[WB] I suppose that if climbing peaks was ever in anybody's blood, it is in mine. I say that because from my earliest memories I recall being intrigued with reaching high points.

The Ozarks in Missouri where I was born are not mountains by most people's definition. But still, I spent a lot of time outdoors as a young man and terrain features and scaling them always fascinated me.

By the time I was 16, I was in the Rocky Mountains at every chance I had. The 26 years I spent in Colorado helped define who I am as an outdoors person and a mountaineer. By the time I was 31 years old, a lot of time had passed and I had missed some good opportunities to climb in the Himalayas, which of course had been my lifelong dream.

In 1986, I did what climbers from all walks of life so often do - I emptied my bank account and I flew to Nepal on a climbing trip with a group of Colorado friends to attempt a peak called Kangchungtse. The following year, 1987, I emptied my bank account again and returned to Nepal and I climbed Cho Oyu.

Mountaineering has never been a phase in my life. I was very lucky because my parents were supportive of me following my own path and I always felt they were proud of me. I've been fortunate. I was a mountaineer by some inner direction from the beginning, and I've been able to follow that path.

[WB] People. The struggles and triumphs of my teammates, all the shared experiences - the laughter, the awe, the fellowship we share on the mountain. One always feels small in the presence of the great peaks of the world and I think that the relationships that you form with people in this setting have a meaning and significance that enriches your life greatly.

Friends and companions in the mountains are the biggest reasons I've continued to return to the mountains.

Soon after Cho Oyu, the commercial era on Everest was starting up and offered opportunities for me. At the same time, guiding treks in Nepal and, soon after that, guiding ascents of the Seven Summits of each continent of the world, offered me an opportunity to travel and learn, to understand mountain cultures and do what I'd always loved to do - climb and share experiences with people in the mountains.

The richness that traveling in the mountains in the world has brought me, and the opportunities to enrich my own life, are so much stronger because I've been able to open doors for other people to experience the same.

[WB] My first expedition to Everest in 1989 was a research expedition. Peter Jamison, Scott Fischer and I were the professional climbers on the "On Top Everest Expedition" that conducted medical research primarily.

Later, beginning in 1992 when I was asked by Brad Washburn to locate the prisms that he had had placed on top of Everest, I began to be involved in the surveying of Everest - its height and other survey information about the mountain. Of course, when we established the benchmark at Bishop's Ledge on Everest in 1998 and the subsequent announcements about a new height of Everest, it was a gratifying time for me because Washburn's own history and legacy of mountain science in the 20th Century had always been an inspiration for me. It was a privilege to be a part of this.

The work continues. Each piece of information we gather adds to the knowledge we have been accumulating on Everest. Working once again with Roger Bilham and others is a privilege and I'm pleased to be doing it.

[WB] I get asked that a lot. The answer is actually quite easy for me. I don't have a list of high peaks that I want to climb, I don't have a particular objective in mountaineering or standards of climbing that I'm compelled to reach or conquer.

I want to become an old mountaineer. I want to spend my life climbing, wandering and exploring in the mountains and sharing those experiences with others. All my best mentors have been old mountaineers and I aspire to achieve the same thing.

[WB] I'm proud to say that we have a strong, experienced and well-balanced team of five who will be attempting the summit. I've known them all for years and see each individual as someone who is self-assured and can push hard, but is can also be a team member, have fun and support others.

Garry Porter (Olalla, WA) stood on the summit of Ama Dablam with our successful BAI team last year. Garry has also attempted Cho Oyu and has climbed two of Nepal's trekking peaks, Island Peak and Lobuche Peak, with me.

David Burger (Boulder, CO) will be attempting his first 8,000 m when he climbs Everest but his mountaineering experience is vast. He has made more than 50 successful summits of peaks 6,000 m or higher. He's a fine mountaineer, teacher and was also a member of BAI's successful Ama Dablam team last year.

The member of the team that I've spent the most years dreaming about climbing a high mountain with is Brad Johnson (Ridgway, CO). He and I have been scheming to get on an 8,000 m peak together for almost as long as I can remember. Brad's been on K2, Gasherbrum II and Makalu, and through the years he and I have set a goal that we'd be on the same expedition. When we finally got a chance this year, we both jumped it. I'm looking forward to being back in the mountains with Brad and finally being on a big peak with him.

Maegan Carney (Seattle, WA) is another old friend of mine. I've known her for nearly 20 years. Her ski project is the most thrilling and compelling thing, to the rest of the world, that's going on this year on Everest.

I know Maegan well enough to know that she will savor the moment on the summit, and be thankful, as any climber would, that she's managed to climb Everest. It's a lifelong dream of hers. As she begins down, she'll have a long ways to go and I know each step of the way she will be methodical, skilled and she'll be thinking and reacting and carrying out the plan she's been working on.

[WB] When Maegan stands on the summit and begins her descent, it's going to be her skill and her effort, her nerve and her experience, that gets her down. She's the skier and that effort will be hers alone. But moving her equipment and supporting her summit attempt will be shared by our entire climbing Sherpa team as well as the other climbers on the team.

Maegan has an interesting situation because a skier's eye will view the mountain differently than a climber's. She will be a climber, of course. But during the weeks we spend acclimatizing, carrying loads on our route, getting to know our route and moving on the mountains will be shared together, she'll be looking through the eyes of a skier and planning her descent.

People imagine that she's 'swooshing' down the mountain. Even though she will get down much faster than us, it's going to be slow. She's not going to take off and go, "Wee! Here we go!"

[WB] We started Berg Adventures just under two years ago. The planning that went into starting the company had gone on for some time before that.

It has been more work than I could have imagined. But it's also been more gratifying. Having the opportunity to work with people in conceiving their dreams in the mountains, planning them, preparing for them, as well as just executing them, is very satisfying.

We get to work with people starting from when they simply have an idea about an adventure. We help them select a goal and then carrying it out. That's different than just guiding a trip and meeting them sort of half-way through the process, after they've already chosen their goal, prepared and traveled to the destination.

It's also allowed me to define our own standard of travel and climbing adventures, and communicate that to our international operators as well as the growing group of guides and staff who work with Berg Adventures.

We're especially pleased to have the opportunity to - in addition to returning to some of those mountain areas that have been so rewarding to me in recent years, places where we have developed such a good program - develop new ideas in other parts of the world, other mountains to explore and climb. We've always got our eyes on the look out for new destinations. For example, we're excited about Kamchatka and there's a peak on the Yukon/Alaska border called Fairweather that we're very excited about.

On a day like today, Saturday, August 23, I can really see the results from all our hard work. We've got a group of guys visiting here in our office who just came back from a very successful climb of Mt. Sir Sandford, we've got Kellie Erwin guiding a team on the remote Kilimanjaro Lemosho route, and Leila and I - along with the three other folks we have working here today - are making the final preparations to head to Nepal tomorrow and start the Everest expedition. It's all coming together and it is very exciting.