Click the following link to hear the report:
May 23, 2009
Camp 4
Hello Everyone,
It's Bill Burke calling from Camp 4. I made it to the summit of Mt. Everest, Praise the Lord, thank God, I'm so happy.
Mingma and I left Camp 4 at 10 PM (It was 10 PM) and made the summit at 9 AM (It was 9 AM), which is real good time. We left Camp 4,,, when I am not so tired and out of breath, I just got back to Camp 4, I'll leave a longer message, but when we left Camp 4 there were periods of 40 knot winds blowing, but I figured when we got on the Col, the South Col, it wouldn't be so bad, and for awhile it wasn't. And then the winds picked up and we ran into a unbelievable storm all the way up and all the way back. The sun was out for only about 40 minutes and then a storm blew in. I've never been in a storm like that in the mountains. Snow, freezing, freezing cold, high winds, it was quite a wild ride. It was really difficult, a very hard mountain. There is nothing about it that is easy. But, thank God we made it and we made it back safely.
Unfortunately I didn't get any photos because of the weather but I did take some summit photos and I hope they turned out. And a we're both fine. Like I said, I'll leave a longer message when I'm not so winded.
But I really, really really appreciate,,,,,,,,, really appreciate your thoughts and prayers. My wife said you left so many nice messages and I'll read them all. Thank you very much.
It was a glorious trip and I'll be glad to be back, to get down to the safety of Camp 2 which we will do tomorrow.
Mingma was wonderful, a wonderful Sherpa which we love so much. He has a sore throat, has lost his voice, but he is doing fine now. We're glad to be back and I'll try to get some soup or something here and his throat will get better and I'll leave a longer report when I have a little more time and I can form my thoughts.
God bless everybody, thank you, I'll report again, I'll report again soon. Bye
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