Please use a combination of the drop down menus above, the icons below and your browsers forward and back buttons to navigate the new site.
 
     
We have just received another update from Ted (19 May 2004), we asked a few questions that have been put to us by the press and other interested individuals. Now that Ted is back at Everest Base Camp - we hope to receive some images that he took on his Everest Summit.

What time did you set off from Camp 4?
Saturday 15th May 2200 hrs

What time did you summit?
Sunday 16 May 1030 hrs

Any problems on the summit attempt?
Yes, expand later!!

How long to get back down to Camp 4?
Sunday 16th 1600 hrs

Problems encountered as you were going to attempt the summit on 13 May?
Weather conditions, better conditions promised for 16th May

How many attempts did you make, this time?
Just 1

When will you be coming home?
6/7 June ish

Any plans for another attempt?
Absolutely not. I plan to stay at home and be a good grown up husband.

About your personal oxygen system?
Worked a treat, being used now by someone else for their summit attempt. Glad it worked as the Sherpa who had my back up system collapsed and I never saw him throughout he climb!! It will become the system to use the in the future, a lot of interest shown and I have been asked to make a number to supply another expedition.

What do you do when you are resting between camps?
Rest as best you can, its not easy above 20000'. You should prepare all your equipment, make sure all O2 works, cylinders full and all equipment works in unison. I think of ‘why am I doing this, I could be leading a comfortable, sensible life at home with my lovely wife and son, who I miss desperately, but no, I lay in my ice covered sleeping bag, in a ryme ice encrusted tent and wait for that wonderful moment when the temperature is at its worst - so I can get up and out onto the glacier.

The route was all I could hope for. As I headed upward my head torch joined a stream of others and as I looked into he clear sky I tipped my head back and wondered where the headtorches ended and Everest’s stars began. I climbed in the dark, stopping occasionally to wonder at the sheet lightening illuminating the mountains behind me, then one time I looked and the dawn was breaking to let me see the South Summit; I was nearly there, 16 years of dreaming and nothing was going to stop me now. I had summit fever and I would crawl with my last breath to the top - little did I know!!!!

ps How many days walk to the nearest bar?
1 day, but you wouldn’t want to!!

Ted on the Mount Everest Summit. Makalu in the background Ted at the South Col - Mount Everest behind Ted at the South Col - Mount Everest behind
Return to the Top of the Page