Listen to Audio of David Burger's Call (some inaudible sections) (.wav)

The 21st of October about 5 pm. Berg Adventures International Everest Expedition calling from Camp 2. This is David Burger calling.

We decided not to make our summit bid today as the high winds persisted. We had a great climb up the Lhotse Face yesterday. [inaudible] We managed to have a nice evening, although in two tents two meters apart, we had to communicate via radio because it was just too difficult to get out and you can’t hear from the winds. [inaudible] Making it difficult to hear but we managed to have a great night and make it to a 4 am weather forecast which concurred with our experience that the winds were 50 to 60 knots. It was like being sandblasted, even with a balaclava and glacier glasses or goggles on.

So we decided to come back down today and we managed to not get blown off the Lhotse Face although it was difficult work.

Two members of the Everest team, Maegan Carney and Brad Johnson, decided to continue on to Base Camp. They are there. Wally Berg, Garry Porter and I decided to remain here at Camp 2 to continue to acclimatize.

It is quite clear and beautiful here [inaudible]. So we’re going to hope for safer and better conditions. The Nepalese Ministry of Tourism gives us 75 days to complete an expedition, so that puts us into the middle of November, certainly enough time.

So climbing something like Everest is a great goal, it’s an indulgence in something one loves. But for us five climbers, we find it’s just living our dreams. And so we’ll wait until we can do that safely and successfully. Our wish is for all of you back home that you are living your dreams. Thank you.

---

Previous | Index | Next