There are only around 200 people who have climbed the “Seven Summits,” the highest mountain on each continent, and now Albany’s Mark Luscher is one of them.

Six years ago, he had never climbed a mountain. On May 24th, he reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the highest point on Earth. The 60-year-old building contractor knew his work was not done.

“Going down a lot of times is harder than going up,” said Luscher.

The day was clear, but bitterly cold, with the wind chill at 50 degrees below zero. “You’re fatigued, you’re cold, my water all froze, I had no water, I had nothing to eat,” Luscher said.

Luscher said eight members of his nine member expedition made the summit. One had become ill and had to turn around, the same thing that happened to Luscher when he tried to climb Everest last year.

The climb, weather and lack of oxygen were not the only hurdles Luscher and his team overcame. He survived a heart attack, but this year was faced with new challenges: a Chinese government intent on squelching any protest from Everest climbers over the Tibetan quest for independence from China.

Luscher said the Chinese government sealed off the Tibetan side of the Himalayas, and positioned armed soldier at Camp Two on the Nepal side.

”At Camp Two they had two snipers, so if you went past they’d actually shoot to kill,” said Luscher.

He said soldiers confiscated the team’s camera’s, computers and satellite phones for ten days while the Olympic torch was carried to the summit of Everest.

Luscher said he hid his satellite phone in a backpack, and that he snuck out at night to call his wife before the team left for the summit.

Luscher was met by 30 people at Portland International Airport when he came home June 2.

His wife Valerie said she’s grateful to have her husband back home, and that even if she was afraid for his safety, she knows she could never stop her husband from doing what he loves.

“I’m not going to stand in his way for that,” said Valerie Luscher. “I’m going to be his cheerleader, he’s always been my cheerleader.”