Just heard from drinking buddy (who only drinks orange juice) Blair Falahey who has just finished his second over-8000-meter mountain climb this year. The first was Everest this spring, and the second was Cho Oyu which he summitted (without supplimental oxygen) on the morning of October 1st.Cho Oyu was a special one for him, as three years ago, he lost most of his fingertips to frostbite on a failed summit attempt on that mountain, and was told that he’d never climb again. He’s nicknamed this year’s Cho Oyu climb “Unfinished Business”.
From Blair’s email about summiting:
just before the sun rises is usually the coldest part of the day. and this day was to be no exception. when i stopped to rewarm my hands i reached to touch my nose and realised i could not feel it. it was totally numb. so i spent 5 mins rewarming my nose. an italian friend passed by and i stopped him to ask what colour my nose was. he answered “red”.
“red is good i thought. red means its still alive”. i put my mitts back on and continued on to the summit. i could only take a few steps at a time.then stop and double over my trekking pole until i had my breathe back and had recovered.
finally at 7.44am.6 3/4hrs after leaving my tent i reached the true summit of cho oyu(8201m). you know you have reached the true summit because you can see everest. normally i would take out my sat phone and call my dad. but i was too tired and too cold to do so. the wind was whipping the summit and i had lost any desire to do anything other than absolute necessary.
Anyway, I encourage everyone to go and check out the photos from his Everest climb that are on his web site and to keep on watching for the photos from Cho Oyu that are bound to be up there once he gets back to Japan…
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