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