No strike out on Everest

Bill Burke never feared for his life during his two-month Himalayan ordeal that recently culminated with him triumphantly climbing onto the summit of Mt. Everest: The 67-year-old retired lawyer’s biggest fear came on the last day, sitting in a tent while strong winds swirled.

His body felt strong, he said. He had spent the last eight weeks climbing up and down sections of the mountain to get acclimated to the lack of oxygen — a routine followed by most hopefuls.

But sitting in his tent that night, one thought dominated: Would the weather turn him away on his third consecutive attempt at the world’s highest peak in three years.

The season for climbing Everest is narrow — a couple of months in the spring between early April and late May. Once he was down, Burke found out that May 23, the day he reached Everest’s summit, was the last day anyone made it to the top for the season.

Increasing the urgency further, the air is so thin at 26,000 feet that it is called the death zone because even supplemental oxygen cannot sustain a person’s life for long.

“It was a judgment call. I thought, if I don’t leave camp and I just sit in my tent and don’t make the effort I will never know,” Burke said, looking back on the journey from the office of his plush home abutting the Costa Mesa golf course the day after returning to the United States.

A white-haired grandfather, Burke is slender, muscular and no more than 5-feet, 7-inches tall.

On one wall of his office two rows of brown metal picture frames hang, holding shots of him at the highest points of each continent. He believes he is the only person to climb all of those peaks after age 60. He also believes he is the oldest American to ever summit Everest. The evidence to support it is only anecdotal, but he becomes more convinced of its veracity with each passing day. Given the media storm surrounding his feat, he figures anyone who has a conflicting claim would come forward.

There are eight pictures on the office wall. Seven of them show the smiling adventurer enjoying his conquests. The eighth is a shot of the gleaming pyramid of rock at the top of Everest taken from below with no human beings in the shot.

It is from one of Burke’s two failed attempts at the mountain in 2007 and 2008, and will soon be replaced by a shot of him, unrecognizable in his protective gear, holding the American flag while sharp bits of ice blow in his face.

Burke is a latecomer to mountaineering. He only started hiking in his late 40s and began climbing serious mountains less than 10 years ago.

His first attempt at Everest in 2007 was foiled only 300 feet from the top when he felt he lacked the strength to go any further. The following year he caught a virus on the trek up to base camp, didn’t allow himself enough time to recuperate before continuing his journey, and had to be taken by helicopter off the mountain to a hospital in Kathmandu.

As he sat in his tent at the highest camp before the summit, breathing with the aid of an oxygen mask, he knew that if he didn’t step out into the wind and make a run at the top soon he would once again fly home with only a sad story to tell.

“I’m thinking, what a waste. All I’ve invested in it financially and emotionally could be washed out in one day of bad weather,” Burke said.

The most mentally challenging and physically steep parts were already behind him. He passed over the bending, flexing metal ladders over six- and seven-story crevasses in the Khumbu Icefall — the area notorious for causing the most climber deaths due to avalanches. He had slogged up the relentless incline of the upper part of the south face.

Despite the wind storm, which he later found out was a cyclone that had come in from India, his Sherpa told Burke that it was possible to make it and the decision was his. The two men headed out into the gusts around 10 p.m. May 22. After an hour of moving up the ridge the winds died down.

“I was looking over my shoulder at the horizon watching for the orange glow of the sun coming up,” Burke said.

Not much later, though, the winds returned and by the time Burke made it to the top he couldn’t even take his mask off long enough to allow his Sherpa to snap a good shot of him where his face was recognizable.

A pile of large bags carrying everything from his oxygen mask, to his goggles to his heavy climbing boots still sits in his garage. The 67-year-old says that he felt strong, never wasted, and may have made another pass at it if he were thwarted on his third attempt.

“If I were turned back by weather it would be really tempting to go back, but fortunately I don’t have to,” Burke said.

Three Attempts At Everest:

2007: Bill Burke quit 300 feet from the summit due to extreme exhaustion.

2008: Burke contracted a virus on his trek up to base camp and complications from the virus caused him to have to be airlifted to Kathmandu before beginning the ascent.

2009: Burke reached the summit on May 23 becoming possibly the oldest American to accomplish the feat.