Together on Top of the World
The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits
Chapter One
Dreams Break on Everest
May 2001
At 26,000 feet, the wind howls like a freight train. I lay in the
pitch black, willing the tent to hold its ground, trying not to
think about the fact that by 10:00 tomorrow morning either we'd be
standing on top of Everest, thumbing our noses at everything that
had conspired against us, or we'd be back here in this frozen,
wind-beaten sardine can of a tent listening to five years' worth of
hope and effort whip away. Which way? The wind taunted me with the
question.
Earlier in the evening we'd learned that a climber from another team
had not returned from the summit. Inside my sleeping bag, my hands
and feet had gone numb; my desire to complete the climb had
flickered. But Phil had talked me through it. "What's changed?" he
asked. "We knew yesterday that people die up here. Is the mountain
less safe today? Are we less capable?" I rallied. I felt eager. I
couldn't wa ... read full excerpt from: Together on Top of the World: The Remarkable Story of the First Couple to Climb the Fabled Seven Summits ebook
