Hey Folks!

First off I'd like to thank you for visiting my blog and following my latest adventure. An attempt to climb Mt. Everest far exceeds the mental and physical challenges of all my prior trips and climbs combined but I am excited to ship off on April 2nd. I am thrilled that there are people out there who want to follow along and share in this experience.

I'd like to give a little background on the trip itself and what it entails. On April 2nd I will fly to Kathmandu, Nepal and arrive on the 4th. Here I will meet up with the team I'll be climbing with for the next 68 days. I am on the Adventure Peaks Ltd. North Ridge Expedition team which means my team and I will be attempting Everest from Tibet. I chose this company because a friend who got me started in mountaineering, Walid Abuhaidar, had used them for the same expedition in 2003 and highly recommended them. The North side of Everest is less popular than the South side and sees far fewer commercial expedition teams. Having less climbers on the route will help to lessen the chance for accidents occurring. The trade off is that the North Ridge route is generally accepted as being more technically difficult due to technical climbing above 8000 meters where the saturation of oxygen in the air is 1/3 of that at sea level. No matter the route, getting to the top of this mountain is no joke which is proven time and time again with countless deaths and accidents. Another attraction to the expedition I am on is that the climbers are far more responsible for their own safety and success than on fully guided climbs. There will be Sherpa support and comfortable Base Camp facilities provided, but because it is a non-guided expedition, up on the mountain the team must work together. If all goes as planned I will be flying back to the states the 10th of June.

For a climb to this altitude, it is necessary to spend many weeks acclimatizing to the low oxygen and air pressure levels. Traditionally there is a week long window of decent weather towards the end of May that is stable enough for climbers to try for the summit. The 6-7 weeks prior are spent moving to higher camps on the mountain and then returning to Advanced Base Camp and Base Camp to rest and recover at the lower altitudes (comparatively speaking). At 26,000 ft, acclimatization becomes impossible. This elevation is rightfully known as the death zone because the human body essentially starts to die. On the push to the summit, climbers usually arrive in the death zone in the late afternoon, try to rest until midnight and then at midnight make the final push to the summit and return before becoming incapacitated. Climbers who spend more than 24 hours in the death zone are at a high risk for developing Cerebral and Pulmonary Edema or succumbing to exhaustion. http://www.high-altitude-medicine.com/AMS-medical.html This website is a good source of information on the dangers of extreme altitudes.

The last of my gear is slowly showing up at my doorstep and I am getting more and more anxious. Keep checking back, I'll be posting pictures from my other climbs and keeping you updated before I ship off. Climb On!