Sebastopol climber gets good news about pair behind on Mount Everest

A day after summiting Mount Everest and descending to the safety of a base camp, Army Capt. Elyse Ping Medvigy on Wednesday received the news she had held her breath for: Her climbing partners were safe.

The two climbers who had summited the 29,035-foot peak after Ping Medvigy are camped about 6,000 feet below the summit and despite brutal weather expect to join her and the rest of the U.S. Expeditions and Explorations team at advanced base camp at 21,300 feet today.

The safety of climbers Chad Jukes and Dave Ohlson has been a matter of concern since shortly after they and their Sherpa guides reached Everest’s summit Tuesday morning Tibetan time, about an hour behind Ping Medvigy, 2nd Lt. Harold Earls and their guides.

Analy High grad Ping Medvigy and Earls made an aggressive descent from the summit to advanced base camp.

The weather worsened as Jukes and Ohlson descended.

Because of poor communications, it was unclear where Jukes, a combat veteran who has worn a prosthesis since losing part of his right leg to a roadside bomb in northern Iraq, and Ohlson, a climber and filmmaker, spent Tuesday night.

Of special concern to Ping Medvigy and others involved in the climb is Ohlson’s health. In recent days he struggled with a severe intestinal infection that also had idled Ping Medvigy for a time.

Amy Summers, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit U.S. Expeditions and Explorations, or USX, said from New York that she received a phone call from Earls at about ?10 a.m. Wednesday, EST.

Earls and Ping Medvigy had made radio contact with their team members higher up the mountain. Jukes and Ohlson reported they would spend Wednesday night at a camp at about 23,000 feet and would set out today for a reunion at the base camp. The day’s descent by Jukes and Ohlson will cover only about ?1,700 feet, but includes a 1,000-foot ice wall.

Ping Medvigy and her team members seek through their expedition to bring greater attention to the tragedy of suicide by combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@press?democrat.com.