June 3rd - GOOD NEWS - part 2 - Harry summit! Is OK and on his way to ABC

[erikv]

Just got the first message from Harry the man himself.

He is OK , and made it to the top of the world yesterday!

Leaving Camp 3 at 1:00, after staying at 8300m for two consecutive nights, he arrived at the summit quite late, at 14:00 local time.

After this he had to fight, exhausted, to get out of the deathzone and back to Camp 3, where he arrived at 22:00. All this time he was accompanied by his personal sherpa Lakcha.

After staying another night at 8300m, he is now on his way back to ABC.

With the confirmation of Harry's summit this means that yesterday three expedition members reached the summit of Everest: Dmitry Moskalev, Harry Kikstra and John Christiana, together with Sherpas Mingma Norbu, Renji and Lakcha. During the final summit push Lorenzo had to return after reaching around 8600m, because of problems with his eyesight.

This is Harry's sixth summit of the Seven. 

Erik

[bassie]

  :lol) :_) )

jeahjeahjeah Harry gefeliciteerd!!!!!!!!!

congratulations from Lon & me.

You're the BEST!!!!!!!

Love Bas

[Hakan]

Harry,
Super!!!
You managed to keep us in quite some suspense yesterday, but we're thrilled to read this excellent news.
Hakan

[Ron]

Wow wow Harry. your the man, the top dog the.........sorry got carried away

good performnace, sorry you had to use O2 but still great effort m8
congratz and bassie is gona make you drink beer and then brabble in limboland language and say your drunck b/c you don't ubderstand him. But hey what new

[Buddha]

Congratulations man! 

What an enormous achievement! Be safe now on the way down from 7,700 metres.

// Andreas

[Wikke]

Congrats what a great news !!!!!!![/size][/color]

Bye Wikke

[EdwoodCA]

Erik... thanks for the updates.


Congrats to ya Harry for pulling this one out. 

Congrats to all of you and your sherpas on this adventure... summit or no summit.

So much drama... no more, okay!?!  Just make it safely down and back to your homes.

John...  you friggin' AMAZE me!  Can't wait to talk to and see you.

Laters,  Edward

[Marian]

Hi All,

Just spoke to Harry on his Satelitephone. He is at 7300 m. now, decending to ABC. His voice was very weak, he was exhausted but still able to go on. Apart from his tiredness and his throat he's in good shape, healthy. He expected that he would have to walk for another 3 or 4 hours before he could reach ABC. Also both the sherpa's were ok.

Marian

[Doin from Holland]

 
YEAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!!
YABBADABBA DOOO!!!!![/font]
Good work Harry, proud on you, congratulations!!!
happy to hear you're able to get down yourself, otherwise I had to come over to catch you and next flight is just tomorrow!

take care
El Sebastiao

[Fred van Ockenburg]

Helemaal Top Harry, van harte!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ben benieuwd naar je verhalen!

[Jan Eppo]

Congratulations!

Jan Eppo

[Andreas]

HURRA!

[MoT]

Fantastic news Harry!
Congratulations to you and your whole team - even those who didn't summit acheived a hell of a lot. Safe home to one and all

Only one summit left too - incidentally did you do your usual summit pose? How do you sign "SIX DOWN, ONE TO GO"? Or have you extra fingers? Maybe you used a hand and a foot together? Ouch!

Congrats from Ireland!

  

[mark Thijssen]

Gefeliciteerd kerel,

Had eigenlijk niet anders verwacht.

Mark

[Ingrid]

Hey Harry

Faaaaantastic!!! Even if we didn't get the promised sms from the top off yer 'office' phone 

[Werner]

Van harte gefeliciteerd Harry. Ik weet wat dit voor je betekent na de ellende van vorig jaar. Ik ben erg benieuwd naar je filmmateriaal en verhalen.

[Werner]

Een fantastische prestatie die de perikelen van vorig jaar overschaduwt. Misschien kan ik in 2006 de klus afmaken. Ik zie je uitgebreide verhaal op deze site graag tegemoet.
Doe Dmitri Moskalev ook de groeten van mij. Top dat hij ook boven is gekomen. Heb je nog iets gezien van de vermiste klimmer?

Werner.

[MikeW]

Good job Harry!

You deserved the summit. Congrats to everybody on the team summit or not, must be something to be over 8000m. Have a safe return home.

MikeW

[smrtnupp]

WTG HARRY!!!!!!!!
You will have to let us all know if you in fact have got the record for "camping" at the highest altitude!!!!!1

So happy and congratulations on your summit!!!!

[landrover]

congrats harry ! safe travel to you and the rest of the team !

landrover

[Daisy]

Congratulations Harry! and to the rest of the team and sherpas! the last month sounded pretty gruelling not to mention the last few days. I have to admit I was a little worried yesterday. Just goes to show you what a serious mountain this is. Well done to everyone and thanks for all the fantastic dispatches. It's been a really interesting and nail-biting couple of months.
Have a safe descent and talk soon!
D

[Corsair]

 
Great!
Congratulations Harry!!!
Really happy you made it down ok and as a bonus also finally reached the highest spot on earth!
We were a bit nervous yesterday---

[tigger]

Hello Harry just a wee message from The Big Girl and Noel
many congrats on your summit ....you had us worried we
look forward to our next chance to climb together mind yourself
in the meantime and do have a brownie Sunday on us ....
say a big hi to all the other  fat bastards too 
Love Lynne

[Ron]

Harry's stay on that altitude is in duration not a record smrtnupp, but still..i would not like being there in the DZ for more then 2 days.

[Colie]

Wow, Harry!! That is so awesome. Glad you are coming back down now safe and sound. I hope there is a chocolate bar waiting for you below!---Colie   

[Mari]

  Congratulations Harry! 

I'll drink a toast to you tonight...or two...maybe three 

[Marc Streefkerk]

Harry, Congratulations!!!
We were a little bit worried, but you made it! Super! You deserved it after the problems of previous Autumn! Speak you about your adventures and hopely did you made a lot of video material!
Relax and enjoy the fun!!!

[Moss]

Fantastic news Harry!
Congratulations - you must be delighted!

[Nikky]

Fantastic news about Harry and the rest of the team! Delighted you are all safe and on your way down. Did Lorenzo use a parachute for his discent as he seemed to come down mighty quick?! Will miss your reading reports here in humid, flat, Florida, (longing for a Hike next month on Great Gable) Ruth, Nikky and of course, the "Greedy Green Pie Guzzlers".

[Nancy]

Congratulations, Harry!  I especially like the picture of you on Everest in a South Park snowsuit! 

Hi to John!  Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as you can! 

[Jette]

Hero!!!!!

A man is not a mountain:
Mountains never meet, men always do. And some of the most extraordanary men...
they meet these mountains to.

Congratz to all of you!

Jette

[Mary Clare]

Congradulations summiteers!!!

Hey, all you people of little faith.  Not sure if Harry had summited?  He was climbing for 21 hours!  It's not like he went out of his way to stop and get a cappucino!!!  You are amazing, Harry.  I hope you are in fair to good physical condition.  Same goes for John, Dmitry, Lorenzo and the accompaning sherpas.

Cheers!
mc

p.s.  Love the picture of Harry on the summit!  Nice Erik!

[Jamie]

Harry-

You know that I care for you a lot and am happy you are alive, but this really showed poor judgement. I hope that you practice what you preach in the future.

As well, I am really hoping to catch up over a beer in A'dam.

Best regards and speedy recovery.

Jamie (team mate from the climb)

[ap]

Harry,

Congratulations with your succes ( and off course also for the rest of the team )

We both shared your adventure in such a way we were emotional involved in your adventure. The result is a lot of sleepness nights but also in an enourmous bar bill. As you come back home I want to share my bills with you as a result of this Highly Involved Project.

Cheers, and we are so glad you made it,

Ap & Petra

[bart]

Congratulations Harry and the team!!

What a performance. All the best with finishing the expedition and a safe journey back home.

Best regards,

Bart

[John Christiana]

Hi everyone,

This is John Christiana, one of the fat bastards and the last 4 on team 2.  Thanks for the support and well wishes!

I cannot retrive my AOL mail yet, but can get on Harry's website.

To set the record straight, I summitted at 11:30 am (9:30 am Napoli time - which is what 99% of the climbers use - for comparison sake).  Other numbers used are totally BOGUS!  We spent about 45 minutes on top, which might seem long, but Rangi and I were enjoying the view and taking lots of pictures (later).  By the way, my personal Sherpa, Rangi, was the best.

I was slow to start, but then turned my oxygen to 3 lpm and then put it in gear.  even so, I only used a little over 2 bottles the whole summit day.

I was very sorry to hear about Lorenzo.  We climbed together the first several hours, and then I could have sworn he wizzed past me.  Then I passed Harry on the top of the second step.  Then Dymetry and I passed each other about a half hour from the top (along the ledge cliff), as he descended.

I returned to camp 3 about 5:15 pm (3:15 Napoli time).  Alex wanted me to move to camp 2 because of lack of oxygen (fair enough), but my legs were tired and I knew we had lots of oxygen.  I even set my oxygen tank to 2 liters per minute that night which is 4 times greater than it needs to be while sleeping.  The problem was that the sherpas and the wind (both unintentionally) DESTROYED my tent that night (at one time they threw Harry into my tent at midnight and then dragged him and all the contents out).  It was insane.  I was yelling at them to stop.  The tent was setup at an angle to begin with (on the fairly steep hill) and now 3 corners were loose (after the ruckus).  I had to spend the night in the chilling freezing wind at 27,000 feet (8300 meters) looking for cover.  In the morning, after thawing my toes, I descended without water (well, I ate ice).

AS far as summit day, it was awesome!!  It is just starting to sink in.  To be honest, because of my slow start, after 4 or so hours, I did not think I would summit.  I was preparing in my head what i would tell everyone.  But I kept going.  Then just before the second step, I saw the summit (looking pretty close) and I heard music (angel's singing) and I knew I had a chance to make the peak.  Now i pushed it.

Okay, tomorrow we head to kathmandu and I hope to rebook my flight (June .

over and out, John

[Mary Clare]

Hi John

Wow!  Is it good to hear from you!  Thanks for setting the record straight.  Sometimes it is hard to get accurate info regarding the summit times, etc.  The family and I had a long 24 hours or so but I believed you would summit and stay safe.  (But we were worried as the conditions were quite harsh.)  When I spoke to Harry at ABC on June 4th and asked him how you were, his exact words were "John is strong".

I can't wait to see pictures and hear all about this climb.  I am glad you were able to enjoy the view from the top.  Amazing, John, you were on top of the world.  Awesome!!!

Please call me as soon as you are back home and back to "reality".

mc

[EdwoodCA]

WOOHOO!!!!  Thanks for the posting, Stiller!!!!   

[Peter Meier]

Das KIKKEN Kikstra.
Nog eentje te gaan.

Gefeliciteerd.

Peter.