With great disappointment, I am reporting that Mount Everest has trounced JR on this round and I've made the decision that discretion is the better part of valor in this current case. So I'm now in the process of heading home after a truly amazing and challenging 7 weeks in the shadow of the world’s greatest mountain. Without going into too many needless details or excuses at this point,  two back-to-back bug attacks within ten days really set my system back for several days each and sent me in Kathmandu both to a Western medical clinic and then 2 days later to a Nepali hospital --- not a fun experience as ‘Obama-care’ has definitely NOT made it to Nepal yet !  ;-).  Though the antibiotics kicked in, after a lot of soul searching and discussion,  I had to conclude the setback to my conditioning and preparation was just too much at this point to take on the serious physical challenge of a 7 – 10 day summit effort with any likely chance of a safe and successful effort Up and Down this most challenging of all mountains. The very intrepid remaining 7 of our team’s original 9 climbers launched from base camp today with a ten+ hour climb to Camp Two …..while I am pretty sure I could have handled that climb even in less than best shape, I just had too many doubts about the ensuing huge summit attempt over the next ten days  [the crux of the whole climb], given both my situation and conditions over 20,000 feet. You can follow their daily progress on the Alpine Ascents website: www.alpineascents.com. From Camp Two they will now wait for a weather window to open and when they get that, I expect we’ll see all 7 with their 4 terrific AAI guides and ten Sherpas on top of the world !

The smallish ‘good news’ in all this for all ZAG and SPIKE fans, is that while I will not be on this select summit team, SPIKE himself is going to make the summit, as he has found a new climbing partner: my good friend and  AAI guide Garrett Madison ! J   If I may be forgiven for one more pitch for Gonzaga’s outstanding ‘Zags in Zambia’ African educational and service program, for anyone who would like their own photo poster of the crazily fun ‘SPIKE as KING KONG ‘saving’ JR’ [see blog photo below], just send Joe Poss at GU an email notification that you have [or will] made a donation to the Zambia endowment fund, and Joe will make sure you get a copy this summer [and you can also just let him know you are supporting one of our other three terrific non-profits on the web site, and that will also ‘qualify’ for a SPIKE memento poster too !  ;-) ]:  poss[at]gonzaga.edu

OK: for those of you interested in more ‘color’ on my tough decision ----gosh, do I just hate to quit on anything …..grrrrr….. and sure can’t recall having to ever do so in an athletic challenge..….certainly not with anything I had dedicated myself to for so long, and certainly not so publicly ! ----  let me just copy a wonderful email sent by my super daughter in law Jessica Rudolf, as she pretty much nailed my thinking process over the past two days [as did many others who wrote emails and blog comments].  Gosh, I am just blown away by all the fantastic support, insights, encouragement and great friendship of so many of you: THANK YOU ALL for your support and prayers…I’ll respond individually in coming weeks when life ‘settles down’ !  :-)

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Dad,

Sorry to hear that you have been sick and are not in your best state right now.

I think you should follow your gut instincts.  No one can tell you what to do in this situation - only YOU know your body and your limits.

Regardless of if you summit or not, you're living the "Everest experience" right now. You've been there since March, have hiked pretty much to camp 3 and have done all of the various hikes on the way to the summit, the ice fall, etc.

Ask yourself this: would summiting really change my experience or enhance it at this point? what will I gain from actually reaching the summit?

is the trek and the stress on my body to summit really worth it considering I'm not in tip top condition?

you can come home in one piece and say that you've hiked Everest and lived up in the Himalayan mountains for two months-- while raising funds and bringing awareness to your various charities. No one else we know has ever done such a wonderful thing.

if you come home now, no one will blame you. but as you say, luck needs to be on your side to make a summit attempt. if you're not feeling your best, well, then you're luck has escaped you and take it as a sign to come back.  

but if you decide to summit, then we will support you and will know that you made that decision because you're feeling up to it and can hack it.

we support you no matter what as long as you eventually come back to us ;)

MUCH LOVE -- keep us posted.

xo

jess

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Thanks, Jessica, Daughter-in-Law # 1  …ok,  you’re my only one at this point…but still # 1  !   J    I guess you summed the decision-making process and situation up very well  [as did James' email, and many others…..it has been amazing to see  the incredible support from so many this crazy adventure has generated].  Very reluctantly, I’ve decided to not try for the summit and am now trying to work on leaving Nepal and Kathmandu …. but all flights go through Bangkok so will be interesting to see how that goes as I need to overnight in Bangkok ! Will keep everyone posted….not emotionally easy to switch gears after 7 weeks pounding away so hard on a mountain adventure that has so suddenly ended……I sure won’t miss living in a tent at such altitude [and cold!] all these weeks but I am sure going to miss the actual hiking and climbing among the world’s biggest mountains ……darn !!

Dad

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OK….back to my blog comments:  for those still following along, I’m going to stop moping about and feeling sorry for myself….soon !  Yes, this is certainly a huge disappointment.  I was - and am – amazed how long and challenging this whole adventure has been, and have no adequate way of expressing just how much everyone who takes this effort on puts into it, as each person at Everest Base Camp has their own unique story and mission: my respect and admiration is so deep for my phenomenal teammates and for all those I know who have taken this challenge on in years’ past.  But I have been incredibly blessed and just flat out lucky with an amazing run of sometimes crazy but very meaningful adventures and activities over the past half dozen years; from a famous unique Greenland adventure with my son John; to climbing 7 of the ‘8’ “7 Summits” [yes, now with a rather BIG hole on that resume !  ;-) ]; to a huge climb of The Matterhorn…..still my toughest specific climb; and many other climbs, hikes, bikes, kayaks, triathlons,  etc  with  fantastic companions in the States, Alps, and elsewhere  around the world; to some great personally meaningful trips to Africa and South America involving some of my favorite causes. On top of all that, I am really blessed with a remarkably big, interesting and challenging [everything in my life seems quite challenging ! ;-) ] family….. plus an internationally diverse group of friends, clients and associates; plus very interesting projects and activities --- and a most challenging and active professional career trying to stay ‘alive’ in the shark-infested financial markets ! ….All of which combined keep me quite engaged on a near 24 – 7 basis….and what else can one ask for in life ?   

Forgive me if this is all too personal and reflective: I guess sitting down at this computer terminal in Kathmandu is a cathartic healing process which I candidly needed after truly feeling very depressed and sorry for myself for this big setback over the past 24 hours. After writing all this and making just a partial listing of all the many wonderful people and things in my life ----I suggest all of you go ahead and do the same thing yourself right now !!  J  ---   I’ve ‘cleared my head’ [a good deal anyway!] and am now ready to stop moping about, graciously accept that I truly believe I made the ‘smart and correct’ decision [at least intellectually], grant Mount Everest/Chomolungma the Respect and Due SHE truly deserves,  thank the Good Lord for a fantastic and safe adventure of a lifetime…..and start moving forward again emotionally and physically. I believe on this website, some clever fellow has written the slogan/motto; “CARPE DIEM” : so I’m going to pick myself up and do my very best to put that most important admonition to personal daily work once again as I now pack my climbing gear and head home to return to ‘normal’ life, get back to work, and find and take on other activities and challenges …..but for awhile at least. I think I’ll set my overly ambitious sights a tad bit lower than the world’s biggest mountain !!

Thanks to all for following me on this adventure, and for your incredible support, encouragement, prayers and friendship !  NOW for the next two weeks:  let’s all switch our efforts to following and supporting my former climbing buddy SPIKE and my seven AAI teammates as they tackle their most daunting challenge: safely making and returning from the Mount Everest summit !

Best wishes to all !

JR  

A candid --- if unfortunately a bit of a downer -- blog update from mount Everest base camp 17,700 feet: a tough week on the health front for JR :-(

Despite some rumors swirling about the Himalayas, the lack of blog updates for the past week was not due to another kidnapping incident involving spike, me or any other team members. But due to some health issues it has been a puzzling and challenging week since we descended from our climb up the incredibly steep and icy Lhotse face to camp three about 9 days ago: we got within sight of the lower part of camp 3 at about 23,000 feet when extremely high winds and cold forced us to return to camp two at 21,000 feet that afternoon.

The next morning, 5 of the 8 team members and one guide climbed back down from camp 2 to Everest base camp [EBC], as the first stage of our normal [6-8 week !] acclimization schedule.  After the 'second rotation' up the mountain to camp 3 at about 23,500 feet, the schedule calls for a week or so hike back down the Khumbu valley to several of the villages at lower altitude [12,000 - 16,000 feet] that we had stayed in a month earlier on the trek to EBC. This process of spending a week of 'R&R' soaking up the 'rich' oxygen at the 12-14,000 level has proven a successful method of preparing for the final summit assault.

As I have written before, four elements control a successful summit of a mountain like Everest [no matter one's preparation]: health, luck, weather and all that falls under the uncertain 'human element' [accidents, mistakes, equipment breakdowns, etc]. In our team's case, we have had good overall health with a few sporadic outbreaks of one thing or another [life over 17000 feet takes its toll for sure] and 8 of our original 9 are still climbing.

In my case, I was fortunately doing great --- spike was doing even better ! --- on both the health and climbing fronts for the entire expedition..... Until the night about a week or so ago when we got back down to EBC from camp 3 and out of nowhere---wham !!--- I got nailed with a major truly dreadful GI Attack that totally wiped me out [these bugs are rampant in the Khumbu]. To make a long and unhappy story short, the Everest base camp doctors --a very busy team indeed -- gave me a choice of going on IV's or immediately heading back down much lower [to Kathmandu...by helicopter] for 4--5 days of recovery. Since our team was about to head lower anyway for the scheduled normal 'fallback' respite, and since two other team members were fighting various ailments themselves, three of us decided to share a helicopter ride back down with a sick sherpa and see if we couldn't all recover quickly in the lower [3500-4000 foot] altitude of Kathmandu.

Two and a half days ago--with Don and Derek feeling great from the KTM respite but with me thankfully finally recovered from a lingering infected thumb problem [nothing seems to heal well at high altitudes] but still limping along with some bug I couldn't totally shake--- we flew back and rejoined our teammates in Lobuche at about 15,500 feet to spend the day and night before hiking the 6 hours or so back to EBC. Unfortunately that night I got hit with a second GI Attack, which has left me in a very tough predicament and currently uncertain as to my next move as I feel both so lousy and weak at the same time: not a great
combination!

The EBC head doctor was surprised when I stopped by the Everest clinic yesterday after hiking in from Lobuche as he said he felt it very unlikely I should or would come back to base camp after the first GI episode. Needless to say, he [Dr. Peter Hackett from Colorado, considered the world's foremost altitude medical expert] has real reservations about the wisdom of and chances for success of a summit bid at this point after what he says is simply the awful luck of getting hit with two miserable bugs back to back...but the decision is mine to make.

So what am I going to do? As I write this update, the worst of this second bug has now just about passed so I am going to spend another night weighing everything that I can and looking at all the options before making a decision as to what course of action to take. After nearly seven tough, challenging and incredible weeks with a fantastic climbing, support and guiding team in one of the world's most unique environments, having to leave this challenge unfinished with about two weeks to go, is in some ways unbearable. Especially since I [and everyone else] really do feel if I can get my health and strength back [I've lost over 20 pounds in the last month...so anyone looking for a 'quick' weight loss program, just come to Nepal !!] That I can climb this very big hill just as I found a way to get up all the others!!

But as a life-long investment manager, risk management and getting the odds in one's favor have always been the most important factors in short and long term success, and they will be the key factors in the decision I make in the next day or two: so please switch your prayers and support to helping me make the right decision ! I promised mom --and myself and others! :-) --- that I would simply give this Everest attempt my very best shot and not do anything [too!] stupid, as I have a lot on my plate to dig into in coming years. So far I feel I have given it everything I've got and have been safe and smart in doing so. That will remain my motto going forward....but candidly, as I write this, I am having real problems coming to grips with this decision, as unlike golf, I'm not sure I can reach into my bag and declare a mulligan !

Stay tuned and thanks for all your support and encouragement.

JR

Spike has decided to step up and take matters into his own hands. He hopes YOU will too!

New videos 29 - 37 are available for viewing.

New image galleries have been posted.

View all videos here.

Garrett Madison interviewing JR

SPIKE was in fact rescued and the 'Spikenapping' caper had a happy ending once I enlisted our senior guide and senior Sherpa----Lakpa Rita Sherpa --- to take over the investigation. SPIKE is about the only one looking forward to the final summit bid rotation in about 8 days.....this is proving to be a really really tough climbing and life style effort for sure..... I miss my bike and everything else!

Videos 18 through 28 are available for viewing here.

Mount Everest is obviously the world's biggest mountain and a hugely alluring individual challenge 'Mecca' for many professional and amateur [me!] climbers alike, especially with the special appeal of the '7 Summits' challenge.  But after nearly a month of this 8--9 week effort [remember, it takes nearly two months to acclimatize the human body to survive ---- very briefly --- at altitudes over 25,000 feet, to summit this incredible mountain, I can only acknowledge that this undertaking is proving so, so, so much bigger, difficult, daunting and in all respects challenging  than anything I had imagined.

For me, Everest is certainly a huge magnitude greater in scope and all respects [eg, the enormous time involved, exceptional cold and 'gut check' factor of the Ice Fall] than any of the other '7 Summits'.  This is the Super Super Bowl and my pre-game confidence level has been knocked down considerably, though my promise to myself remains the same: To simply give this attempt my very best shot, and make sure I get back in one piece. The magnificence of The Himalayas reminds me daily that we all have so much to live for in God's incredible world, and my number ONE goal and ambition is to "LIVE LIFE LARGE AND GET INVOLVED" So I encourage each of you to adopt this personal motto too !   :-)  [if you would like a copy of my personal motivational wallet card, just email vicki[at]summitcapital.com]!

This life and climb purpose commentary leads me to a 'commercial message' and reminder of the real reason I am trying to summit Everest: to raise funds and awareness for the four terrific non-profit efforts I will remain involved with long after Mt. Everest is a fond 'warm' memory for me. So if any of these efforts strike a chord with you, go ahead and 'live life large' and get involved with them....or any terrific group in your community and/or world sphere!

Final note:  don't let all the sunny photos and smiling faces fool you, as when I looked at them to send some to my great friend and webmaster genius Michael Auer, I noticed they are kind of misleading. Like people everywhere, we pretty much only take photos when the sun is out; and we've all been trained to smile when we see a lens ! Much of the time it is too darn cold --- or the climbing situation is a 'tad bit' tenuous, to even think about pulling out a camera!

Best wishes to all and thanks for your great support, prayers and cheers !  Carpe Diem ! :-)

John Rudolf   

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