Words from Wik

For those who may not have been reading my blog too much, I often talk about how much suffering is involved in mountain climbing. What we have to put our minds and bodies through in high altitude mountaineering is not easy; you can’t quite train away the suffering that will have to be endured while acclimatizing on the mountain. It is the main reason I did this climb for charity, it was my way of putting myself into the suffering of those most needy in the world. On that note, there is a quote I heard just today that might put that suffering into a bit of perspective, for why people do it:

“We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us.”

Maybe if you’re ever going through some tough times yourself (climbing your own internal Everest) keep the above in mind.

Below, a couple more pictures from the summit, holding flags of the Knights of Columbus. My fellow Knights supported me on this climb both in moral support and donations, so much thanks to them all!

I do not feel like writing too much right now, so I will post another couple of pictures that might tell their own story. While going from Camp 3 to Camp 4 I got sunburned on my cheeks under the sides of my eyes. That is what caused the scabs on my face. Also, while coming down from the summit I got mild snow blindness, which lead to my eyes and upper face being swollen. All together it looked like I got into a fight with the ugly stick and lost badly.

Making little mistakes on Everest like I did does have consequences. It’s an unforgiving mountain. Now things are better, I am in Kathmandu, once again back in civilization, enjoying it tremendously. My face seems to be healing well; while I still had scabs on my face it was a definite conversation starter. I got myself a haircut, now all I need is a real job.

Take care everyone and see you soon!

Here are a couple of pictures from the top of the world:

Also a few thoughts on making the summit. A lot of people who have never been on an expedition such as this place a lot of emphasis on reaching the summit. And don’t get me wrong, that is the goal. But the fact is that there are so many things that need to line up right for a summit, that sometimes it’s beyond the climber’s control. I myself thought that I wouldn’t make the summit many times, in fact I was expecting to be turned back on summit day. Why that was I will get
into in a later post. But right now I just want to say that anyone that went up to Camp 4 at 8000m and slept there waiting to get their chance to go up should get the same treatment as anyone that made the summit. We all went through all the same things together, for some it ends in a summit, for others not. I do consider myself lucky in making the summit on my first attempt.

You can ask me more details about this in person if you want. In the meantime take care everyone and see you back at home soon! I still have a full day of walking left tomorrow before I am near motorized transportation. Later!

I wanted to keep my summit attempt result a surprise, but they already announced on summitclimbnews: I reached the Top of the World May 17!

Does summiting Everest make World Peak for World Vision more of a success? Either way thanks all for supporting worldpeak.ca!