David, Sarah and Davey Coombs 3234 South Jefferson Street Spokane, WA 99203 (509) 443-6707 [email protected]

Dear Friends, As 2004 comes to a close it seems a good time to pass on a bit of news about us, as well as to send you our Best Wishes for a joyous holiday season and bountiful New Year. Earlier this year I finished the eighteen-month job of winding down Coombs Manufacturing Company, which has operated here since 1996. The huge drop in American farm exports between 1998 and 2000 took its toll on the wheat-growing regions we served, and we responded by designing and introducing several innovative new products. After restructuring the business I sold it to the J.E. Love Company in nearby Garfield, Washington, ensuring that our dealers and customers will continue to enjoy good service and factory support. A core team of employees did a terrific job of making all this happen in a very professional fashion. With that task wrapped up, I’m looking forward now to my next opportunities! Sarah is a senior now at St. George’s School, and having her best year yet. She is working on college applications, targeting smaller liberal arts schools in several parts of the country. As counterpoint to her long-standing interests in history, literature and folklore, Sarah has enjoyed Calculus and joined the Robotics Club. She has kept up her dancing with the Haran Irish Dance troupe, which performed last New Year’s Eve to packed audiences here in Spokane (accompanied by fabulous live Celtic music.) It doesn’t get any better than that! Davey is now in the Upper School (ninth grade) at St. George’s. He’s taking an elective course in Photography to strengthen his already notable skills with the digital camera. He ran with the Cross Country team this fall, and as a group they improved dramatically meet-by-meet. They topped off their season with a fourth-place podium spot at the Washington Cross-Country Championships— Davey placing 22nd in the State B Division! The team includes some strong freshman runners, and their future looks bright. This fall I fulfilled a long-held mountaineering goal and joined a small private expedition to Cho Oyu, sixth highest peak in the world. Rising just twenty miles west of Everest, Cho Oyu dominates its Himalayan neighbors and at 26,900’ is the highest peak between Everest and K2. The five of us, including my great Spokane friend Chris Kopczynski, team leader Glenn Porzak, along with John Steiger and Brent Manning, flew to Kathmandu and then drove north into Tibet by truck. Advanced Base Camp was on the Gyabrag Glacier at 18,500’, and from there we and our Sherpa colleagues established three more camps, the highest at 24,500’. We left high camp just before 2:00 AM on September 26 and climbed by headlamp through the Yellow Band, a distinctive rock layer found also at the same altitude on Everest. As dawn broke we crested the huge summit dome and were greeted by a stunning view of Everest, Lhotse and, a hundred miles beyond, Kangchenjunga. Great climb, great teammates, great moment. It has been good to be home. We have enjoyed a long-lingering fall, and have seen foggy mornings clearing into calm, limpid afternoons. Davey, Sarah and I ran the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot in Manito Park last week, along with hundreds of other humans and dogs. It is at this time of year that the words of an old English Christmas mummers’ carol come back to me: God bless your house, your children too, Your cattle and your store; The Lord increase you day by day, And bring you more and more. God bless this company of friends, All gathered here tonight, And in this bleak midwinter time, Cast on us all His light.