Costa Mesa Man Summits Everest

A 67-year-old Costa Mesa man climbed through a Himalayan icestorm to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and he may be the oldest American ever to stand on top of the world's highest mountain, his daughter said Sunday.

Bill Burke summited Everest Friday. Burke safely descended through the Khumbu Icefall and is now safe in base camp, his wife Sharon said Monday afternoon.

"He does still have to get through that icefall tomorrow," his daughter, Lisa Giger, 46, of Newport Beach said Sunday. "We are going to be on edge until he gets through that because it is so dangerous."

The Khumbu has already killed one Sherpa porter on Burke's expedition, Giger said.

Burke's successful climb to the top of Everest was reported earlier Sunday by the Daily Pilot of Newport Beach.

But every climber knows the dangers can double or triple during descent.

That basic rule has been underlined for decades by fatalities nearly every year in the Khumbu, a shifting maze of ice blocks and yawning crevasses that climbers typically navigate with aluminum ladders. Burke has photos of the Khumbu on his Web site, as well as ladders being used in some sections.

On Saturday, Burke described by satellite phone his efforts to reach Everest's summit, which stands at an estimated 29,035 feet above sea level.

"I've never been in a storm like that in the mountains," Burk said in the call, which his wife of 47 years transcribed and posted online.

"Snow, freezing, freezing cold, high winds, it was quite a wild ride," Burke told his wife. "It was really difficult, a very hard mountain. There is nothing about it that is easy. But, thank God we made it and we made it back safely."

Jetstream-force winds pounded Burke so hard that snow particles felt like metal pellets on his face when he removed his goggles, the newspaper reported.

Sharon Burke told the newspaper she was confident in her husband's abilities, but still she waited anxious hours on Friday to learn the outcome of his final summit push.

"During the day, I was OK, because I knew he was just plugging along toward the end," she said. "It gets pretty hairy up there, and knowing it was storming like that was hard."

Sharon Burke told the Daily Pilot she first got an e-mail from the climber's base camp about 11 p.m. Friday notifying her of her husband's successful ascent.

She also spoke with her husband about 3 a.m. Saturday as he made his way back down the mountain.

"He felt good -- he was really tired, but super excited," Sharon Burke told the Daily Pilot. "It's a pretty intense journey."

This was Bill Burke's third attempt on Everest. In 2007, he stopped about 100 yards below the summit, fearing he would not have strength to get back down after making the final push to the top, the Daily Pilot reported.

He tried again in 2008 but had to be evacuated by helicopter after he began suffering from pulmonary edema, Giger said.

The Burkes believe Bill may be the oldest American ever to stand on top of Everest. Dawes Eddy, 66, of Spokane, Wash., was cited in some news accounts earlier this month as the oldest American to reach the summit. But Burke turned 67 in March.

"As far as we can tell, he is the oldest American, but there's no real registry of this type of thing," Giger told the Daily Pilot. "Any research we've found tells us he's the oldest one."

Burke was last reported near Camp II earlier Sunday, descending to base camp. His family will breathe easier once he's safe in base camp. They expect he will be back in Costa Mesa in June.

Other age-related milestones were marked on Everest in the past week, according to the Los Angeles Times.

On Tuesday, 17-year-old Johnny Collinson of Snowbird, Utah became the youngest American ever to summit Everest. And one day later, 17-year-old Johnny Strange of Malibu stood on top of Everest, The Times reported.

The youngest person ever to summit Everest was a Nepalese Sherpa who did so at age 15, according to The Times.

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