FORT LEE, Va. - As most of us were gathering leaves, mowing grass or spending time with family, Air Force Maj. Robert Marshall was making sure climbers and wounded warriors arrived safely to a Mount Everest base camp.
On April 14, Marshall blogged about getting the team settled in at their new home. “It is situated near some frozen lakes on a big moraine right on the glacier,” wrote Marshall, Defense Contract Management Agency Osprey functional test pilot. “The Khumbu icefall is looming above the camp and the team is excited to be there finally looking at the mountain they’ve prepared so hard to climb.”
Marshall is a member of a five-man team participating in an international outing known as the U.S. Air Force Seven Summits Challenge. The purpose of the unofficial program is to take Air Force and American flags to the top of each continent’s highest peak. The team is on their final climb of the challenge – the dangerous ascent to the top of the 29,029-foot Mount Everest.
“The past six climbs were 100 percent successful – proof we are experienced and prepared for our final summit,” said Marshall following the completion of his sixth climb. “While it may be a demanding challenge, the combination of our Air Force training and personal drive means the sky is the limit. We are ready and excited to take American and Air Force flags to the top of the world.”
“If successful, America will be the first country to have a team of military members reach the top of all the famous seven summits,” he said.
You can follow Marshall’s journey up Everest on the seven summits blog, http://www.usaf7summits.com/blog/
An excerpt from his blog:
“This altitude is no big deal. However, there’s a nagging thought in my head that I’m not acclimatizing as quickly as I should. The stakes of this climb are the highest (no pun intended) of my life. There is a lot of personal pride and no shortage of money on the line here. My normal excess of positive energy is lower than normal, which some folks notice. But I think with another night of good sleep, I’ll kick this cold I picked up on the airplane and get back to normal. Hopefully my blood oxygen saturation and heart rate will also improve, as both are not as good as I normally have at this easy altitude (92 percent and 90 heart rate). The lower the percent and higher the heart rate, the greater potential for altitude related issues."