2ND UTAHN RETURNS FROM EVEREST ATTEMPT AFTER LOSING 25 POUNDS

      A second member of the Utahns on Everest team is back home after efforts to climb the world's highest mountain got the best of him.

      Howard "Doc" Chuntz, a Provo attorney, gave up the climb and returned to Utah Sunday after losing 25 pounds and coming down with dysentery."I was rather scary looking when I got back to Katmandu," said Chuntz, who is thin to begin with. "I looked like a skeleton." He started at 145 pounds and went down to 115 to 120, he said.

      Chuntz said the high altitude caused him to lose his appetite. While he was eating less, his body was burning up more calories because of the exertion of carrying supplies to camps strung along the mountain.

      After helping the team establish a high camp at 25,000 feet, Chuntz decided to pack it in and left the mountain on Sept. 26.

      "With any luck the guys were going to go up the next day and start the summit bid," Chuntz said.

      Another member of the team, Doug Hansen, returned home about a month ago after coming down with a respiratory infection.

      Hansen and Chuntz won't know until Oct. 19 or so whether their teammates made it to the top of Mount Everest, which towers 29,000 feet above the Earth's surface. They had arranged for yaks to help carry out equipment on a certain day, and it takes several days to travel to Katmandu, where team members have access to a facsimile machine.

      Chuntz said Utahns on Everest were outperforming teams from other countries, who were larger and better equipped.

      "There was a large (15 members) Italian group up there who had gotten as high as we had," he said. "They made six tries for the summit, but every time they got to high camp the weather started up and they got blown back. They eventually ran out of time and had to go home."

      One member of the team, Stan Smith, a Salt Lake podiatrist, appeared most likely to make it to the summit, Chuntz said. Also on the mountain are Dwight Hooker, an emergency room doctor at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, and Craig Bishop, a member of the Utah National Guard.

      Although Chuntz didn't top Everest, he made it to 22,000 feet - which is 2,000 feet higher than Mount McKinley in Alaska, the highest point in north America.