5/21 Climbing the Lhotse Face

Shinji Tamura Photo - The second trip up the face was during our summit push. My buddy, Jim, suddenly passed out at the bottom of the fixed line. He'd been sick with a nasty stomach bug that hit a few members of our team. I didn't want to leave Jim until I knew he would be ok. Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner and her husband were descending Lhotse and helped us. Unfortunately, we got a late start on the Lhotse Face, where we cooked in the hot sun, and I had an abysmal ascent. This was the toughest day of the expedition for me BY FAR, mentally and physically. Jim made it back to base camp and returned to reach the summit of Everest two years later.