losing joe – number ten – lives saved grows

good morning bigmoose chum,

it’s been a blitzer of a week this week, weather wise, and on a bigmoose success vibe, with our lives saved from suicide number reaching 103 as well as some irons hotting up in the fire

i also completed my 10th talk of the year to these business big hitters in cardiff, which i really enjoyed, and they have signed up for a bike, which is pretty awesome, so i think talks are the future.

now i have a story that i can’t remember if i have ever told you, but if i have, stop me.

it’s an everest story, that i found hard to tell for quite a while after my trip, but i introduced it into my talks recently, as it has a powerful impact on the audience.

now this picture was of our guides, and me and my climbing buddy joe, sitting behind me, on my right as you look at the picture.

joe and i had never met before he landed in kathmandu from san francisco, but bonded really well, and on acclimatisation peaks it was obvious he was a skilled climber.

we had been in nepal for nearly ten weeks, and our weather window to climb and summit was closing, but we were ready.

on the morning of the 26th may we awoke, and our team sprung into action, it was time, getting our kit bags ready with water, nutrition, flags for the summit, satphone to call home, oxygen, and mooses ashes in a little glass phial.

and we climbed.

and we climbed.

higher and higher.

until dawn broke, and the sun started to rise, and light up our world.

and we looked back to see that being nearly five miles high was showing the curvature of the planet.

we then climbed the famous hillary step, extremely precarious at 8790m, but we all made it safely with joe leading the way.

we were nearly at the top of the tallest mountain on the planet, and we were going to achieve our dreams.

as joe continued over the last snow capped peak before the summit, i knew once i reached the same place he was, i would see him approaching the summit.

my mind was full of emotion, as so many thoughts washed over me.

there was nobody in front of us on the whole mountain, we were going to summit first that day.

i reached the snow cap and the summit came into view.

it was beautiful.

all i could have dreamt of.

i stopped and took in its beauty.

but i couldn’t see joe.

i thought he might have slipped from view, as the sun was shining brightly and reflected off the snow.

my eyes tracked along the safety rope to the top.

no joe.

i started to worry.

i strained my eyes looking at the summit.

no joe.

surely he couldn’t have fallen off the safety rope?

i was confused and started to get scared.

until.

i spotted him.

approximately 50m to my left.

crouching.

8843m high, joe was having a poo.

we were both relieved.

now i have no proof, but that’s gotta be a record i reckon?

i might photoshop a guinness world record certificate and send it to him.

well that’s part of my talk, thanks for reading.

see you next week.

blue skies,

jeff