U.S. Airman From Santee Making Final Push to Everest

By Beth Ford Roth, KPBS

U.S. Air Force Capt. Colin Merrin of Santee is making his final push to summit Mount Everest. If he and his team of fellow airmen climbers succeed, they will become the first group of active-duty U.S. military to reach the top of the world's highest peak.

Merrin is part of the USAF Seven Summits Challenge team.

According to the team's blog, the climbers arrived at Camp 2 late Wednesday night Nepal time. They planned to spend Thursday's daylight hours resting and preparing for tonight's climb to Camp 3.

"Meanwhile, some of the Sherpas are carrying loads to the South Col to position supplies for the summit push. [Team member Rob Marshall] reports warn and sunny weather…it was windy yesterday up at Camp 3, but they were able to see a long line of climbers heading to Camp 4. That’s good news for our team, as it means less of a crowd when they make their push. And the number of climbers heading up reflects the favorable forecast for diminishing winds in the days ahead."

Merrin is a GPS satellite operations mission commander with the Air Force. This is his first attempt to climb Everest.