He's home --

and he's skinny! Bruce (who is sleeping soundly right this minute) got on the scale this morning and has lost 20 pounds! The sad part is when you lose weight at altitude, it's not fat you lose, it's muscle. Anyway, he looks thin, and his stomach is still bothering him after a bout with food poisoning that a bunch of them got in one of the villages on the way down the mountain, but he's home and it's wonderful to have him back.

These are some photos he sent from Kathmandu before he left for home. The captions are in his words.

The Summit from the south col. The route goes right up the center of the face up the snow tongue. It hits the south east ridge at about midpoint at a place called the Balcony. From there it goes left up the ridge to the summit.

This is the somewhat daunting view of the Summit Ridge from the south summit. The Hillary step is the rock step in the center of the ridge. The ridge drops off vertically on both sides for several thousand feet. This view scared one of our team members enough that he turned around at this point. I had seen enough photos of this prior to getting there that I knew pretty much what to expect.

Summit photo. No view from the summit that day, the weather was not good. I kept expecting Russell to tell us to turn around.

The five-section ladder in the icefall. When we came around the corner and first saw this ladder, Hiro, the guide who was leading at the time stopped dead in his tracks and simply said "Oh sh - -". It was very nerve wracking.

Me with my Sherpa, Pemba Nuru, taken just as we were leaving the summit. This photo was taken in a hurry so I didn't take the time to remove my oxygen mask. Pemba and I were probably the last two people to leave the summit that day which makes us the last people this season to stand on the summit. I don't believe that anyone summited Everest the day after we did or anytime since unless someone came up from the North.

These next three are of our family at the airport, Bruce in front of our garage next to the sign we had made for him, and our wonderful neighbors who came out and banged pots and pans to welcome him home!