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
Discuss about the highest mountains on the seven continents
