BACKGROUND: Charlie Peck, 43, chief executive officer...

BACKGROUND: Charlie Peck, 43, chief executive officer of Cushman Investment Corp., left Los Angeles earlier this year to climb the north face of Mt. Everest.

UPDATE: Last month, 22 members of the American Foundation for International Mountaineering Exploration faced frostbite, fatal falls, hypoxia and avalanches while attempting final assaults on the 29,028-foot crest of Everest. Eight made it. Peck didn’t. He got jammed at the 27,000-foot level by high winds, cold and low clouds. “Conditions at 27,000 feet were dangerous enough. At 29,000 they would (have been) deadly, with no room for error. I was alone and had to make a personal decision,” Peck says. “Would I be able to walk out of this situation I was thinking of walking into? The answer was ‘no.’ ”

WHAT’S NEXT: “I’ve seen Everest. I’ve stared at the bear and realize that my getting to the top is a long shot,” Peck says. “I will definitely climb again, definitely in the Himalayas, but Everest? I need time to ponder that.”