Reaching the summit from base camp would take six days (one day to ABC, a rest day, day three to the top of the North Col, day four to 7800m, day five to 8300m and day six would be summit day). and all being well we should be going for the summit on the 24th May. I fully expected it to be the hardest thing I had ever done in my life, we would burn around 10,000 calories a day and as the altitude increased and appetite decreased struggle to take on board anything more than a couple of thousand. We originally planned two rest days at ABC but the weather forecast changed again on arrival at ABC and so this was cut to a single day.
After a day at ABC we headed up to the North Col, just as last time, the weather started off good and as we approached the top it took a turn for worst. This storm was on another level from last time, a couple of tents blew off the North Col and a number, including mine, were damaged. It is difficult to capture the cold and wind on a still photo but I think my expression in the below photo shows that it wasn't comfortable place to be.
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| At a very windy North Col camp |
The wind kept blowing until the point I was trying to sleep and despite this and waking a few times to grab hold of the tent, I slept OK and felt ready to move up to 7800m the next day.
The climb up the North Ridge to camp 2 at 7800m was going to be very tough long day, we would pick our oxygen at 7500m but those first few hundred metres would be very hard work and slow going. Although trail had already been broken, the snow was still pretty deep which didn't help matters and the long plod began. Climbing at that altitude is very slow although some of the team had gone onto oxygen at 7000m and the difference was staggering, members of the team who had not been particularly quick throughout the trip turned into supermen and were flying up (relatively) the North ridge, food for thought for 2011.
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| Climbing the North ridge |
There was a bit of drama between 7300m and 7400m Josh and Jonathan began to really struggle to breathe. We had to radio up to the Sherpas and arrange for their oxygen to be brought down to them so they could continue up the ridge. Once on oxygen both of them started to make good progress again.
Above 7500m the terrain changes from a steep snow slope to broken snow and rock and becomes a bit more technical but having spent the past few hours trudging up a snow slope it made a nice change. There is no specific spot for camp 2, it is spread over quite a wide area and starts at about 7600m and goes up to over 7800m, I was very tired but it still took over an hour from seeing the first tents to reach my own tent which was near the top of the camp. It was about 1930 and dark when I finally arrived at my tent and it was very frustrating to hear that the members of the team that had used oxygen all day had been in camp for hours already and were much more refreshed. On the flip side there some other team members who didn't reach camp until a couple of hours after me.
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| Change in terrain approaching Camp 2 |
I just had time to collect some snow and melt for food and water, every time we climbed higher the oxygen and pressure levels were lower and water took so much longer to boil, so keeping well fed and hydrated was becoming more difficult, at 7800m and high camp the problem was particularly acute. Many of the things that you take for granted at sea level are a real struggle at this altitude and on this terrain, going to the toilet was particularly challenging at this camp but probably best leave this there.
We woke up early next morning and began to boil water for breakfast and drinking but it was still a good couple of hours before we had boiled enough for breakfast and a drink. Unfortunately Jonathan's problems from the day before had developed into full blown HAPE overnight and was forced to descend immediately.
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| Tents perched precariously at camp 2
Eventually left the camp at about 0930 in the morning, the weather was excellent, very calm and sunny.
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| Leaving camp 2 |
Things started well, the terrain was mixed rock and snow, much like the upper section up to camp 2. Then just below 8000m, I slipped on a small rock and sprained my knee ligaments. It was an old injury from rugby and I had done this many times before so knew how to deal with it and, while I could put direct downward pressure on my knee, it was very tender, swelling up quickly and couldn't take any lateral pressure without a lot of pain. I didn't want to make things worse and need to rescued or worse stuck up here but though I would keep going for as long as I could and see how it was the following day.
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| At 8000m |
Despite my knee I was still moving well although felt my oxygen wasn't as much benefit as I had remembered on Cho Oyu and my mask didn't appear to fit very well. It was only when a couple of us stopped for a break at just before high camp and I mentioned this to Stu, he laughed and told me it was because I was wearing my mask upside down - what a plonker, I really didn't need to make things any more difficult for myself.
I noticed an instant improvement, flew up the last couple of sections and reached high camp at 8300m, the highest camp site in the world, at just after 1400 in the afternoon. Now I had a few hours to rehydrate, feed and rest, while keeping my knee moving to stop it from seizing up. Melting snow at this altitude was incredibly time consuming and frustrating as we were all dehydrated and while our appetite was severely reduced at this altitude aware that we needed to try and eat something, I think between 1400 and 2230 we probably managed to make about 4 pans of water between three of us - one of which was unfortunately spilt by Keith, but as I said earlier, even the simplest tasks are incredibly difficult at high altitude. I think at this altitude you just have to settle with water rather than trying to boil it because that just takes too long and I would expect the chance of any bacteria living up here are remote.
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| Camp 3 - the highest campsite in the world (8300m) |
I think Stephen's video gives a good idea of the view from High Camp. As he says, it is like looking out of an aeroplane window and a good effort from him to go out of the tent to make this film we were in the next tent and you will see all safely tucked away in our tent the whole time.
I have split this section into two parts. The first to describe my own experience and the second, which leans heavily on a detailed summary prepared by Brendan shortly after the event, describing events for the rest of the team.
My experience
I didn't feel as though I had taken as many fluids or food on board at 8300m as I had wanted but was mentally prepared for this. I had almost a litre of water and was hopefully carrying enough chocolate, energy bars and gels to see me through. I would need to keep my food and water supplies as close to my body as possible to try to stop them from freezing.
At about 2245 I left the tent, the first difficulty was my crampons. I was using front and rear binding crampons (on account of the problems I had encountered on Aconcagua with crampons repeatedly coming off on the descent) the problem was that these very tight fitting and when the metal contracts in the extreme cold were incredibly difficult to get onto my boots. The whole process took me over half an hour, not helped by the fact that it was too cold to operate without mittens for more than a few seconds and was very tiring but I got there in the end was ready to set off just after 2330.
I set off up towards the north east ridge with 3 cylinders of oxygen. To start with the terrain was much like the previous day, mixed snow and rock and perfectly manageable for my knee but as we approached the North East ridge there was a few more rock climbing sections and these were pretty tough on my knee and also my camera as the photo below illustrates!!
I began to pass some of my teammates and was going well as I reached the North East ridge. I could make out Makalu once I got onto the ridge, there appeared to be a storm over it and it was fantastic sight.
I continued along the ridge passing dead bodies, even though I was expecting this it was a really weird experience the one in the photo below is Green Boots who died in 1996 and despite having lain there for 14 years was so well preserved that it just looked like he had just laid down for a sleep.
As I reached the trickier ground my knee was beginning to hurt a lot more, my crampons weren't helping either they had now come off four times already today and I didn't help myself but dropping my climbing mitt down the ridge to be lost forever which meant I had to rely on my down mitts. My down mitts were certainly warm enough but weren't designed for rope work and trying to climb some of the tricky bits in them was challenging.
I reached a rock wall at about 0400 in the morning, the altitude was showing around 8650m on my watch, and tried to climb up but the technical section required me to lever off my knee and while I tried to work my way up using a different method it just wasn't possible and trying to lever off my knee was extremely painful. I sat at the bottom of the wall to rest, think things through, my knee was very sore and looking down an 8000 foot drop was slightly sobering, I tried a couple more times but couldn't find a way up without endured severe pain in my knee so I had to make the decision, did I risk it all and go for it or did I turn around.
I had been on the mountain for nearly two months and was about three hours from the top of the world but with my knee, crampon problems and lost climbing mitten it seemed that everything was conspiring against me today. It did feel like a real life or death decision, I decided that it was just too risky to continue on one leg and the most sensible thing to do was make sure I got down in one piece and turn around, after all the mountain would still be here in the future and just wanted to make sure I was.
I still felt strong but realised that if I managed to get over the wall I still had to get down and had no idea how my knee would be if I put too much pressure on it, while I wasn't carrying a full pack I was still carrying three oxygen cylinders at 4 kg each and so my pack itself was still over 15kg (well over 20kg when you factor in my down kit and boots which would be around an extra 33% body weight for me).
While I was obviously incredibly disappointed not to make the summit. I was very pleased with myself for making a rational decision at over 8500m above sea level. There will be no way of knowing whether I made the correct decision and, trust me, I have thought about it a lot. Had I been in the same position at 6000m or even 7000m I would have continued but you can probably count the number of successful rescues from above 8500m on one hand and the number of deaths runs much higher so I really couldn't put myself in a position to rely on others being able to help you up there, the effort is just too great, so it was just too big a chance to take on one working leg.
I will never know if I would reached the summit and having not climbed the summit ridge I am not in a position to say I definitely would have made it. I felt strong and proved this by descending all the way down to ABC in the same day and felt I would have had a very good chance of reaching the top.
The team
Ian developed a debilitating cough and made the correct decision at 8300m camp not to attempt the summit. I don't think I have ever heard anyone cough so much and it didn't shift on return to the UK so Ian was admitted to hospital on return, at first the doctors had no idea what the problem was but finally they diagnosed Hepatitis E. The incubation period for Hepatitis is six to eight weeks and Ian thinks it is likely he picked this up from the water in Tingri. He bought a bottle of water in Tingri, opened it and drank half of it before he realised he didn't hear the click you get opening a sealed bottle of water, it had obviously been refilled locally where water hygiene is not at the same level we are used to in the UK. Incredibly unfortunate as Ian had been strong throughout the expedition.
Josh’s oxygen mask iced up and he couldn't get it working again so was forced to turn around at the start of the North East ridge. Josh was also a very strong guy and descended down to ABC the same day but just proof that a successful summit of Everest requires a certain amount of luck.
Matt Dickinson was also very sick at high camp and turned around at the first step.
Keith was forced to turn around just before the second step, he suddenly found himself enveloped in a thick cloud and couldn’t see properly. Confused by the sudden change, he asked some nearby climbers what was going on. In fact the weather was still clear, but Keith’s corneas had frozen and he was forced to descend. His vision returned on the descent.
Simon also had a crazy time, he reached the bottom of the bottom of the second step, when a Sherpa became hypoxic and delirious, removed his mask and refused to put it back on. The Sherpa, presumably convinced he was going to die, took out photos of his family, kissed them and tossed them to the wind. Simon and another Sherpa tackled him to the ground, subdued him and forcibly reapplied his oxygen mask. On hearing about this the Sherpas at ABC lined up outside the mess tent and preyed for his safe return from the mountain. Simon abandoned his summit attempt to help the Sherpa down and did a fantastic job at 7800m by getting everyone into tents and co-ordinating things there.
Nigel was really suffering from the altitude, he says he barely remembers summit day and is lucky to be alive. Geordie saw Nigel sitting at the bottom of the second step. He sat down beside him for 15 minutes. He realised Nigel was not in good shape, he was talking to his backpack, but Nigel was determined to continue.
Geordie started heading up the second step and eventually made it to above the third step exhausted but realising that there was no time left to summit turned around, turn around time is very important on summit day many of the casualties at high altitude occur when people continue to push beyond the turnaround time and get trapped on the mountain. Geordie had made a very wise decision, he is on our 2011 team and am sure he will have a really good chance this time.
Mark then found Nigel at the bottom of the second step and Nigel collapsed. Mark radioed a sherpa for assistance, Nigel regained consciousness and told Mark “I am going to die here”. Mark didn’t have a radio on him, so he took Nigel’s radio and called for a Sherpa. A Sherpa arrived and Mark continued to the second step where he turned around.
Stephen reached the top of the second step, was ready to change oxygen cylinders and discovered that he was carrying empty oxygen cylinders. There is no way of knowing whether Stephen was given empty oxygen cylinders or simply picked up the empties in his tent from the day before but whatever happened it was very unfortunate and he had to either continue without oxygen or descend, he made the wise decision to descend. Mark and Stephen are both in the 2011 team so hopefully they can both go those couple of hundred metres higher.
Congratulations to Brendan, Stu, Max, Matt and Pete who all summitted. Fantastic achievement and fully deserved. Special mention to Matt, who had developed HAPE at base camp and returned to Kathmandu for two weeks to recover, making it all the more remarkable and that is before you factor in that in the hour leading up to the summit his eyelashes froze together and he was having real difficult seeing.
Brendan descended to the first step where he found Stephen and a Bangladeshi climber (the first Bangladeshi to summit Everest). The Bangladeshi was collapsed at the bottom of the first step, they revived him, turned his oxygen up and forced some Energy gels down him and helped him down the mountain. They had undoubtedly saved his life, Brendan and Stephen were national heroes in Bangladesh after this and received a fair bit of Bangladeshi media coverage.
Stu descended down and came across Nigel, now alone again, and shuffling along the ridge inch by inch on his backside and unable to walk. Although exhausted himself, Stu fastened a sling to the back of Nigel's harness and with the assistance of Brendan and later some sherpas dragged him down the mountain to save his life.
The descent and exit
While all this going on up high I was making my way down to ABC. I have never been so dehydrated in my life and my water had completely frozen so had to resort to eating snow on a few occasions, my crampons were still a mess and I descended much of the North Ridge on one crampon. I met Ian and Josh at the North Col and stopped for some food and make some water.
We reached ABC at about 1900, all totally wiped out. Just as we were coming into ABC another body came behind us, it was Max who descended all the way from the summit - a massive effort.
Max aside, the mood back at ABC was pretty glum and then we began to hear on the radio as events at 7800m began to unfold.
It sounded absolutely crazy up there as people arrived exhausted and delirious, Stu was completely spent after his efforts in rescuing Nigel and Simon was co-ordinating getting everyone into a tent, getting water on the go etc. and did an absolutely fantastic job or some people could have been severely ill or worse. 2011 had been a tough year on Everest, there had been four fatalities, all on the North Side, and we were very relieved that none of our team were among them.
The rest of the team and descended the next day and there was talk of a second attempt for some of us but this came to nothing.
After two months on the mountain we were all keen to get to normality, Jonathan had already left and Nigel, who had developed HACE, also descended to low altitude as soon as possible to begin his recovery, he says it took him over six months to recover fully.
The rest of us descended to base camp, arranged transportation back to Kathmandu spent a couple of days there waiting for our kit to join us. As most people had had a disappointing end to the trip, the mood was pretty subdued and everyone was keen to return home although by the time I reached Kathmandu I had already decided that I had not done myself justice and would return to Everest in the future.
It is difficult to gauge how debilitating the entire trip was on my body. I hadn't lost as much weight on Everest as I had on Cho Oyu. I still lost about stone but perhaps my body is learning to cope with altitude and I had also made a conscious effort to snack a lot between meals and taken regular protein supplements to try my best to maintain body weight.
Having said that, I went for a seven mile run a couple of days after I got back to test myself out. I would have found this easy before I left but it was so much harder on my return, think I was around ten minutes slower too and it took a few weeks to get back on track. I also had trouble staying awake much past 2200 for the first couple of weeks back in the UK, probably caused by a combination of fatigue and my body readjusting itself from Everest hours which tends to involve going to sleep early.
Even though I did not make the summit the expedition was a fantastic experience and I made some great friends. Hopefully in 2011 I will go just that little bit higher.
My experience
I didn't feel as though I had taken as many fluids or food on board at 8300m as I had wanted but was mentally prepared for this. I had almost a litre of water and was hopefully carrying enough chocolate, energy bars and gels to see me through. I would need to keep my food and water supplies as close to my body as possible to try to stop them from freezing.
At about 2245 I left the tent, the first difficulty was my crampons. I was using front and rear binding crampons (on account of the problems I had encountered on Aconcagua with crampons repeatedly coming off on the descent) the problem was that these very tight fitting and when the metal contracts in the extreme cold were incredibly difficult to get onto my boots. The whole process took me over half an hour, not helped by the fact that it was too cold to operate without mittens for more than a few seconds and was very tiring but I got there in the end was ready to set off just after 2330.
I set off up towards the north east ridge with 3 cylinders of oxygen. To start with the terrain was much like the previous day, mixed snow and rock and perfectly manageable for my knee but as we approached the North East ridge there was a few more rock climbing sections and these were pretty tough on my knee and also my camera as the photo below illustrates!!
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| Climbing up to the North East ridge |
I continued along the ridge passing dead bodies, even though I was expecting this it was a really weird experience the one in the photo below is Green Boots who died in 1996 and despite having lain there for 14 years was so well preserved that it just looked like he had just laid down for a sleep.
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| Green boots on the North East Ridge |
I reached a rock wall at about 0400 in the morning, the altitude was showing around 8650m on my watch, and tried to climb up but the technical section required me to lever off my knee and while I tried to work my way up using a different method it just wasn't possible and trying to lever off my knee was extremely painful. I sat at the bottom of the wall to rest, think things through, my knee was very sore and looking down an 8000 foot drop was slightly sobering, I tried a couple more times but couldn't find a way up without endured severe pain in my knee so I had to make the decision, did I risk it all and go for it or did I turn around.
I had been on the mountain for nearly two months and was about three hours from the top of the world but with my knee, crampon problems and lost climbing mitten it seemed that everything was conspiring against me today. It did feel like a real life or death decision, I decided that it was just too risky to continue on one leg and the most sensible thing to do was make sure I got down in one piece and turn around, after all the mountain would still be here in the future and just wanted to make sure I was.
I still felt strong but realised that if I managed to get over the wall I still had to get down and had no idea how my knee would be if I put too much pressure on it, while I wasn't carrying a full pack I was still carrying three oxygen cylinders at 4 kg each and so my pack itself was still over 15kg (well over 20kg when you factor in my down kit and boots which would be around an extra 33% body weight for me).
While I was obviously incredibly disappointed not to make the summit. I was very pleased with myself for making a rational decision at over 8500m above sea level. There will be no way of knowing whether I made the correct decision and, trust me, I have thought about it a lot. Had I been in the same position at 6000m or even 7000m I would have continued but you can probably count the number of successful rescues from above 8500m on one hand and the number of deaths runs much higher so I really couldn't put myself in a position to rely on others being able to help you up there, the effort is just too great, so it was just too big a chance to take on one working leg.
I will never know if I would reached the summit and having not climbed the summit ridge I am not in a position to say I definitely would have made it. I felt strong and proved this by descending all the way down to ABC in the same day and felt I would have had a very good chance of reaching the top.
The team
Ian developed a debilitating cough and made the correct decision at 8300m camp not to attempt the summit. I don't think I have ever heard anyone cough so much and it didn't shift on return to the UK so Ian was admitted to hospital on return, at first the doctors had no idea what the problem was but finally they diagnosed Hepatitis E. The incubation period for Hepatitis is six to eight weeks and Ian thinks it is likely he picked this up from the water in Tingri. He bought a bottle of water in Tingri, opened it and drank half of it before he realised he didn't hear the click you get opening a sealed bottle of water, it had obviously been refilled locally where water hygiene is not at the same level we are used to in the UK. Incredibly unfortunate as Ian had been strong throughout the expedition.
Josh’s oxygen mask iced up and he couldn't get it working again so was forced to turn around at the start of the North East ridge. Josh was also a very strong guy and descended down to ABC the same day but just proof that a successful summit of Everest requires a certain amount of luck.
Matt Dickinson was also very sick at high camp and turned around at the first step.
Keith was forced to turn around just before the second step, he suddenly found himself enveloped in a thick cloud and couldn’t see properly. Confused by the sudden change, he asked some nearby climbers what was going on. In fact the weather was still clear, but Keith’s corneas had frozen and he was forced to descend. His vision returned on the descent.
Simon also had a crazy time, he reached the bottom of the bottom of the second step, when a Sherpa became hypoxic and delirious, removed his mask and refused to put it back on. The Sherpa, presumably convinced he was going to die, took out photos of his family, kissed them and tossed them to the wind. Simon and another Sherpa tackled him to the ground, subdued him and forcibly reapplied his oxygen mask. On hearing about this the Sherpas at ABC lined up outside the mess tent and preyed for his safe return from the mountain. Simon abandoned his summit attempt to help the Sherpa down and did a fantastic job at 7800m by getting everyone into tents and co-ordinating things there.
Nigel was really suffering from the altitude, he says he barely remembers summit day and is lucky to be alive. Geordie saw Nigel sitting at the bottom of the second step. He sat down beside him for 15 minutes. He realised Nigel was not in good shape, he was talking to his backpack, but Nigel was determined to continue.
Geordie started heading up the second step and eventually made it to above the third step exhausted but realising that there was no time left to summit turned around, turn around time is very important on summit day many of the casualties at high altitude occur when people continue to push beyond the turnaround time and get trapped on the mountain. Geordie had made a very wise decision, he is on our 2011 team and am sure he will have a really good chance this time.
Mark then found Nigel at the bottom of the second step and Nigel collapsed. Mark radioed a sherpa for assistance, Nigel regained consciousness and told Mark “I am going to die here”. Mark didn’t have a radio on him, so he took Nigel’s radio and called for a Sherpa. A Sherpa arrived and Mark continued to the second step where he turned around.
Stephen reached the top of the second step, was ready to change oxygen cylinders and discovered that he was carrying empty oxygen cylinders. There is no way of knowing whether Stephen was given empty oxygen cylinders or simply picked up the empties in his tent from the day before but whatever happened it was very unfortunate and he had to either continue without oxygen or descend, he made the wise decision to descend. Mark and Stephen are both in the 2011 team so hopefully they can both go those couple of hundred metres higher.
Congratulations to Brendan, Stu, Max, Matt and Pete who all summitted. Fantastic achievement and fully deserved. Special mention to Matt, who had developed HAPE at base camp and returned to Kathmandu for two weeks to recover, making it all the more remarkable and that is before you factor in that in the hour leading up to the summit his eyelashes froze together and he was having real difficult seeing.
Brendan descended to the first step where he found Stephen and a Bangladeshi climber (the first Bangladeshi to summit Everest). The Bangladeshi was collapsed at the bottom of the first step, they revived him, turned his oxygen up and forced some Energy gels down him and helped him down the mountain. They had undoubtedly saved his life, Brendan and Stephen were national heroes in Bangladesh after this and received a fair bit of Bangladeshi media coverage.
Stu descended down and came across Nigel, now alone again, and shuffling along the ridge inch by inch on his backside and unable to walk. Although exhausted himself, Stu fastened a sling to the back of Nigel's harness and with the assistance of Brendan and later some sherpas dragged him down the mountain to save his life.
The descent and exit
While all this going on up high I was making my way down to ABC. I have never been so dehydrated in my life and my water had completely frozen so had to resort to eating snow on a few occasions, my crampons were still a mess and I descended much of the North Ridge on one crampon. I met Ian and Josh at the North Col and stopped for some food and make some water.
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| Descending from camp 2 to the North Col |
Max aside, the mood back at ABC was pretty glum and then we began to hear on the radio as events at 7800m began to unfold.
It sounded absolutely crazy up there as people arrived exhausted and delirious, Stu was completely spent after his efforts in rescuing Nigel and Simon was co-ordinating getting everyone into a tent, getting water on the go etc. and did an absolutely fantastic job or some people could have been severely ill or worse. 2011 had been a tough year on Everest, there had been four fatalities, all on the North Side, and we were very relieved that none of our team were among them.
The rest of the team and descended the next day and there was talk of a second attempt for some of us but this came to nothing.
After two months on the mountain we were all keen to get to normality, Jonathan had already left and Nigel, who had developed HACE, also descended to low altitude as soon as possible to begin his recovery, he says it took him over six months to recover fully.
The rest of us descended to base camp, arranged transportation back to Kathmandu spent a couple of days there waiting for our kit to join us. As most people had had a disappointing end to the trip, the mood was pretty subdued and everyone was keen to return home although by the time I reached Kathmandu I had already decided that I had not done myself justice and would return to Everest in the future.
It is difficult to gauge how debilitating the entire trip was on my body. I hadn't lost as much weight on Everest as I had on Cho Oyu. I still lost about stone but perhaps my body is learning to cope with altitude and I had also made a conscious effort to snack a lot between meals and taken regular protein supplements to try my best to maintain body weight.
Having said that, I went for a seven mile run a couple of days after I got back to test myself out. I would have found this easy before I left but it was so much harder on my return, think I was around ten minutes slower too and it took a few weeks to get back on track. I also had trouble staying awake much past 2200 for the first couple of weeks back in the UK, probably caused by a combination of fatigue and my body readjusting itself from Everest hours which tends to involve going to sleep early.
Even though I did not make the summit the expedition was a fantastic experience and I made some great friends. Hopefully in 2011 I will go just that little bit higher.
