Everest Post-Monsoon Attempt. Our members were Dr. Howard Chuntz, Stanton Smith, Craig Bishop, Dr. Keith Hooker and I as leader. We had been scheduled to fly on the Thai Airbus that crashed and killed all 99 passengers, but we luckily had changed our flight. Once on the north face, we chose to swing over close to the North Col and then traversed back towards the Great Couloir. As is usual on the north face, avalanches were a main concern. Bishop and I suffered from a debilitating cough. I ended up trying out the Gammow bag and was put on the side line. Climbing unroped on the glacier, as most did, nearly proved fatal for Lhakpa Sherpa, who broke through into a hidden crevasse and was barely able to keep from going in all the way. Chuntz ultimately fell victim to dysentery. Smith and Tshering Sherpa made a summit bid. When, on September 30, they arrived at Camp IV at 7610 meters, they found the tent door had been destroyed by high winds and the tent was almost full of snow. They spent a long, miserable night unable to get the stove going. When morning arrived, the only reasonable decision was to descend.

Douglas Hansen, Hansen Mountaineering, Utah