Scott's Excellent Adventure

Scott Parazynski: Still on Cloud 10
“Just six days ago I’d wearily downclimbed to Everest’s base camp. As I sat in a small blue tent that evening tenuously perched over one particularly malodorous barrel, a loud rockslide thundered directly towards me. I briefly thought of the irony of it all: I had finally summited “The Mountain of My Dreams”, only to succumb to a tragic potty accident. Think of all the eulogy possibilities! The intense days of my Everest summit climb, the long descent and my return to Kathmandu’s “civilization” have zoomed by, but the key details remain as vivid as the photographs and video we took on top. Simply stated, Everest was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, physically and mentally, but strangely enough this was also my ultimate reward. Some things just don’t have to make sense.”