Advance Basecamp, Mt. Everest (via satellite phone)
Elevation: 6350m/20,828ft
9:15 AM Tibetain Time

Eric Brown With The Loss Of A Friend And Fellow Climber

Today is May 21, 1999. This is Eric Brown for Patagonia Mountain Agency calling from Advance Basecamp and it is 9:15 in the morning. It is with great sorrow, confusion, plus a feeling of "why?" that I make this dispatch. Our expeditions triumph of Tuesday the 18th's summit success has turned tragic with the loss of Tadek Kudelski who never made it back to Camp III that night. Ryszard also spent the entire night exhausted and fighting frostbite in negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures and gusting winds awaiting rescue. In addition, another expedition of two members, which summited after our team, failed to make it to Camp III that night, and in the following days only one of those two made it back okay. You were shocked, I'm sure, as we were and still are. And questions about how it happened, what went wrong, why, etcetera, are building as you read. I will, in a subsequent dispatch, do my best to detail the events, for on our part it includes three nights at Camp III, four climbers spending an entire night exposed on Mt. Everest at 8,500 meters and above, search and rescue attempts, urgent and long radio calls, sleepless [?] nights at ABC, and feelings of despair, sadness and hope.

[long pause] It is very awkward for me, after countless dispatches focussed on generally happy accounts of our expeditions daily experiences, to now have to relay news of death. People die on Everest -- it is a given -- and we all knew this cold fact before and during the expedition. It is relegated to the back of the mind, as we always do with the prospect. Otherwise, if it was a focus life and its wonders would be harder to enjoy. We are dealing with this as best we can given the circumstances. We have lost a friend and a climbing partner, his wife has lost a husband, and his kids have lost a father. We have had several days to talk and cope with these losses and our mess tent has been a meeting place for other expeditions, both intimately involved and concerned, during and since the tragedy. And this has helped, having friends and strangers joining us in figuring things out. This is an expedition to Mt. Everest with all risks known -- even the real risk of death -- but knowing we all, especially the climbers, have a chance for injury and death, does not make the loss of Tadek any easier to accept. I have waited until now to break the news because I have had a glimmer of hope for a miracle, plus we were waiting for Ryszard and Jacek to return so they could call Mrs. Kudelski. Hopefully in my next dispatch questions you have will be answered. All our teams are back in Advance Basecamp and we begin preparation to leave ABC. Keep the Kudelski family in your thoughts and prayers, and us also, as we pack up and also continue to contrast the extreme excitement and sorrow we have all experienced. I know you've probably started reading about the incident on other websites -- hearsay, rumors -- that's all they are. We will be providing the story because it is our story. So please stay tuned. This is Eric Brown for PMA.