In an April 19 e-mail, Smith noted the hardships are more than contending with thin air. For instance, he has had only four showers in the past 21 days.
“We all laugh about how we spent $55,000 to risk our lives and suffer for two months up here on Everest,” he wrote. “What a weird group we are. At the same time we are having the time of our lives at the most famous location on the planet.”
He also noted that it is a small planet: He discovered after talking to base camp manager Ted Anderson that Anderson is a 1993 graduate of South Medford High School.
“Crazy how we grew up so close together in the Rogue Valley and met for the first time at 17,500 feet on Everest,” Smith observed.
In Tuesday’s e-mail, he noted he has been through the Khumbu Icefall three times round-trip as he climbed between base camp and Camp I.
“The first time through, the Khumbu was a fascinating and very spooky, unstable place,” he wrote. “There are many double and triple extension ladders that wobble and sway as you carefully cross over seemingly bottomless crevasses.”
He acknowledges there is plenty of hard work ahead to reach the top. His team’s plan calls for climbing to Camp III at 24,000 feet by May 1, then spending time getting acclimated to the increasingly rarefied air. From there it will be to Camp IV at 26,000 feet, entering what climbers refer to as the Death Zone.
The final push to the top of the world is scheduled to occur sometime between May 15 and the 25th, he said, noting the climb above Camp IV likely will be the toughest part of the arduous adventure. Climbers are utterly exhausted at that point, often going 50 to 55 hours without sleep, he observed.
“Our biggest daily challenge up here is staying healthy,” he wrote Thursday. “Nearly everyone on our team has been sick. … A simple cold can end a high altitude climber’s dream.”
When his team leaves Camp III, members will be carrying oxygen tanks, he said. However, they will spend the night at the camp without supplemental oxygen.
“I somewhat dread that night as I hear the suffer factor is very high without oxygen,” he wrote.
Still, Smith believes he will summit the earth’s highest mountain.
“I am very optimistic that I can reach the summit as long as I stay healthy,” he wrote. “My cough definitely had me discouraged as it has lasted for about three weeks and forced me to descend from Camp II a couple days ahead of the team on our last climb.
“But for the past two days it has almost gone away,” he added. “Now I have to be very careful to not get it back again.”
Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.
South Medford High School graduate Brian Smith is photographed at 18,000 feet on Mount Everest, with base camp behind him. He hopes to summit the world’s tallest peak in mid-May.
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