Possible summit!?!

A climber on the summit ridge in mid-June

My apologies up front for my lack of information. Dave Staeheli sent his satellite phone down with one of his assistant guides, Zach Johnson. Zach relayed me a message stating that he was descending from Camp 3 with Stephan, who is doing much better. He also said that he thought that Dave and the crew went back up to the summit two days ago, after assisting with Stephan's descent!

The logistics and workload of managing 8 climbers on summit day are pretty intense, so I can see how Dave might have had his hands too full to contact Zach via radio and notify him of their summit bid. Also, the radios we use up there do not always work between any given "Point A" and "Point B". It's a big, complex mountain and while we would all love blow by blow updates, I'm afraid that's just not the reality right now.

Zach thought that the group probably would have made the summit the other day, as he didn't see any weather factors that would have turned them around. He said everyone was doing well and could have probably made it.

Let's keep our fingers crossed...