The next Adventure

Not international at the moment, going to ride the 9 hour Cranky Monkey Bike Race with my buddy Mark on May 12th.  We will see how many times we can go around the 9 mile course within 9 hours, relay style.  Look for some cool crashes and two beat up guys in May

The final saga

I spoke to Todd, President of Alpine Ascents and he offered me a trip
at cost. He said he spoke to Lapka and thought it sounded like I had a
chance to go up.

Bummed that I missed my chance, but glad they worked something out for
me.

Talk to you soon, next Mountain might be Russia, Elbrus. Before that a
bike ride or two.

Bob
www.boblowrys.blogspot.com

This is a good view of Camp 4 at 20,000 feet

Back in DC

Thank you Mike for taking the time to update the blog, I got home later last night so all I have been doing is getting back into civilization.  Spent time working on a slow drain for my tenant, doing laundry, going through mail, paying bills and looking at an empty fridge.

I did just complete the trip evaluation form for the outfitter, I am having Mike look at it before I send it so I am certain I captured the facts well.

I have updated some photos, you can click on my photo's link over on the side and find a few photo's, as the team gets theirs together I will update my photo page some more.

Many have asked about my emotions during the missed opportunity.  I can always say that I enjoyed the mountain that I was climbing and most importantly the life long friendships I have developed.  Many of the people on the trip are people I would want to keep in touch with, like many I talk to even today.  There will be another adventure and another time, because there just always will be.  Hopefully you will follow again and it grows so that all of us have an adventure to share.

Talk to you again soon, when I get more settled, maybe by this weekend, I am sure my work emails are all backed up.

Hope you are having a wonderful start to the new year, I wish all of you the best, and I will update you later with Alpine Ascents response to my comments.

Climb High, Don't Die tm
Bob

Camp one

This was 15,000 feet amoung the pentatentas, I was running out of
battery power on cell phone, pictures will be from my other camera.

Base camp

This was my home for 2 days at 13,000 feet

Base camp water supply

There were about 6 - 50 feet hoses that ran over to a glacier run off
to these blue tubs. Each tub drains into the next and each has a
purpose. One to wash, one to drink one to cook.

The trail head

These are our first steps

Back to Civilization

Got a couple text messages from Bob just now. He is safe and sound back in the town of  Penitentes, cleaned up and drinking beer. His iPhone works again, so he can check emails, etc. Pretty sure he is already a few sheets to the wind, celebrating the New Year and all, so we'll probably just hear more from Bob tomorrow. Happy New Years!

Denouement

Just spoke to Bob. Here's the rest of the story that I did not get in his message yesterday:

Apparently, they woke up yesterday to find two other tents got torn overnight in the wind. The team was able to piece them together and keep them functional, if not perfect. Despite the winds, the team started out up the hill yesterday morning on the way to the summit.  They made it up about 1,100 feet above their camp (about half way to summit) and the winds were pretty terrible and it was very cold. Wind chill factor was high, people were having trouble standing upright in the wind, and trouble staying warm in the wind chill. A few team members were not feeling strong and secure in their ability to keep climbing.

The guide, Susanna, said that it got steeper and more dangerous from there on up. To continue would be quite dangerous. Clouds were moving in to the mountain. Knowing that they had supplies for at least two more days, and that the were due for a break in the weather after two weeks of cold and wind, Bob and five others decided to turn around and head back, to try again the next day. Susanna and three team members, inexplicably, decided to continue upward. One of these went up another 100 feet and turned around and descended with the others.

Remarkably, the three that went up managed to summit in a whiteout, experiencing at least one small fall along the way, no significant injuries. Upon arrival back in camp, all three including Susanna were exhausted. Wiped out. Susanna said she had no reserves left, that she had been on the edge the entire time, and Bob said she certainly looked fried.

This morning, the weather changed for the better and the skies were clear. Bob, two others and the Sherpa (my apologies, I do not know his name - mike) were to head up to summit today. Bob and the Sherpa were having hot drinks early when the other two decided that they did not have it in them to go for the summit - they had not been sleeping well and had not been feeling well and they did not want to leave their warm tent and push on up. Susanna would not allow just Bob and the Sherpa to climb on their own. (mike's note: I do not understand this decision as no one had to rope up and everyone else could stay in camp quite comfortably for another day, or even move down to a lower camp and let Bob and the Sherpa climb and then catch up as they will.)

So, the decision was made to go down and get off the mountain. No one but Bob was still game to summit, Susanna is dead tired and not up to making good decisions in Bob's favor, and  no one wants to wait around until tomorrow so that maybe a few people can feel better and go for the summit together.

In short, Bob was penalized for making the correct decision to tun around yesterday. Even the sherpa has said that they made the right decision to turn around. It was too dangerous to have gone for the summit and those that did, just got lucky. And in return, Bob does not get his chance at the summit on a lovely day on the mountain. (mike's note: ask for a return trip for free, Bob.)

When Bob and I spoke, he was between disappointment and anger, but was nevertheless on his way down. They will be at the road sometime late tomorrow. I am sure that Bob will add his own updates (and corrections?) to all this once he is back in civilization. Thanks for reading.