Summit Climb

Hiro Kuraoka Photo - Hiro took this photo from above the balcony. I am in the long line-up of climbers below the balcony (see the lights - there I am!). Despite my late start, I was able to catch up to our team because there were numerous stops as a climber from the day before was above us, unable to move. He had tried to climb solo with little oxygen and made some bad decisions. When I reached him, he was sitting there, clinging to the fixed line with an icicle hanging from his nose and mumbling that he was waiting. Phurba, who had summited with our first team, climbed up and brought him down.