August 12/13 : I awoke early on August 12 with the classic symptoms of food poisoning. Our kitchen has been great all season, so i don’t think that was the source. In any case, the symptoms were relatively mild. I slept much of the day August 12. We had the biggest snowfall of the season at BC–maybe 6-10 inches, much of which melted as the day progressed.
The weather forecast gives no hope of a summit window in the foreseeable future. The food poisoning was the last straw, so I ordered porters this morning (8/13). We hope to leave here on the 18th. This will give me time to get better and get to Camp 2 to pick up my personal gear.
One clarification: I never intended to make a solo summit attempt. I stayed at BC because we had a small but competent group of climbers willing to work together to make an attempt as a team. Sorry if I wasn’t clear on this point.
Also: If you’re sending email to my regular addresses, I haven’t seen them yet. I’ll respond to them when I get home. And to those who have emailed in the past week and haven’t received a response–thanks for the thoughtful comments. I hope to respond to all in the next 24 hours. Yesterday’s stomach bug set me way behind.
Cheers, Mike