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Reaching the sky: From Bellingham to Mt Everest

Author David Mauro attempts to summit Mt Everest and become the 65th American to complete the Seven Summits.

David Mauro

It occurred to me that I might be dying.

My symptoms matched those which preceded the sudden death of a team member, DaRita Sherpa, the week before. He had been a few hundred feet higher, at Camp Three, when he returned to his tent complaining of dizziness. He was pronounced dead an hour later.

I reached behind me to make sure I was still clipped into the anchor set onto the narrow ice ledge where I stood, thousands of feet up the  Lhotse Face.

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