Ed Viesturs' Quest for the 8,000 meter peaks

Viesturs

Hear Ed's Call from Nepal LISTEN:  [RealPlayer]  [Windows Media] (Requires a FREE media player)

It's really nice to be here – it's beautiful, it's green. Seattle is one of the best places to come home to. It's wonderful to be back with my family, my wife and my son, and to have this expedition completed.

The rest of the boys – Neal, Michael and Veikka – are still in Nepal. They decided to spend a few days going down to Chitwan National Park to ride elephants, to look for tigers and to drink gin and tonics. They thought it would be fine for me to leave, to come home to my family since my wife is pregnant. And so I was very thankful to them for doing that for me.

Veikka will be in charge of our equipment when it gets back to Kathmandu. Ninety percent of it we are going to store in Kathmandu, as we always do, rather than bringing it back home and taking it back over every year. And Neal and Michael will then bring one of my duffel bags back to me, where I'll pick it up in Colorado when I go in June to do a slide show.

So, back at home. Expedition's over. Everything is basically wrapped up. We had a good time in spite of not climbing the mountain. Tentatively now, Veikka and I are already talking and planning for next year. In the spring, our tentative plan is to go together to Shishapangma, of which I've only climbed to the central summit. I do have a desire to go back to climb to the main summit, which is a short way along a ridge. Veikka has not yet climbed Shishapangma and we thought it would be good to go to Shishapangma in the spring. We would come home then, for a while, after climbing in Tibet on Shishapangma. And then while still acclimatized, some time in June or July, quickly go to Pakistan where we could then make a very light-weight, alpine-style ascent of Nanga Parbat, using our acclimatization from Shishapangma.

So we're excited about that, but it'll be a while until that happens. But it's something to look forward to, something to plan on, something to train for, which is something I really like to have in front of me. And I'm certain I'll be with Mountain Zone next year, so tune in for that. I think it's going to be fun and exciting, and hopefully the outcome will be a little more different than our trips to Annapurna, which, of course, is the way it goes on a lot of peaks. You can never go on a climb and guarantee success. The only thing you want to try to maintain is your safety. The primary goal, of course, when you go on one of these climbs is to make sure that you get back home — getting to the summit is optional.

So thanks for checking in, thanks for following. It's been a great trip. I'm excited to be working with Mountain Zone, I think they're one of the best, if not the best, outdoor adventure online coverage magazines in the world. I really enjoy working with them and thanks for following. Ed Viesturs signing out from Seattle.

— Ed Viesturs, MountainZone.com Correspondent


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EXPEDITION DISPATCHES