May 21, 2009
Costa Mesa, CA
Hi All,
Bill called twice tonight. It was around 6 PM and he said he would send in an audio report in “about an hour”. It’s still not here. I thought I would tell you what he told me.
***Update***
Audio report from Bill
He said he was extremely tired when he got to Camp 4. There is about 3000 feet of vertical gain between Camp 3 and 4 and it was very icy. They got to Camp 4 at about 2 AM our time and he “didn’t want to wake me”, so didn’t call until later. He slept quite well, on oxygen in a tent with Mingma and Apa. He said his feet were cold all night because he had taken his boots and socks off because his socks got wet with sweat because of the heat of the sun while getting to Camp 4. Today Mingma gave him a pair of his socks and his feet are now “nice and warm”.
They will be leaving Camp 4 tomorrow morning at 7 AM California time. He has no idea how long it will take him, but I think that Dawa will keep us informed as to his progress. He told me to take my phone to bed with me tomorrow night, also our kids should take theirs.
Bill called us while we were at El Ranchito and he put in an order. Chorizo and eggs and a Margarita.
I copied this from Alan Arnette’s great website. I’m not going to rely on the times here because Bill will be a lot slower than the average. The average is younger than Bill. But, it will give you an idea of his schedule:
South Col: 26,300’/8016m (This is where he is now and will leave at 7 AM PDT)
Balcony: 4 – 5 hours
South Summit : 28500′ – 8690m – 1 to 2 hours
Hillary Step – 1 hour or less
Summit: 29,035′ / 8850m – 1 hour or less
Return to South Col: 6 -7 hours
Return to C2: 3 hours
Return to base camp: 4 hours
I’m planning to post this shortly if I don’t get the audio from Bill soon. It’s time for bed and I know tomorrow will be a long day. Thank you so much for the many good wishes and prayers from so many people. I will relay them to Bill when he gets back to Base Camp, he will love them.
Sharon