Joe's Welcome home party date  is set. 🎈 Saturday, June 17 at 1:00 till... 🎉 Please come celebrate his accomplishment making it to the Top of the world and coming home safely! ❤️ Lots to celebrate! We will be having food ,drinks , dessert, swimming & hot tub. Joe would like to open this party up to everyone! Spread the word also would like to invite people that have prayed and followed him. It would mean a lot to Joe if you can make it. Thank you for all the love and s

May 26th 8:10AM 2017. I have to first thank my wife Deborah Jean Burke for her support and understanding through this whole expedition. It has been quite an ordeal. I believe I've been gone nearly 70 days with limited communication but her support never seemed to waiver. Anyway, it's done after literally years of thinking about doing this and having a successful conclusion; it's has been very rewarding. I've said that this was by far the most difficult thing I've ever done. T

You made it ! Congratulations Joe!!!! We love you so much❤️ Can't wait till you're home! Be safe coming down. We're so proud of you!

Looks like the jet stream that has been giving us wind trouble has moved to the side of Everest. We've decided to leave tomorrow (2:00AM) a day earlier so that would mean a 25th summit if it all goes according to plan. This is it. All the months of planning and training come down to the next 7-10 days. I'm very blessed to have this opportunity and all the support from Family (immediate and extended) and Friends. Also a special thanks to my sponsors and donors. The positive

My last post was on the 10th. I have been communicating with several of you via email but the team has been in a holding pattern since the 10th. The good news is the weather has began to change for the better. There should be summit days beginning 21st through the end of month.There are still some high wind days but it looks like those winds will be decreasing between now and the end of month . Several teams have already headed up. With everyone waiting so long there is a m

Outside my tent base camp May 10th. Supposed to be on summit instead at Base Camp due to weather change.

We were supposed to summit today the 10th. But too many issues had the team have to retreat back down the mountain. I had mentioned that the fixed ropes on the last part of the summit were not in place when we left. The Sherpa were at camp 4 ready to place them but due to high winds and very cold temperatures they were not able to. We had half the team @ camp two and half the team at camp 3. We were three days from summit when the weather window closed on us. We all had to

This is it. What I've been waiting for this for years. After nearly a year of training, and preparation the time has come. The weather has cleared most of the fix ropes have been placed (a few more from camp 4 to summit need to be placed. The Sherpa are working on that now) the oxygen bottles are in place on the mountain. We're ready to go. Tomorrow morning May 6th at 2:00 AM we head back up to camp 2. The 7th is a rest day then we head to camp 3 on the 8th. We will begin usi

We're patently waiting for a break in the weather. Some other teams are moving up but it's a battle against the wind and cold weather. We are choosing to hang tight. The good news is once the weather breaks we're planning on heading for the summit, if everything works out as planned. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we'll get our break in the weather until the 4th or 5th...maybe, we'll see. Doing little day hikes to try and keep busy. Will keep everyone Posted.