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Hello, this is Eric Simonson from Advanced Base Camp at Mt. Everest with an update on our situation here today, May 11th. I'm happy to report that our rescue team returned back at about three o'clock this morning after a fairly epic rescue from the North Col of the Ukrainian climber.

The team was spearheaded by Conrad and Jake and Tap and Andy, and they accomplished a thousand meters of lowering—that would be five 200 meter lowers, each one from separate anchors—to bring the frostbitten Ukrainian climber down to the Rongbuk Glacier...and all of this in the dark!

The Ukrainian climber was really hurting when he got down, but after IVs and oxygen, he's feeling somewhat better, though his frostbite still is—it's not clear how bad it is. He's definitely frostbit on both his hands and his feet...and his nose.

Today we're just taking it easy, resting, and R&R after the carryout yesterday. All total, there were about 20 people involved including a lot of Sherpas from other teams and several climbers from other teams as well. As I mentioned yesterday, these rescues tend to bring out the best and worst in everybody, and it was great to see some of the teams pitching in. And, in particular, Silvio, the Italian, was really helpful. Russell Brice and his team were helpful. The Ukrainian climbers were also in a position to support their comrade.

It's worth noting that the Ukrainian climbers, even though they got into trouble, had people on the mountain in a position to help, and that turned out to be of great value, which is not always the case. It seems like often people go up and get into trouble and their team members are nowhere to be found. So all things considered, things probably worked out as best as could be hoped. We have one missing Ukrainian climber presumed dead up on the upper Northeast Ridge near the First Step. We have one badly frostbitten, and miraculously, the third one, that was able to return to the tent after the summit bid, walked away virtually unscathed.

Again our team's doing well. Everything's fine, and we've pushed our schedule back now by at least a day, but we're still hoping to head up tomorrow. That's about it here from ABC, look forward to talking to you later. Goodbye.

—Eric Simonson, Expedition Leader

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