This is an account of Summit Day, a day that I will remember for the rest of my life.
I woke up on a damp mattress on the floor of the mess tent at 2am with the radio crackling to life and dragging me out of my light slumber,
“This is Brendan. It’s 2am and I’m just below the 1st Step”.
Progress. I breathed a sigh of relief and waited for the others to dial in for their 2am “Check In” calls so that I could monitor their progress and also update their families. They’d left High Camp (Camp 3) at 10:30 and would have already spent 3.5 climbing in the dark under the beam of the moon and their headlamps in the tropical -28 degree temperatures. Given Brendan’s location, I knew he was making good time and after braving the 1st and 2nd Steps he’d be well enroute and on-time to achieving his tremendous goal. Unfortunately no one else checked in for the 2am call which was a bit worrying but not surprising given the temperamental nature of the radios, their location on the mountain (radios out of range temporarily) and the fact that the boys’ focus would most definitely be on (1) breathing and (2)putting one carefully placed foot in front of the other... and not calling down for ‘pillow talk’ with me!!
About an hour later I woke up freezing cold in the mess tent about ready to cough up a lung and trying desperately to find some Flammol. My ribs were absolutely killing me and contemplated descending to Base Camp with Jonathan in the morning if the pain didn’t subside. Between Jonathan and myself the Mess Tent had turned into an infirmary. Fortunately Jonathan’s cough is sounding a lot better and his breathing seems more steady. He now suffers from intense bouts of coughing which brings up quite a lot of the ‘gunk’ from t’ from the throat and lungs.
The silence was broken at 5:55am with a call from Simon (sounding surprisingly calm under the circumstances..),
“Stu, come in Stu. We have a bit of a situation here... Our Sherpa is refusing to put on his oxygen mask and is becoming hypoxic. We are literally having to wrestle him to the ground to get it on him and we’re having to be really aggressive. This is not easy!! He’s just taken out Polaroid pictures of his family and started kissing them as if to say, “good bye”. We really need some help here.” Commotion in the background then followed as Simon shouted at the Sherpa to put on his mask again.
A hypoxic Sherpa, given they are strong as work horses, would definitely be a problem and it sounded like he was in serious trouble. I didn’t even want to think about what the conditions up at 8600m would be like trying to manage both my own well being and that of a hypoxic Sherpa. A typical sign of hypoxia is aggression and confusion.
Fortunately Bohlle had been listening and was on the radio quite quickly trying to track down the other Sherpas on the team to see who was closest to the Sherpa who had fallen ill. I can’t quite describe the chaos that ensued over the radio but there was a huge amount of Nepali-radio traffic going back and forth between the Sherpas. I knew it had to be serious because the voices became increasingly more frantic, loud and emotional. After about 20 minutes (but felt like an eternity) I was able to understand that Sherpas had arrived to Simon’s aid to help with the hypoxic Sherpa.... but I was also able to understand that the situation was very serious as all of the Sherpas and staff remaining in the comms and kitchen tent left their tents to get out and pray loudly in front of the Mess Tent.
Jonathan and I just looked at each other and wondered what on earth else we’d be in for during the hours ahead.... I decided that getting up was the best course of action and assumed my position in the Comms tent next to Bohlle.
At about 6:45am the radio crackled again,
“Hi Stu, it’s Stephen. I’m at the bottom of the 2nd Step – is it ok to go up?” I’d assumed that Stephen had heard the commotion on the radio about the Sherpa and wanted to confirm that it was ok to continue.
About 1.5 hours later, 8am, Stephen came on the radio again, this time sounding significantly more anxious;
“It’s Stephen here at the top of the 2nd Step. I’ve just climbed the Step and have reached the top but I have 2 empty cylinders of oxygen that I thought were full! Can someone please get a Sherpa to get me some oxygen up here?”
There was a lot of chatter which ensued on the radio. I could imagine that the Sherpas were trying to re-align themselves now that 2 Sherpas had gone down with the hypoxic Sherpa and were now either at 8300m or making their way back up the mountain to the team which seemed to be between 8600m – 8700m. It’s strange that 100 metres can have such a ‘gap’ but even to walk those 100 metres, AND navigate the 1st and 2nd Step requires super-human efforts and an incredible amount of energy and focus. For a Sherpa to get down to 8300m and then back up and then up the 2nd Step would take hours. The only hope was that there was a Sherpa nearby – either at the bottom of the 2nd Step or even coming down from near the Summit Pyramid. Stephen was, at this time, still about 2.5 hours away from the summit.
Given the time, some of the team should have already summated but this was unconfirmed as the radio was completely silent from other members of the team. I knew that given Brendan’s location at 2am, he would likely have reached the summit by now but assumed that he’d had problems with the radio.
Jonathan and I sat in the Mess Tent and ate breakfast whilst glued to the radios. Stephen had been on the radio an additional 2-times radioing for an update on where the Sherpas were with additional oxygen to replace the empty cylinders. He had also started to complain of the cold – one of the initial symptoms of lack of oxygen. I knew something had to be done and quickly.
From my vantage point, it was extremely difficult to get involved and it felt incredibly frustrating to feel so ‘helpless’ that, restricted by language and location, I could not do more. I pushed Bohlle to put pressure on the Sherpas but they were also dealing with their own limitations on the mountain and it was hard to pinpoint where they all were. I felt terribly for Stephen can could only imagine what he was going through effectively ‘stuck’ at the top of the 2nd Step with the Summit seemingly close enough to reach.
Comms continued to be exchanged between Bohlle and the Sherpas on the mountain. In the meantime, Jonathan had packed up his things along with an extra cylinder of oxygen and was preparing to head down to BaseCamp in order to catch his jeep to the Tibetan / Nepali border tomorrow morning. It was extremely difficult to see Jonathan go – he is such a lovely guy and has been an integral part of the team from Day 1 infusing it with his fantastic laugh and sense of humour, positive attitude, and also strength. Physically, he’d always been one of the stronger climbers and it would certainly be a shock to the rest of the team to find him gone. Hopefully we’ll all have the opportunity to catch up with him in Kathmandu for the celebrations in a few days time.
There were a few hours between 10am and 1pm where there was effective radio silence from the team.
At around 11am we received some absolutely fantastic news – Brendan, Matt and Pete had all summated along with Stu and 3 sherpas!!! They’d summated at around 8am so were already 3-hours into a long and treacherous descent. The weather still seemed relatively clear so I remained optimistic....
I am soooo incredibly happy for them! Brendan has always been strong but had battled with a horrendous cough during the last few days of BaseCamp. Pete had always been strong as well as demonstrated during our 4-days on the North Col. Matt is a completely different success story as a few short weeks ago he was in a hospital in Kathmandu being told that his Everest Experience had come to an end because of his HAPE diagnosis..... little did they doctors in ”Kathmandu General” know the depth of Matt’s determination and strength. What I genuinely love about the Pete / Matt achievement is that they did it together, fully as a team in ‘military precision’... and that no matter how the cards seemed to be stacked against them they still stuck with their dream and persevered. Finally, Stu! This was Stu’s 3rd time standing on the Roof of the World – another tremendous achievement and no doubt he’ll be up there again in the future. I wondered if he brought the yellow-rubber duck up there with him?! Whilst I celebrated in their success I genuinely looked forward to their safe return to ABC and wondered whether there were any others who had reached heir 8848 goal.
I had some very broken radio contact from Stu at around 11:15 indicating that he’d last seen Geordie heading up past the 2nd Step about an hour before. It sounded promising however it was so late in the morning that Geordie was really going to have to move fast to make it to 8848 in time for the ‘cut off’ time. Plus, I recalled that Geordie had been battling with a horrendous throat infection and was not up to his usual strength. Normally he would have steamed up those last few metres. I prayed for his success and that he’d be ok.
At around 1:30pm my radio came to life once again with an update from Brendan asking me to arrange urgent Sherpa support with Bohlle for Nigel who had been found suffering from hypoxia and a suspected case of cerebral oedema, collapsed just below the 2nd Step. Nigel was unable to walk, was delirious, and Stu had managed to get him to 8400m but could not go on. Brendan indicated that Stu was also suffering from exhaustion AND that they had found a climber from another team who was also injured and in need of help. Stephen was with them as well. Brendan and Stephen reported that the injured climber was unable to walk and that they had given him their remaining food and water. What a mess – at least 5-injured / exhausted climbers at 8400m needing significant support.
Bohlle and I quickly tried to get in touch with the Sherpas who were scattered between 8750m and 8300m and we were able to get 2- Sherpas down to them within 25 minutes. Not an ideal time-frame given the severity of the situation however the Sherpas were also suffering from stomach ailments, hydration and exhaustion. I had to remind myself that although I imagine them as machines, they were likely as exhausted as everyone else and also had physical limitations of their own. I wished I was able to do more other than pray that they would hurry.
The Sherpa, Sonam was the first to arrive at the scene and he quickly called for Neru, his brother, to assist. Unfortunately both were suffering from dehydration and severe stomach cramps but stepped in to help Nigel and the rest of the team to the relative safety of 8300m.
I felt comfort in the fact that I knew that at least Brendan, Stu, Nigel and Stephen were at 8300m. I assumed that Pete and Matt were there by now as well as Simon. I had not heard a thing from Max, Keith, Josh, Geordie, Andrew, Mark and Matt D and wondered where they were on the mountain. Ian had also gone quiet but I suspected that based upon a radio-call I’d overheard the previous day regarding the state of his cough / chest infection that he’d decided to stay at 8300m and not make the summit attempt. He sounded absolutely dreadful so I think that it was an extremely wise move as difficult as I am certain that it must have been.
A few minutes later Josh radioed in –he sounded strong and indicated that he’d been forced to turn back just before the summit as his mask had broken and had descended to 8300m without oxygen!? I was shocked as Josh was a strong climber and could imagine how devastated he was especially since it was an equipment failure rather than a limitation of his physical ability. He wanted to know where Stu was so that he could talk to Stu about making another summit attempt. If another attempt was not possible, Josh would descend from 8300m to ABC. Josh also asked whether I had heard from Keith –I indicated that I hadn’t – and we wondered where he might be.
Brendan who had been listening to the radio exchange answered on Stu’s behalf and indicated that another attempt at the summit was not possible and that Josh was best to get out of the Death Zone and descend. Again, disappointing news. Josh indicated that he’d be down at ABC that evening. I could only imagine the state he’d be in with the 1800m descent AFTER his summit attempt!!
News came through at around 3pm that Max had also summated earlier that morning..! Hoooray!! I was so incredibly pleased for Max. He completely deserved it and had worked incredibly hard from day 1 for the achievement. As the youngest member of the team, it was a testament to his perseverance and strong mental attitude.
Simon radioed in shortly thereafter to check in that he’d reached Camp 2 at 7800m and was going to spend the night there rather than descend to ABC. He offered to boil water and start getting things set up for others who were due to spend the night at 7800m. Given the conversations I’d had with Brendan earlier I could only begin to imagine how absolutely exhausted, hungry and dehydrated they would be. Unfortunately, because of the lack of contact from the rest of the team I was unable to confirm to Simon how many people would be descending to 7800m. Annoyingly, there is some sort of rock buttress that limits the radio coverage between ABC and Camp 3. I knew that there were a number of people at Camp 3 but I was unable to confirm that they would be coming down, or, more importantly, what state they’d be in.
A few minutes later there was a knock at my tent and Ganu indicated that a climber was coming down to ABC. I stuck my head outside and saw one of Montenegrens dressed head to toe in down. I’d heard earlier that the team had all summated making them the 1st Montenegrins to ever climb Everest! I was elated for them and ran outside to give him a huge hug. Unfortunately he didn’t expect it nearly fell over onto the sharp scree. Oops!
I sat outside the Mess Tent watching the upper slopes of the scree waiting for Josh to appear. When I saw the silhouette of his puffy red down Millet suit and characteristic ‘exhausted’ walk (take two steps, fall over, take two steps, fall over) I ran up the scree to help him down. Josh seems to have lost about 1/3 of his bodyweight and he still managed to nearly crush me as he gave me a huge hug and seemingly collapsed in my arms. I tried to help him down the scree slope and into the Mess Tent. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so exhausted – totally understandable since the total time from leaving the tent for the summit push to his arrival in ABC took 19 hours. He walked into the tent and basically collapsed onto one of the foam mattresses. I quickly shoved two nalgene bottles with boiling water into his jacket, took off his boots and dug his sleeping bag out of his rucksack. Josh was propped up, relaxed and rehydrating a short few minutes later as he began to recount the events which had unfolded on the mountain earlier that day.
At about 5:15pm the Mess-Tent door whipped open and a fully-down-clad Max appeared, took two steps into the Mess Tent and collapsed dramatically, face-first into the 2nd mattress. I wasn’t sure whether he’d fainted or whether he was just exhausted so I went through the same routine as with Josh, getting his wet (sweaty!) boots off ASAP, giving him water etc. Max was exhausted but elated given his achievement and Josh set up his satellite phone so that Max could make the call home to his parents and tell them that he had arrived at ABC, safe and sound after an epic summit and journey down. Even in his dehydrated state Max still declined a beer..!
At around 6pm, Andrew and Ian arrived, also looking (and sounding) worse for wear. Ian’s cough was the worst I’d ever heard – his decision not to attempt the summit and stay at 8300m had been the right one. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how rough he felt. Andrew was also absolutely wiped out. Unfortunately his summit attempt had been thwarted by a twisted knee that he’d sustained just above 7800m. He continued on with the twisted knee but turned back as he realised that whilst the summit might have been feasible, the journey down with the injury could have been fatal. An extremely tough decision as I know how much Andrew wanted and deserved to be up there but sometimes the best decisions and the right decisions are the toughest ones.
There were a few radio exchanges with Simon over the course of the next few hours and Matt, Pete and Geordie also radioed in at around 5pm to say that they were leaving the camp at 8300m to descend to 7800m. The wind had started to pick up and snow had begun to fall on ABC so I wondered if their decision had been based on the deteriorating weather conditions. Matt sounded extremely strong – maybe the use of the radio is part of the Navy training?!
It had been a very long day and, as Ganu served up a lovely chicken dinner (at Joshs’ request) we all breathed a sigh of relief that it was nearly over ...
Or so we thought.....
Simon radioed in to ask me to relay the message to Matt, Pete and Geordie that the empty tents at Camp 2 were at the top end of the camp. Staying there would save them trying to find empty tents lower down and a potential trip back up. I wasn’t able to reach the boys but hoped that they’d heard my radio calls relaying this information. Whilst I hadn’t been to C2, I had seen photos – the camp is on an extremely steep slope and the tents are perched precariously on the scree slopes. Even stepping outside to use the ‘toilet’ is a feat which will send the heart racing. Because our team is so big, we need a lot of tent-real estate... meaning that the tents will inevitably be completely spread out. I imagined that the other teams on the mountain had also continued to use the similar Ozark tents as we had making it nearly impossible to differentiate our tents from those belonging to other teams.
Simon then radioed again indicating that Stu and Nigel had appeared at the camp. Nigel was suffering from a severe case of HACE (cerebral oedema - swelling of the brain tissue from fluid leakage) and was more or less incoherent and in need of constant supervision and care (eg. he couldn’t remember what his sleeping bag or rucksack were used for or how to use them). Simon confirmed the Keith was at Camp 2 (yaaa – we finally found him!) and there was room for Nigel in Keiths’ tent. Keith then took care of Nigel for the rest of the night. Stu was dehydrated and hypoxic so Simon gave him some liquids and began a search for an empty tent...
About 20 minutes later I received a call from Matt indicating that they had reached 7800m, could not find the tents and were down by Simon’s tent. They were cold, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration and Geordie had collapsed... Plus the snow was getting worse and the temperatures were dropping rapidly.
I ran to the kitchen to find Bohlle to call the Sherpas to find them an empty tent... unfortunately the Sherpas didn’t know where Simon’s tent was so through some signalling with flashlights they were able to track each other down.... unfortunately this took an additional 20 minutes. I also indicated to the Sherpas that some of the gas stoves were missing and the gas was running low and that these needed to be filled asap.
The snow was coming down harder and Simon radioed to let me know that Geordie had turned into a snowman and was becomingly increasingly unresponsive. I felt absolutely helpless as I knew the Sherpa was on his way and didn’t know what else I could do – Simon’s very calm and logical way of managing the situation certainly helped things run more smoothly. Fortunately the Sherpa finally arrived and was able to lead everyone to empty tents. I was sure that everyone was now safe or at least in a tent with facilities available to boil water, make food and sleep...! I was extremely thankful for Simon’s help at 7800m – between the two of us we managed to avoid a situation which shouldn’t have happened to begin with. The only person I had left to worry about was Stephen who had decided to stay at 8300m in the hope that he could potentially summit with Big Gav and the SummitClimb team. Spending another night in the Death Zone could definitely not have been comfortable and I prayed that he’d be ok.
I crawled into my tent emotionally exhausted and wondered what tomorrow would have in store. At least the infamous ‘Summit Day’ was finally (nearly!) over and everyone was safe. More than anything, I am looking forward to being down in Kathmandu enjoying a beer with the boys with everyone safe and sound.
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A HUGE congratulations to Matt, Pete, Brendan, Max and Stu (3rd summit!!) on their amazing achievements! 8848 - wahooo!!!! Well done guys - you totally deserve it and I am so incredibly happy for you...! Now get down safely please - and that's an order!!!
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