By Craig Hummer<\/p>\n
EVEREST BASE CAMP, May 27. I'M assuming most of you had a glorious Memorial Day weekend! The holiday, no doubt, ushered in the sounds, sights, and smells of summer. I wish I could say the same up here. <\/p>\n
Day #33 here in Base Camp has dawned much like the thirty-two before, with frigid temperatures, frost-covered zippers, morning tea, and a breathtaking view of Chomolungma, Mt. Everest.<\/p>\n
One of our cameramen and I set out the other day on
\nthe West Ridge of the Rongbuk Valley, in the hopes of
\nhitting a new \u201caltitude record.\u201d We struggled for over
\n4 \u00bd hours up a 60-70% pitch, and topped out at 20,610
\nfeet. We then set our sights on 21,000 feet, which we
\nfelt we could accomplish with a little more effort.<\/p>\n
The \u201clittle\u201d effort became Herculean in nature when we
\nrealized we were traversing a ridge that, on both
\nsides, dropped off at close to 80-85 degrees. Add to
\nthat wind that was gusting at over 40 mph, and we
\nrealized we had perhaps cooked our own goose.<\/p>\n
It was another one of those \u201chold onto your hats\u201d
\ntype of climbs, and especially the descent, which I
\nwill reveal in a second. Up on the ridge, we sucked
\ndown water and a few Clif Bars, and then contemplated
\nlife and our own existence. Interesting how the
\nmountains make one question meaning in almost
\neverything. Frankly, I was just glad to be alive.<\/p>\n
After following a black line on the bottom of a pool
\nfor over thirty years, sometimes the expansiveness of
\nmy surroundings can be overwhelming. Composed, and
\nready to retreat, we began to look for our avenue off
\nthe mountain.<\/p>\n
Our traverse had given us a few options not available
\nwhen we stood on our first \u201csummit.\u201d The scariest way
\ndown, yet most cost-effective from a time standpoint,
\nwas a straight descent down a scree drainage. Imagine
\nthe sort of drop off you see in the Extreme Skiing
\nChampionships, and that\u2019s what we threw ourselves off
\nof. Scree, for those of you who may not know, is rock
\nthat has broken off from the bigger boulders that
\nranges in size from dust to basketball-sized chunks.
\nDepending on your speed, agility, and guts, you can
\ntravel great distances in very short amounts of time.<\/p>\n
We hurled ourselves from the heights of the mountain
\nwith the speed of a downhill racer; constantly looking
\nahead to see what we were about to run into, and very
\nconcerned with the pitch at which we were losing
\naltitude, but gaining speed.<\/p>\n
Those of you who are skiers know the feeling. With
\nskis however, there is a general sense of fluidity to
\nyour course. We were more like kamikaze pilots – except
\nwe were trying to avoid anything that would constitute
\na \u201ctarget.\u201d<\/p>\n
After well over an hour, we had come to the first of a
\nfew \u201cplateaus\u201d that allowed us to empty our stone-
\nfilled shoes, and take a much-needed break. The
\nhard part was over, thank goodness. I felt more pain
\nthen the time my swim coach made me do 10 x 400 meters
\nfly! Now that\u2019s saying something.<\/p>\n
Back at Base Camp, the normal routine has become a
\ncountdown. We are still \u201con\u201d for our summit bid, but
\nwith a few qualifications. It\u2019s no longer a true
\nlive telecast. We have to record the attempt and then race to Kathmandu to feed it to you all back home. Now, I hear this is unique, so I guess we have that feather in our cap. The roughly ten-hour drive into Nepal will not be easy, however. Even after we have crossed the border and left the lovely, overly
\nhospitable country of China in our wake, we still have
\nregional checkpoints and fiefdoms to get through.<\/p>\n
If and when we arrive in Kathmandu, we\u2019ll send the
\nfeed out, and you all should get the show sometime on
\nFriday, May 30th<\/b>, or Saturday, May 31st<\/b>. I apologize that I can not be more specific.<\/p>\n
We have had two more climbers back out of the Everest
\nbid. Colleen Inkhen decided not to go on before the rescue attempt. Petit Pinson has since called off her bid, citing that her energy was tapped during the rescue. It really is a courageous story that the Global Extremes climbers helped close to a dozen people off the mountain. Here\u2019s the kicker: almost half of the people they saved have refused to acknowledge they needed any help. One man, who was completely snow-blind, went so far as to say that he thought our climbers were afraid to try for the summit, and used the \u201crescue\u201d as an excuse. This was the same man that needed TWO PEOPLE to bring him off the mountain!!<\/p>\n
My time as a lifeguard has me all too aware of that
\nmental state. My lifeguard buddies will attest, we are
\nlucky if 25% of the people we save thank us afterward.
\nOh well. As my co-host Conrad Anker said, \u201cThe
\nunwritten rule of the mountains is you help people.
\nPeriod. Because the next time it might be you.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can safely say, I do not foresee myself on a
\nmountain anytime soon! <\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to go home, please\u2026<\/p>\n
A lot of the crew I\u2019m working with will be with me in
\nFrance, when I host the Tour de France coverage, and
\nLance\u2019s Drive for Five. We laugh that the grind of
\nswitching hotels for thirty days in a row will be a
\npiece of cake compared to this. I would have to agree
\nwhole-heartedly. This has been a grind of epic
\nproportions. I\u2019m not sure I would in good faith, or
\nclear-conscience advise ANY of you to come here and
\ntry this. Hey, everyone is entitled to their own
\nopinion, but give me a beach, a few waves, a nice cold
\nbeverage, and some friends, and I\u2019ll be happy!<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Keep your fingers crossed for us that Chomolungma opens her arms, and her heart, to our climbers in a few days. I\u2019d like to be home before the fireworks on July 4th!<\/p>\n
\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Craig Hummer EVEREST BASE CAMP, May 27. I'M assuming most of you had a glorious Memorial Day weekend! The holiday, no doubt, ushered in the sounds, sights, and smells<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"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-5416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n