Epilogue

After returning to Talkeetna and then Nashville I checked the AAI web site for updates on the team's progress via the cybercast reports. There were no reports for several days as the team had trouble transmitting.

Finally there were some postings about what they had been doing.

The team went up to 17,200' camp the day after I left. David and Neal had trouble with the altitude and Eric escorted them down and back out to the airstrip.

The remaining guide and three clients were pinned at 17,200 by a storm that lasted for five days. They were pinned in their tents and unable to make a summit bid. During the storm one of their tents was destroyed and they ended up with all four of them in one two-person tent. At some point after that they dug a snow cave, possibly to have more room. Because of the storm they were unable to melt enough snow and became dehydrated. Unfortunately what comes after that is predictable - frostbite. All four ended up with varying degrees of frostbite on the ends of their fingers.

Nigel sent me a photo of his fingers after returning to Beijing, and the last 1" of each one was blackened or purple. He said the doctors in China recommended cutting off the ends of the fingers of his right hand. However the doctor in Alaska recommended waiting to see what developed in case he got some feeling back, and that is what he did.

The last report I have is that he has gotten some feeling back and is hopeful they can return to mostly normal.

Nigel is still planning to climb Everest next year and possibly return to Denali in 2006.