I finally just spoke to Mark.  He said, "today was the most challenging day physically he has ever had" for him to say that, they must have had a hard day!

The climbers had to do the push up to Camp 1 and stay for a little while and go back down to Advance Base Camp. In order to get to Camp 1, they had to climb up a scree wall that was at a 50 to 60 degree pitch (one similar is pictured above only theirs today was much steeper), then they had to go across a glacier field, during all this, the weather was pounding on them with strong winds and blowing snow and with each step they get less and less oxygen. Mark said, "less than half of the climbers hit their goal today, the ones who didn't will try again the day after tomorrow." All the climbers will have to do the same climb they did today at least 4 more times before they attempt to summit. Oh, of course Mark was one of the few who DID make it!

Tomorrow Mark is looking forward to a much deserved day of rest in order to let his body acclimate to the 21,000 ft he was just at.

Sleep well my Love...