirmed my belief in a strategy of early departure/keep-the-lead as the preferred way to the top (and safely back home). The final episode featured Russell’s slower climbers, each of whom very unfortunately succumbed to gastroenteritis, which is medicalspeak for the trots. In case you didn’t know, dealing with such unpleasant matters at extreme altitudes while wearing a down suit and a harness is a literal nightmare. Meaning no disrespect to the climbers’ strength and tenacity, my favorite Twitter quips of the night: @johnwhittle “This episode brought to you by Huggies” and my own simple offering: “Time to take a shower and burn your down suit…” HIMEX’s second team persevered through this and a developing storm to summit. Congratulations to them all, particularly their Sherpa team and the tough cameramen who accompanied them (including my friend Matt Green, who was on the first HIMEX summit).

My good friend and summit partner Ed Wardle’s (@aloneinthewild) photo is at the top of this post. He and Sanduk Sherpa were with Danuru Sherpa and I almost every step of the way on the mountain. It was Ed’s 2nd summit of Everest, and 3rd time on the mountain (he filmed on the prior two seasons of the show, and is one tough hombre). Always smiling, Sanduk claimed his 3rd Everest summit with us on May 20, 2009, and I’m sure he’ll continue to add to his impressive climbing resume in the future. Just below is a fun photo of our IMG Sherpa team during our puja ceremony at the beginning of the season, singing, dancing and enjoying life — the way I’ll always remember them… 

Namaste,

Scott

IMG Sherpas celebrating life during our puja ceremony, officially beginning our Everest season (March 2009)

Overall, I thought Discovery and Tigress Productions did a fantastic job capturing the essence of the climb, particularly the physical and mental challenge of approaching the mountain. It’s very hard to tell the full story of any given summit bid, but my only regret is that they didn’t tell more of the Sherpa side of the story, and that of the Discovery film crew. I climbed with my good friend, Danuru Sherpa, now an 11x summitteer and one of my personal heroes. Ed Wardle, Matt Green and Jamie Berry, along with Sanduk Sherpa and others, climbed with the added burden of an HD camera and the responsibility to film. Keeping my eyes on the mountain was enough for me to manage… I’m also thankful to Eric Simonsen, Mark Tucker and all my other Sherpa compadres who helped set and stock camps, and made the dream possible.

Alan Arnette, very well versed in Himalayan expeditions, hosted a Twitter conversation (#EV09) last night, and posted a review on his blog that’s worth reading: http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/archives/1750. My take on this 3rd season of the program is that this year’s series is about the climbing, and not about the interpersonal conflicts and related drama as in the first two seasons. I’m definitely OK with this, even though “Biker Tim” was better-than-average entertainment…!

I thought the coverage of John Golden’s attempt was really eye-opening. John’s one seriously tough guy who overcame an enormous amount to arrive at Everest. He was fit, well prepared technically, and deserved to be there — but I didn’t realize until just recently that he’d actually cracked 3 ribs and fractured his hand during his fall! I don’t know that I’d take another trip to the mountain in his boots, but this is a question that only he (and his outfitter) can answer. I wish him well, whatever the outcome… http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/345273/John_Golden

I’ve exchanged email with my friend Rejean in recent weeks, and I understand he’ll be headed back for another attempt this spring. As it was for me, I hope and believe the 2nd time will be the charm for him…

On belay,

Scott

Scott Parazynski and other IMG climbers prepare for their summit push at the South Col (Camp IV) on Mt. Everest on 19 May 2009 at 8:20 pm local time. OnOrbit video by Danuru Sherpa of Phortse, Nepal.

Keith Cowing: We all awoke this morning to some rather stiff winds here at Everest Base Camp. Add in a few avalanches overnight and it was a rough and tumble night for sleeping. While our tents (large and small) are well-secured, one still gets the regular impression that the wind is about to rip them free of their anchors.

Up on the mountain, it is also windy, but things are expected to get better as the day progresses and all summit plans (including Scott’s) continue as planned. Scott’s summit window still focuses on a 7-8 pm 19 May / 5-6 am Local time 20 May summit.

I just did a Skype update with Miles O’Brien about the wind, Scott’s progress, and altitude acclimatization and plan to do another later today – live – with Miles at the Challenger Learning Center in Manhattan, NYC.

Scott is using his SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker to check in. You can follow his progress all the way to the summit by checking his personal tracking page . Select “terrain” to see how close he is getting to the summit of Mt. Everest.

You can follow Scott’s progress on Twitter at SPOTscott as well as my comments andMiles O’Brien’s.

Photos below show the “Comms” tent where I spend a lot of my time and the interesting terrain it resides upon.

Image: My workspaceinside the Comms tent. Behind my Macbook is our Hughes 9201 BGAN unit – what a rugged and useful device!.

Image: The IMG Comms tent at Everest Base Camp. I share this tent with the guys who work for Tigress Productions – they are shooting the third season of “Everest beyond the Limit” for Discovery Channel.

mage: Large hole in the glacier we live upon. This pond is where we get our drinking and cooking water. The IMG Comms tent is on the rim of this hole. Rocks and ice fall in regularly. This tends to keep us alert!

Image: Boulder on an ice pedestal next to the IMG Comms tent at Everest Base Camp.

Image: One of the three solar panels that powers the IMG Comms tent at Everest Base Camp.

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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 50th birthday. In the background are three sherpas – the middle one, Danuru, will accompany Scott to the summit. Together they are known as the “Singing Sherpas”. Video courtesy of Ed Wardel.

News from International Mountain Guides: “Our 2009 IMG Everest team just got a few new members. IMG Himalayan Director Eric Simonson, and a film team featuring IMG on Discovery Channel’s popular Everest TV series, will join the great group of climbers and trekkers already on board for IMG’s 2009 Everest expedition. Since 1991 IMG has successfully supported 179 people from 14 countries to the summit of Everest, and we are looking forward to another great season on Everest. The planning and preparations are already well under way. Ang Jangbu reports from Kathmandu that the first 3000kg of gear was sent last week by helicopter to Shyangboche. The loads are now moving by yak toward Base Camp, where our Sherpa team has already started building our camp.”