John and Mary Adler (Paul’s parents), and I spent much of the morning together at my place, sitting in front of the screen waiting to hear from Fi, on Paul’s progress with the summit attempt. How was the wind? Would it just be too dangerous? Anxiously we waited. Mary brought hot muffins, John the Tim Tams, and I supplied the coffee. And we waited.
Messages from Fi trickled in. The Balcony, then the South Summit. With each I created a new Google Earth image and posted it, to share with so many people that I knew were anxiously waiting around the world. Meanwhile it seemed that at least one of us was always on the phone as TV, radio, friends and family checked on progress.
And then he was there. We hugged and some had tears in their eyes. ‘For Fiona, because now she won’t have to go back again next year’. Now everyone wanted to talk to him. The Herald Sun. and The Age newspapers, Lindy Burns of 774 ABC who’d been following the story for 2 years, Channel Nine TV and iRadioMax.
But up on Everest Paul was intent on getting down out of the -40C cold on the summit. His phone was off and the radio out. ‘You’ll just have to wait till he get’s back to camp 4’ I told them as they besieged my phone and email. Message exchanges with Fi saw interviews arranged from the moment Paul showed up at camp 4…
Oh, he’d arrived. A message to Lindy’s Producer, and a succcessful call to Paul to confirm the Burns interview. But an hour later Lindy was still stalling on her show, then the Producer rang me again, ‘We can’t get through again, it just goes to voicemail…we’ve only got 10 minutes left’ Which was just what Channel Nine had told me as well. ‘You’d better call Fiona at base camp’…
Thanks everyone for being there with us – Nick Grainger, Website & Communications Coordinator
Congatulations Paul… It was great reading last night before going to sleep that he had just made it to the summit, and as soon as i woke up this morning i logged in to see the update…
Too many people have been praying for Paul and a safe summit and return to BC , so i know he will be alright and the snowblindness will be something to just talk about. Just waiting anxiously to know more about his safe descent and to read his post about it…
congrats
Moraima
Dear Paul, Fiona and families, It has just been wonderful to be able to follow today’s events so closely and to share in such an extraordinary achievement – a huge ‘well done’. Davis and Arlie are wearing the padded vests that Liz brought gack from Nepal around the house constantly although I am yet to be convinced that it is -40C in our house! It is lovely to have Liz back safe and well and in a tiny way I have some sense of what Fiona must be feeling now. We have started working throught the 690 photographs she returned with and the stories of the trekkers are keeping us well entertained. I am trying to get Liz to document her experience of taking thyroxine at altitude – as that seems to be an interesting little back story in its own right. We are all looking forward to seeing you in the comfort and security of Melbourne. Our very best wishes and heart-felt congratulations on a fabulous achievement. Love …. Gavan and the Hawthorn household trekkers.
Great photo of the support team in Melbourne, I bet you have had very little sleep.
Thanks for a great website and all the information you provide. It is pretty amazing to hear live interviews on Melbourne radio when I’m sitting at home in London!!!
I hope the rest of the descent goes well.
Rose and family
You perfectly described on what I have gone through too, and now all day long everyone wants to talk to Attila. radio stations, televisions, newspapers, etc… gosh, I keep sending photos about this guy who made up to the summit with Paul:) Imagine, Paul became a sort of celebrity here, everybody learnt his name along with Attila’s!:)) Paul John Adler… as the journalists told to me;)
thanks for being on the other edge of the world and kept delivering news for me during this long night here!
Best, Mira
Paul, CONGRATULATIONS on reaching your goal! That is really something. I’m so very happy for you, Fi, and your family! I’m sure it took an enormous amount of grit and determination to pull that off in such wind and utter cold. And what a difficult decision it must have been to keep going up in that kind of weather, while thinking hard to ensure you were making the right decision.
Congrats, and safe travels thru the icefall…
When you reach base camp… Enjoy the achievement!
Paul, Congratulations on Conquering the Summit of your Dreams. Wishing you a Safe Descent and hoping the snowblindness will go away very soon. Fiona, thank you for all the updates. Wishing you both all the best.
Hi Paul
Again, well done and congratulations! Take care on the way down and glad to hear that your eyes are getting better!
xx Sammie and Nick
Nice interview with Lindy Burns, Fiona. Just think, Paul and you will celebrate your Everest summits together on May 23rd every year. That is cool!!! Congrats again to Paul. Fantastic accomplishment!
MC
nick. as ever thanks for your great updates.you are an invaluable part of the team.cheers!![ken.nz]
Thanks Nick for the awesome effort you have (again) done for Paul & Fiona’s expedition and for keeping us all up to date with Paul and Fiona’s adventures. Particuarly on summit day, your speedy relaying of status updates was very much appreciated. This website is such an amazing collection of technology that it is sometimes easy to forget that despite all the technology it still requires a dedicated human to keep the whole thing running smoothly. Viewers of this website might also not be aware that Nick coordinates and schedules all of the media interviews that have occurred throughout the trip. This is no small effort as every interview has to be negotiated to find a time convenient for Paul/Fiona and for the journalist. So thank you again for this valuable contribution.
Hopefully one day I will get to say hello to you in person.
Cheers,
Tim.
Hi Paul and Fiona,
Congratulations on the successful climb, truly amazing stuff, and we have really enjoyed following it on web / radio etc… (so also thanks to Nick..)
All the best,
Josh and Carlinea…
Well done Paul – fantastic to hear of your triumph and safe return. I knew you would make it…but what a nervous couple of days! Luke.
hi my name is jack we heard about the snow bindness. hope you get better from jack ps good luck
well done on your trip i cant believe you did it! was it hard ? and are you glad you are on your way home from dean =]
Congratulations on your climb.
I hope you had a great time and the best of luck coming back home.
from Simon at berwick secondary college.
Great news and congratulations to you and everyone involved. What an achievement Paul. I don’t know you but like many. many others around the world, I have followed your story over the last few weeks. I have recently returned from NZ and tramped over Fox Glacier which was amazing but I got there via helicopter! However it put your mammoth task into perspective and I’m delighted to hear that your hard work and persistence has been rewarded. I hope that you recover quickly and look forward to the next updates.
Congratulations Paul for your never-give-up attitude. Hutch, Deb and the boys.