Yesterday, on July 22nd at 6:40 AM, my dream of summiting K2, “The Holy Grail of Mountaineering”, became a reality. It was a surreal moment filled with emotion and even after 40 hours and 12,000+ ft of descent, it has yet to truly sink in. Perhaps it is the sheer exhaustion, extreme caloric deficiency and dehydration, or the psychological toll that it took. Maybe it is the years and thousands of hours of training leading up to this point. I really don’t know at this point…

What I do know is that I couldn’t have done it without the overwhelming love and support that I have received from you. The mountain was utterly terrifying and it was easily the most challenging task of my entire life but you gave me the strength that I needed to overcome it. Together, you helped me become the 21st American to ever stand on the summit of K2!

Now that I am back at basecamp, away from imminent danger, I will spend the next couple of days recovering, collecting my thoughts, and responding to the countless messages that I have received over the next few days. I’m sure that many of you are looking forward to a detailed account of our summit and I promise you that I will get that to you as soon as possible. Until then, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your messages and for joining me on this journey!

John