Fischer Hazen called in on behalf of Team Jaahnavi.  The team had a really tough go of it, moving up to High Camp at 17,200′ yesterday.  Conditions were very difficult and they made it to camp ahead of a lightning storm.  Today, they rested at camp and discussed their options.

Given the conditions of the route at the present time and given the length of time it took the team to move up to High Camp, the guides have decided that the time is just not right for Jaahnavi to push up higher on the mountain.

This was a tremendously emotional decision for the guide team as well as for Jaahnavi.  She is a remarkable young lady who has invested her time and energy deeply into this experience.  She has worked extremely hard to get so high on the mountain that is is heart wrenching for her to not continue higher.  As guides, we are hired to make difficult decisions, decisions that are not always the ones that our clients want to hear.  This is such an occasion.  The team will start their descent tomorrow, in the hopes of getting ahead of what looks to be a significant storm, which is predicted to dump almost a meter of snow on the upper mountain – making conditions even more difficult.

Here is Fischer: