Mt. Everest 2004: Mountain Madness Expedition 2004

Day 47:  May 12

This is Sarah Henley reporting from Everest Base Camp. Tomorrow morning, May 13th, the 2004 Mountain Madness Everest Team, consisting of Willie Benegas, Gary Ponder, Gene Rehfeld and Murray Rice, leave Base Camp for their summit attempt. The schedule is still the same as I wrote in one of the last dispatches.  This morning while having breakfast there was lots of anticipation building amongst the team. The team has of course been to camp 3 but past that is the unknown, other than Willie. "The unknown is what makes me the most nervous for what is to come", Gene said.  The guys were tossing so many questions towards Willie it was difficult for him to keep up. Willie's response was mainly, "you three are as ready as you could ever be.  The rest is out of your hands except the one problem is you are thinking too much!"  After those wise words of advice they all seemed to relax a little and were not thinking too hard.  The consensus between the guys is that they could never explain what they are experiencing right now.  They are all nervous, excited, anxious and mostly ready to get started...

 

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  Altitude pre-
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