The Descent

After a brief moment on the summit the long descent to ABC began. The ridge was an easy cruise and only took 1 hour and a half to get down and we were walking through Camp 3 around 2:30. Descending through C3 we stopped at the body of Libor Kozak, a memeber of our expedition that passed away suddenly on May 16th. Brian, Rachel, Katie, and I all got to know him well on the expedion and considered him a friend. It was a sobering moment and a reminder that the mountain can take a life in an instant. We continued to go down the fixed lines until our camp 2 sight around 26,000 feet where Brian began short roping the bag that we packed and left there the previous evening. At this point energy levels where getting low, water was only a distant memory, and my feet were beginning to feel like it was hour twenty of a day that just wouldn't stop. Brian managed to slide the duffel half way down the snow ramp to 24,000 feet or so. He clipped it to an anchor and I didn't even stop to look at the bag. I was actually moving at quite a fast pace down the ramp being I glissaded the entire thing, 1500ft, and my left bum cheek is still a bit bruised from it. We hit the cole, descended the fixed lines to the glacier, and landed at the base of the mountain at 7:30 pm on May 23rd. Katie Sherpani was waiting with cytomax and shoes. Brian and I proceeded to chug cytomax and our depleted bodies imedaitly rejected it on to the glacier. All we could do was laugh and suffer toether at that point. Our cook Razkumar and cook boy Buwan met us 30 minutes from A.B.C. with tea and carried our now not so heavy packs to camp for us. It was a relief to unshoulder the pack that had been on my back for the better part of 23 hours. We strolled into A.B.C. casually around 8:30 pm making it 23 hours and 30 minutes from our Camp 2(26,000ft, to the summit(29,038ft), and down to A.B.C.(21,300ft). We collapsed in the dining tent and our neighbor Big Tim Medved from the Discovry Channel came over congratulated us and joined for the best summit cake in A.B.C. It was a good end to the day and we were all sleeping before 10pm.



After the best night of sleep ever we pulled it toghether for a quick 14 mile jog down to B.C. The bags on the mountain we had picked up by Pemba sherpa for $100. It was an easy decision to make and not having to go up the mountain again made the future much brighter. B.C. was a sight for sore eyes, Mr. O and Uncle John were there so we spent a mourning talking and playing cards before they left for there trip up to A.B.C. We attended the Discovery Channel B.C. party in the obnoxious Hi-Mex Thunder Dome. It was a good night, fun to be back in a social setting and of course a well deserved night of celebraing on another expeditions tab was very nice. Drinks were good, pickles were great, and the company was interesting to say the least. The next mourning our CTMA(Chinese Tibetan Mountaineering Association) Landcruiser picked us up and we were out of B.C. and charging towards civilization.

Now we are back in Kathmandu where the day consists mostly of food, food, a bit more food!!! We will get some pix up today hopefull so keep checking the site.