Simonson

Reality Check from the Himalaya
Friday, October 8, 1999
"Here I sit, reunited in the warmth of my home and my friends and loved ones, having made a very difficult decision only a week ago to pull my team out of the Himalaya early..."

Rough Road to Kathmandu
Thursday, September 30, 1999
"Since I called the last time, our yaks arrived at Advanced Base Camp — all 35 of them — and we were able to move in one shot down to Base Camp, which is a distance of about a dozen miles and descending from 18,500-feet down to about 15,000 and change...."

Heading Back Down
Sunday, September 26, 1999
"Over the last couple of days we've managed to retreat from the mountain and remove our gear from the higher camps. Our decision stands that we're going to abandon our climb of Cho Oyu in the face of unseasonably heavy snow and avalanche concerns on the upper mountain...."

Retreating: High Avalanche Risk
Saturday, September 25, 1999
"It was our decision that everybody's interests were best served by pulling back today and we've all made it now safely back to ABC after pushing up to 23,000ft, at Camp II...."

Launching Second Summit Bid
Friday, September 24, 1999
"The weather seems to have settled down a little bit the last couple of days and we've decided to put it all together for one last summit try, so today we're pulling the trigger on our summit bid and heading up to Camp I...."

Weather Gods Not Cooperating
Wednesday, September 22, 1999
"The good news is that all of our Sherpas made it successfully up to Camp III...The bad news is that the snow is very deep and, above Camp III, looks to be even deeper...."

Expedition Politics
Tuesday, September 21, 1999
"The four commercial groups on Cho Oyu have circulated the following letter to the other expeditions on the mountain..."

Avalanche Up High
Monday, September 20, 1999
"While we were eating there was a cry from outside the tent. Avalanche!!...A close scan revealed that everyone was moving....After a few more minutes everyone got together and then started moving slowly to the left..."

Cleaning Up Camp
Saturday, September 18, 1999
"We ripped into a couple of old piles that had been burned and then rocked over and we tore them apart and shoveled out all the old debris and then made nice rock patio areas where there used to be garbage piles...."

Intense Snowfall
Saturday, September 18, 1999
"Yesterday we had a heavy period of intense snowfall and wind which laid a lot of fresh snow on the upper mountain, which is something we weren't hoping for...."

To Camp II and Back
Thursday, September 16, 1999
"We started out by heading up to Camp I, a trip that we had done twice before...then the next day we moved all the way up to Camp II, which is quite an interesting part of the mountain...."

Awaiting the Monsoon's End
Monday, September 13, 1999
"...we're still hoping that the monsoon breaks pretty soon, because we're getting snow every afternoon and it's getting a little tedious...."

Fixing Rope, Breaking Trail
Sunday, September 12, 1999
"It was a gorgeous morning for climbing and we were the first people of the season up the ridge, so it made it really special..."

Rubble, Rock, and Bare Ice
Thursday, September 9, 1999
"We now have four tents up there, and tomorrow morning all of the climbers will be moving up to spend the night at Camp I, which is about 20,600 feet, for acclimatization..."

Puja Day
Tuesday, September 7, 1999
"The puja started with everyone on our team seated around the altar..."

Follow the Lateral Moraine
Monday, September 6, 1999
"Last night we camped halfway, at about 17,300 feet, in a beautiful grassy meadow, which made those of us who have been to McKinley...realize how totally different this environment is..."

The Trip to ABC
Monday, September 6, 1999
"Ang Nima, our oldest Sherpa and climbing partner of expedition member Henry Hamlin, recounted how he had crossed this pass when he was 20 years old, 37 years before..."

Tibetan Bulldogging
Friday, September 3, 1999
"Finally, one of the drivers sneaks up on the recalcitrant yak and grabs the horns (Tibetan bulldogging). At this point, the yak may try to fight, and it may take several yak drivers to subdue one of them..."

Yak Bells Clanging
Wednesday, September 1, 1999
"...and the occasional whiff of a yak-dung fire, made it clear it was not a dream — we were at Base Camp..."

Base Camp in Gyabrag Valley
Wednesday, September 1, 1999
"I'm happy to report that the...Cho Oyu Expedition successfully reached Base Camp yesterday..."

Reunion in Tingri
Monday, August 30, 1999
"After 10 days of travelling, we are just a short drive up the plains of Tingri and then up the outwash and moraines of the Gyabrag Glacier from Base Camp..."

Escape to Tibet
Friday, August 27, 1999
"We flew over the mighty Tsangpo River which later becomes the Bramaputra, one of the world's great rivers. It was bank to bank—in places, over a mile wide—flooding the entire valley! Awesome!..."

Meet Me in the Morning...in Tibet
Wednesday, August 25, 1999
"We've heard that there are now three landslides over the roads! So he's looking forward to working with the Sherpas and doing the duffle-shuffel through the landslide areas..."

Team Arrives in Rainy Kathmandu
Wednesday, August 25, 1999
"Yesterday, we changed $1000 into small, rupee notes so we'd have plenty of money to pay off porters along the way, which we're going to have to hire to carry the loads over the landslides and then hire trucks on the other side..."