Photo courtesy Hill and Knowlton Alison Levine, a UA graduate, treks on Mount Everest. She and her group chose to turn back just 280 feet from the summit due to weather conditions.

With the wind picking up, a mistake with an oxygen tank and climbers losing their momentum, one guide radioed another to discuss whether the womenās climbing team should attempt to reach the summit of Mount Everest, a few hundred feet away.

ćThings are going downhill here in a hurry,ä one guide says to another.

The other radios back.

ćIām calling the climb. Weāre coming down. Our climbing is over.ä

So UA alumna Alison Levine and her team turned back 280 feet, or two hours, from the summit of Mount Everest because of weather and related problems. They were just short of leaving their mark as the first group of all-American women to reach the summit of the highest mountain on Earth.

Levine, an investment advisor for Goldman Sachs, said it was the best choice they could have made.

Thinking about conserving oxygen, one of the Sherpas hiking with Levine turned off the valve on Levineās oxygen tank during a breather near the summit.

Three members of Levineās group were further up the mountain.

Levine got dizzy, becoming less responsive according to the Discovery Channel, which logged her trip on its Web site.

By the time the group realized that the shut off air tank was her problem, not exhaustion, and she had revived with increased airflow, the rest of the group had decided to head down. One woman had a frost-nipped eye and had been having trouble seeing out of it. She recovered at lower elevations.

A false radio message was sent out saying Levine collapsed. It was aired across international media. Levine said she did not collapse.

She added the incedent with her oxygen tank did not play a role in the groupās decision to descend the mountain.

The bigger problem was the weather that was beginning to turn on them near the summit as a storm brewed.

Mount Everest stands 29,028 feet ÷ or nearly 5.5 miles ÷ tall, jutting into 100-mph jet stream currents that can toss climbers around like toys. When a storm started rolling in, Levine and company knew it was time to go.

They had made it to South Col, a summit at 26,000 feet, which was a huge accomplishment, Levine said.

So far 69 women have made it to the top of Everest, climbing with groups of men and women. Of those, 11 were American.

Like those trips, this was anything but a walk in the park.

The women climbed up and down the mountain for six weeks, trying to acclimate their bodies to the elevation.

One of the five women who climbed the mountain, Midge Cross, decided not to attempt the summit. That was the toughest time for Levine mentally, she said, because she missed Crossā strength and spirit.

Sleeping and eating were challenging, as appetites vanished with elevation gain and the lack of oxygen took a toll on their bodies. At over 19,000 feet the human body begins to deteriorate instead of adapting, losing muscle and strength.

By 23,000 feet, still more than a mile from the top, Levine was taking five breaths at every step.

The climbers crossed over the same shifting, unpredictable ice flow four times, crossing a deep ravine using ladders that were tied together, held by anchors in the ice.

A British man climbing the mountain, Peter Legate, 38, fell to his death in a crevasse 600 feet below. The American women had first met Legate in camp, then were called on to help retrieve his body, which proved to be impossible.

The American group was shaken up.

Levine climbed both for personal achievement and to raise money to battle cancer. Some of the climbers in her group had either survived cancer or had a family member who had fought cancer.

Getting home healthy, all in one piece and as close friends was the biggest accomplishment, Levine said.