Message from team mate Andreas Breitfuss who is home now in Australia:
“Boys… I am so excited and very proud to know such a dynamic group of mountaineers, tears were streaming when I found out you summited. Well done, love you all”One team mate that really stands out this year is fisherman Chris Cameron aka Captain Crunch who actively studies Buddhism. The day before the team was heading up to the summit Tim sent him to EverestER to get a pain checked out, they were concerned about the fall he had taken when leaving his brothers home in the US with his duffel bag on his way to catch his flight ot Nepal. The EverestER docs wanted to rule out a broken rib and sent him all the way back down back down the trail to Khunde to get an x-ray - results were negative. Keep in mind this is the location of day 2 on the trek into base camp, that's how far he went down. The determined he had a developed a type of ulcer that is apparently common with the Sherpas during expeditions. He said they gave him a pill, he let out a big belch and was perfectly fine afterwards.
So now the team is climbing so he bolts back to base camp same day with a quick nap at Pheriche and catches up to the team at Camp 2 and proceeds with the rest of the climb to the summit. I thought how could this be? then it comes to me, he's a fisherman, one of those "Deadly Catch" reality TV kind of fisherman. He's used to exposure, he works well in cold, wind, tugging on ropes, sleep deprived and all while on uneven ground. A big round of applause all of them who gave it their all to this climb but Crunchy's story will be one of those that will be told for many a year.
Peak Freaks
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