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CNN Live Today

Discussion With Sean Burch

Aired June 16, 2003 - 11:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's one of the greatest tests of human strength and endurance, climbing Mount Everest. Every year hundreds of thrill seekers attempt to reach the 29,000 foot summit, through often treacherous and unforgiving weather conditions out there. Some of them return with tales of victory and some never come back at all.
But one man who did do it and did make it back is Sean Burch. Now folks may remember that we've been tracking Sean's trek to the summit since he left here on March 20th. He got back on June 8th and for a final report now, Sean joins us so we can talk to him face to face, at least through the television screen.

Finally, from our Washington bureau to talk about his journey.

Sean, good to see you finally.

SEAN BURCH, MT. EVEREST CLIMBER: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, so what would you say about it now that you've made it back home safely?

BURCH: Oh, you know, I'm just glad to be home and hopefully glad to hopefully have all my toes and fingers. We'll have to wait and see about that, though.

HARRIS: Yes, I heard you had a bit of a frostbite problem with the toes and fingers. What's the situation there?

BURCH: Yes, exactly. Well, my fingers came to, seem to be healing up nicely. But my toes, I'll have to wait and see, see what falls off within the next month or two. But hopefully I'll recover nicely. But it looks pretty good so far.

HARRIS: Wait a minute, back up, man. Back up. What falls off?

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: You're expecting that?

BURCH: Yes, it usually -- that's usually what happens. You have to really kind of wait and see what dies and what doesn't die and whatever lives. Hopefully all your toes will live and then it's back, a road back to recovery.

HARRIS: So you just, what, wake up in the bed one day and there they are? Or -- how does that happen? BURCH: You know, I've never had them fall off. But that's what I hear from all my mountaineering buddies that it's like, you know, you've got to wait and see.

HARRIS: Oh my goodness.

BURCH: But usually it, hopefully just the skin will fall off and not my toes.

HARRIS: OK. Good luck to you on that one, then.

BURCH: Thanks.

HARRIS: Now, folks who may be just joining us, Sean, may not be aware that what you did here was especially dangerous, especially crazy, in some people's estimation, because you did it without any oxygen. People don't do that. They don't climb that high. It's really tough on the body. And as I understand it, there's a zone up there called the death zone where, because of the oxygen, or at least the lack of oxygen out there, it really starts to kill your body.

What was that part of the trip like for you?

BURCH: Exactly. I was up there for three nights and actually had to use oxygen for 10 hours which, I hate to say it, but I had to use it for 10 hours. It was either try for the summit -- I went up there on one night and then had to come back down because it was, the winds were too bad. So then I went back up again the next night and I knew if I didn't use oxygen that I wouldn't come back alive. So I had to use it for the summit attempt. And then I foregoed using oxygen on the way down.

HARRIS: And you still found strength to jump rope somewhere up there on the mountain slopes?

BURCH: Yes, I kept my promise and I jumped rope. I didn't jump rope on the summit, but I jumped rope on the south pole. So it's, that's in the death zone. It's about 26,000 feet. So I jumped up there a couple of times and then, you know, that nearly killed me. So I had to rest for a while and then get off the summit.

HARRIS: So, you know what? This is the question that jumps to my mind immediately. Would you be happy if you died there? I mean if you consider how far you were pushing your body, Sean, and then you pile on top of that jump rope and -- you know, at this level here in the death zone, I have to wonder what you were thinking about.

BURCH: Yes, well, you know, to me it's not a bad place to die. But I don't want to die just yet. I've got so many dreams and so many goals to conquer that I've got plenty of living left to do. So, I mean to me it's not a bad place to die, especially since I love the mountain so much. But I didn't want to die. I wanted to come back.

HARRIS: Yes, and coming back had to be pretty tough, by the time that all, that, spending that much time at those altitudes, the ravages of it on your body. How tough was the descent? Was that -- it had to be easier going up but it had to be pretty tough still.

BURCH: No, actually, the descent was worse than going up because I didn't use oxygen. So every 20 yards I'd have to stop and take a rest like a minute or two just to sit down because I was so tired. So it actually took a really long time to get down to Camp Four.

HARRIS: Could you feel your limbs, particularly with the frostbite and everything?

BURCH: No, I couldn't feel any of my toes. I knew it was real, it was real bad. I figured my fingers would be OK, I'd get some minor frostbite and, you know, some black fingers. But I knew my toes were much worse. I couldn't feel them at all.

HARRIS: You know, at the risk of offending somebody, I've got to ask you, can we see your hands? Can you put your hands up?

BURCH: Yes. Oh, the hands aren't bad. It just...

HARRIS: Oh.

BURCH: Yes, they've all peeled off now so it's just a little black on this one hand. My toes look much, much, much worse.

HARRIS: Oh, god. Yes, well, you keep the shoes on then. We'll check on your progress a little later on.

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: OK, now that you pulled this one off, what's next? How in the world can you top something like this?

BURCH: Yes, I'm thinking next I'm going to go to the top of the world. I want to go to -- well, the top of the world meaning the North Pole. I'm probably going there with my wife next year and then immediately fly to Tibet and climb the sixth highest peak in the world.

HARRIS: All right, well, your wife is probably going to have to have a long talk with you on that one. I know she and her kids at school were following you on this mission here.

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: And we're all glad to see you made it back in mostly one piece.

Thanks, Sean.

BURCH: Thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: Sean Burch, congratulations and way to go. Proud of you.

BURCH: Thank you.

HARRIS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 16, 2003 - 11:18   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: It's one of the greatest tests of human strength and endurance, climbing Mount Everest. Every year hundreds of thrill seekers attempt to reach the 29,000 foot summit, through often treacherous and unforgiving weather conditions out there. Some of them return with tales of victory and some never come back at all.
But one man who did do it and did make it back is Sean Burch. Now folks may remember that we've been tracking Sean's trek to the summit since he left here on March 20th. He got back on June 8th and for a final report now, Sean joins us so we can talk to him face to face, at least through the television screen.

Finally, from our Washington bureau to talk about his journey.

Sean, good to see you finally.

SEAN BURCH, MT. EVEREST CLIMBER: Good to see you, Leon.

HARRIS: All right, so what would you say about it now that you've made it back home safely?

BURCH: Oh, you know, I'm just glad to be home and hopefully glad to hopefully have all my toes and fingers. We'll have to wait and see about that, though.

HARRIS: Yes, I heard you had a bit of a frostbite problem with the toes and fingers. What's the situation there?

BURCH: Yes, exactly. Well, my fingers came to, seem to be healing up nicely. But my toes, I'll have to wait and see, see what falls off within the next month or two. But hopefully I'll recover nicely. But it looks pretty good so far.

HARRIS: Wait a minute, back up, man. Back up. What falls off?

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: You're expecting that?

BURCH: Yes, it usually -- that's usually what happens. You have to really kind of wait and see what dies and what doesn't die and whatever lives. Hopefully all your toes will live and then it's back, a road back to recovery.

HARRIS: So you just, what, wake up in the bed one day and there they are? Or -- how does that happen? BURCH: You know, I've never had them fall off. But that's what I hear from all my mountaineering buddies that it's like, you know, you've got to wait and see.

HARRIS: Oh my goodness.

BURCH: But usually it, hopefully just the skin will fall off and not my toes.

HARRIS: OK. Good luck to you on that one, then.

BURCH: Thanks.

HARRIS: Now, folks who may be just joining us, Sean, may not be aware that what you did here was especially dangerous, especially crazy, in some people's estimation, because you did it without any oxygen. People don't do that. They don't climb that high. It's really tough on the body. And as I understand it, there's a zone up there called the death zone where, because of the oxygen, or at least the lack of oxygen out there, it really starts to kill your body.

What was that part of the trip like for you?

BURCH: Exactly. I was up there for three nights and actually had to use oxygen for 10 hours which, I hate to say it, but I had to use it for 10 hours. It was either try for the summit -- I went up there on one night and then had to come back down because it was, the winds were too bad. So then I went back up again the next night and I knew if I didn't use oxygen that I wouldn't come back alive. So I had to use it for the summit attempt. And then I foregoed using oxygen on the way down.

HARRIS: And you still found strength to jump rope somewhere up there on the mountain slopes?

BURCH: Yes, I kept my promise and I jumped rope. I didn't jump rope on the summit, but I jumped rope on the south pole. So it's, that's in the death zone. It's about 26,000 feet. So I jumped up there a couple of times and then, you know, that nearly killed me. So I had to rest for a while and then get off the summit.

HARRIS: So, you know what? This is the question that jumps to my mind immediately. Would you be happy if you died there? I mean if you consider how far you were pushing your body, Sean, and then you pile on top of that jump rope and -- you know, at this level here in the death zone, I have to wonder what you were thinking about.

BURCH: Yes, well, you know, to me it's not a bad place to die. But I don't want to die just yet. I've got so many dreams and so many goals to conquer that I've got plenty of living left to do. So, I mean to me it's not a bad place to die, especially since I love the mountain so much. But I didn't want to die. I wanted to come back.

HARRIS: Yes, and coming back had to be pretty tough, by the time that all, that, spending that much time at those altitudes, the ravages of it on your body. How tough was the descent? Was that -- it had to be easier going up but it had to be pretty tough still.

BURCH: No, actually, the descent was worse than going up because I didn't use oxygen. So every 20 yards I'd have to stop and take a rest like a minute or two just to sit down because I was so tired. So it actually took a really long time to get down to Camp Four.

HARRIS: Could you feel your limbs, particularly with the frostbite and everything?

BURCH: No, I couldn't feel any of my toes. I knew it was real, it was real bad. I figured my fingers would be OK, I'd get some minor frostbite and, you know, some black fingers. But I knew my toes were much worse. I couldn't feel them at all.

HARRIS: You know, at the risk of offending somebody, I've got to ask you, can we see your hands? Can you put your hands up?

BURCH: Yes. Oh, the hands aren't bad. It just...

HARRIS: Oh.

BURCH: Yes, they've all peeled off now so it's just a little black on this one hand. My toes look much, much, much worse.

HARRIS: Oh, god. Yes, well, you keep the shoes on then. We'll check on your progress a little later on.

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: OK, now that you pulled this one off, what's next? How in the world can you top something like this?

BURCH: Yes, I'm thinking next I'm going to go to the top of the world. I want to go to -- well, the top of the world meaning the North Pole. I'm probably going there with my wife next year and then immediately fly to Tibet and climb the sixth highest peak in the world.

HARRIS: All right, well, your wife is probably going to have to have a long talk with you on that one. I know she and her kids at school were following you on this mission here.

BURCH: Yes.

HARRIS: And we're all glad to see you made it back in mostly one piece.

Thanks, Sean.

BURCH: Thanks, Leon.

HARRIS: Sean Burch, congratulations and way to go. Proud of you.

BURCH: Thank you.

HARRIS: All right.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com