Friday July 20, 2007 8:03 am local time (Thursday, 11:03 pm EST). Chris called in on a Russian radio. They are above the bottleneck and on to the traverse -- a swath of 55-degree loose snow over ancient glacial ice. At one point, Chris had the lead on the pitch but a Russian has taken over the lead and Chris and another Russian Climber, Ronan, are working together, on belay, in front of a backlog of other climbers including Joao Garcia, some of the Korean Team, Don, Bruce, and the Italians. They have now been out for almost seven hours.

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