Dispatches From Everest

April 1 (Jody Thompson): "The first day was very exciting – we were trekking to base camp ... I was very anxious about climbing the mountain ..."

May 2 (Kimberly Clark): "I dreaded today, as it was to be our first trip up the famed, icy Lhotse Face. ... A British climber fell to his death two days ago. ... The icy parts were true, hard, blue alpine ice with short, steeper bulges to negotiate. As we got higher, my breathing became more and more labored, but the technical parts were manageable. ... Breathing slowed me down ... I made it to 24,000 feet [7,315 meters] and ... was able to cook and melt water for hydration ..."

This mountain has taken 175 lives. So, why climb Everest? Marjorie Cross answers: "I loved the idea of a women's team. I've seen many Himalayan expeditions fall apart due to internal conflicts, personal agendas, etc. I was pretty sure that a women's team wouldn't do that, and I wanted to be part of that."

May 11 (Jody Thompson): "My most exciting day! My husband knew someone who was trekking into base camp and sent a video of my son crawling for the first time. I was so happy I started to cry. I watched that same video over and over again on my VCR camera."

Jody Thompson took a clinical interest in her body: "I felt like my body was just deteriorating up there. I knew my pulse oximeter was very low at Camp 2; my reading was anywhere between 65 and 70% [100% is normal, and anyone below 9 % is put on oxygen] ... You feel very weak and tired and short of breath all the time. I tried not to think about it much. The mental strength is what got me through it; I was just focusing and thinking about climbing."

May 16 (Marjorie Cross): "Today, at 24,500 feet [7,467 meters], I had to turn back. Yesterday, I had exercise-induced asthma brought on by the heat (yes, it was hot). The following day, as we left camp 3, I was very concerned that I would have more heat-related problems further up the mountain ... It was a dreadfully hard decision to make ..."

Kimberly Clark, a nursing student, was also engrossed in her body's state on the trek. "Altitude wears on a body ... Your heart rate accelerates as you go higher. We all became preoccupied with taking our oxygen saturation. Sleeping becomes very difficult sometimes, due to apnea spells and just plain gasping for air in the supine position. It was not unusual to have oxygen saturation in the 70s, even at 21,400 feet [6,523 meters]. If we were at home in the hospital, we would have been put on oxygen right away."

May 17 (Alison Levine): "A Sherpa [a person of Tibetan descent who provides for the daily camp functions of the climbers] turned my oxygen off during a rest break (I had no idea) and never turned it back on. There I was, climbing above 28,500 feet [8,687 meters] with no oxygen and nearly suffocating, as I was clutching the oxygen mask to my face ... I went from feeling really great to feeling like I was going to pass out. ... At first the Sherpa thought it was just the altitude, but then he realized my oxygen was shut off. As soon as he turned it back on I felt like a million rupees (that's the currency in Nepal)!"

May 17 and 18 (Lynn Prebble): "Started climbing at 10:30pm on the 17th, in the dark, with stars glowing. I was so excited to begin the summit attempt ... On the 18th, reaching the second-highest point in the world at 6:30am ... the excitement I felt on starting toward the Hillary Step [285 vertical feet or 87 meters from the top]! I felt strong ..."

Two hundred and eighty-five vertical feet (87 meters) from the summit of Everest, all they could see was white. A blizzard hit with howling force, and jet stream winds swirled around them. The team was already at the end of the rapidly closing "winter window" and signs of spring were all around them. Here, spring is deadly. Snow melts, ice cracks, and climbers die. If they could not approach the summit immediately, they would have to turn back or risk racing a blizzard back to camp. They turned back.

May 18 (Lynn Prebble): "... I knew physically and mentally I could have made it to the summit if the weather hadn't come in. Previously, I always had a nagging doubt I wouldn't be strong enough ... For three nights after that attempt, I kept dreaming of being in that place on the mountain but continuing up."

On May 20th, the mountain almost claimed the lives of the women, when an ice shelf suddenly disappeared, leaving one of their guides dangling from a rope ladder. Luckily, everyone on Team No Boundaries made it down.

Team No Boundaries Kimberly Clark: 35, resident of Denver, Colorado; a nursing student at the University of Colorado Nursing School (class of 2003). Alison Levine (captain): 35, resident of San Francisco, California; an 11-year veteran of the pharmaceutical and medical devices industry, she started climbing four years ago, after a second heart surgery. Jody Thompson: 39, resident of Breckenridge, Colorado; an ER nurse for 12 years. Marjorie Cross: 58, resident of Mazama, Washington; a breast cancer survivor and diabetic, she is the former director of the Center for Health and Medicine, in Bend, Oregon. Lynn Prebble: 49, resident of Canon City, Colorado; the director of physical therapy at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo, Lynn suffers from osteoporosis and asthma.

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