Here's the latest installment on swimmer Craig Hummer's trek to Mount Everest, where he is the "talent" on an OLN film crew.<\/i> — Phil Whitten<\/p>\n
By Craig Hummer<\/p>\n
MOUNT EVEREST BASE, May 14. THE weather has been holding, the athletes are on their way, and all fingers are crossed that the summit window is now around the 20th. <\/p>\n
I can only dream of the day we are through here and get to load into cars, take that 10-hour drive to the Tibet\/Nepal border, and then race to Kathmandu, another four hours away! <\/p>\n
A few hang-ups stand in the way. Do we get searched at the border? Do we stay together as a group? If so, we
\nwould have to wait 2-3 days for the athletes to make
\nit back down from the summit. We\u2019re not sure that our
\nexpedition leader, Russell Brice, knows the unwritten
\nrule of television, which is that the production crew
\nBOLTS the second the show is done! I hope my \u201climo\u201d is
\nwaiting with the engine on\u2026<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
The jet stream has moved north, so we have had clear,
\nbut cold weather for the past few days. It has been
\nmuch better than the ear-piercing and bone-shattering
\nwind we had, so we are all grateful. In fact, as the
\npicture illustrating this report attests, I took the
\nopportunity to plunge into the icy waters. <\/p>\n
Now, the \u201cdare\u201d was for me to wear the \u201cYak Speedo.\u201d (a Speedo suit lined with yak fur). <\/p>\n
I can say, not only did I fulfill my responsibilities of the bet, but also \u201cupped the ante.\u201d After the photo was taken, I actually dove into the glacial pool in the picture. My professional opinion- 40 degrees- freshwater! I may hold the altitude record for donning a Speedo. Someone other than I will have to call
\n\u201cGuinness\u201d …. or Speedo.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
We were supposed to follow and film the athletes today
\nas they left Base Camp. I\u2019d be lying if I said there
\nwas no fear or apprehension. All exuded some
\nconfidence, but the ladies — Colleen in particular —
\nlooked a bit spooked. Since we did not follow them, I
\ntook the opportunity to hit an all-time high.
\nUnfortunately I did not take a camera, because the
\nsights were more than amazing. I hiked west of our
\nRongbuk Valley and started a steep ascent almost
\nimmediately. Now, I hesitate to give you all this
\ninfo, especially since my wife will read it and she may not be too happy with me. <\/p>\n
But what the heck. I managed to climb over five hours straight up, and after reaching a southern peak, traversed a snow field, in order to \u201csummit. My final altitude- 20,436 feet- and let me tell you, it was worth every painful step. Once I crested the ridge, I was able to see roughly a dozen glaciers draining into another valley to the west. I also caught sight of another 8,000-meter peak, and I felt as if I was higher than the atmosphere, the air was so thin and the ability to breathe so limited. <\/p>\n
On the way up, I passed through the area the birds<\/i> call home, and managed to see some
\nlocal \u201cdeer\u201d at about 19,000 feet. They, of course,
\nskipped across the boulders and scree, looking at me
\nin a mocking manner, and daring me to keep climbing. I
\ntook their dare, but they were long gone by the time I
\nmade it to the top.<\/p>\n
It took me another three hours to descend, and any ideas I had of having a good time were soon forgotten. After traversing the snow field, at 20,000 feet, the
\nopposite ridge presented some more than difficult challenges. I was glad I had paid attention to my one lesson from climbing legend, and my co-host, Conrad
\nAnker. <\/p>\n
I used all the moves I could remember, and even
\nimprovised a few, in order to get down. I\u2019m not
\nkidding when I say, at one point, I was hanging on by
\nthree fingers over a 1,000-foot glacial precipice. My
\n\u201cholds\u201d were out of necessity, rather than sport, but
\nI must say, I can see how people get into this whole
\nclimbing thing! (Don\u2019t worry, Gooch, I\u2019m done with my
\nadventuresome streak here on the mountain.)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m VERY happy to be back on solid ground. And VERY tired. The memories of that climb will be with me forever, and it seems highlight after highlight presents itself each day. <\/p>\n
Our camp is a bit vacant at the moment, we had three
\ntech people leave today, and the athletes and their
\ncrew (numbering eight) left as well. Maybe now I can
\nget second helpings at dinner!<\/p>\n
Well, I hope everyone gets a good chuckle out of the
\nphoto. As for me, it\u2019s time to study, the 9-hour show
\nis looming, and we all anticipate a smooth one, but
\nwe\u2019ll start rehearsals tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here's the latest installment on swimmer Craig Hummer's trek to Mount Everest, where he is the "talent" on an OLN film crew. — Phil Whitten By Craig Hummer MOUNT EVEREST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n