Update 6/12/2002: Hans arrived at Amsterdam Airport on Tuesday morning June 11th.  He is the first Dutchman to climb Everest without bottled oxygen and Sherpas via the North side. He had a tremendous view on his way to the summit. But when on the summit there were many clouds and the beautiful view was gone. The feelings of reaching the summit faded out in the mist.  Hans was on the summit for only one minute. He has no evidence of reaching the summit and was not able to make a picture.  Hans: "The tips of my fingers were numb already. I decided not to remove my gloves. You just have to believe me" Wilco van Rooijen cancelled the final summit attempt after 90 minutes of climbing. Wilco: "The weather was to bad. There was a lot of fresh snow, the wind was hard and from the southwest, which means probably more snow. I was afraid that we were not able to come back." Despite the bad weather Hans continued climbing. The weather improved higher up. Less wind, less snow but the temperature was - 30 Celsius. Hans spend the night at the 8300 meter camp in a broken Russian tent. Hans:" It was the most terrible night of my life" He could only sit inside the tent. Due to
the lack of oxygen he could not sleep. Hans left the tent at 2 AM for the final climb. He reached the summit at 12 PM. Hans stayed for one minute, took no pictures and returned with four frostbitten toes.