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Byron's Climb Diaries, 1998In the spring of 1998 Byron Smith set out to climb Mount Everest as the only Canadian member of a British commercial expedition. After reaching the South Summit of Mt. Everest, within 80 m (270 ft) or 45 minutes of his goal, he and the rest of the climbers on the mountain were forced to turn back because the Sherpas fixing the route to the top had miscalulated the amount of rope needed. Below is the story of the climb, in the form of a diary Byron kept for his own website in 1998. The travelogue begins March 21, 1998 and ends May 20, 1998. Arrive in Nepal | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end March 21, 1998 We stayed at the Ramada Plaza about 10 minutes from the Car rental agency. John went out to dinner and I stayed and got the computer email working after about 3 hours, it was frustrating because I had to keep calling Jason and try to work through the problem, then I went and worked out for an hour and had dinner in the room. In the morning we got it all sorted out and I was able to send emails, thank god.
March, 21, 1998 We toured three Temples:
March 24th We were greeted after going through customs (that was a time consuming government affair, at one point there was a long line up behind me and when I finally got up to the collection of custom agents I looked behind and there was no one else around). It went very smooth for me to get my Nepal visa and I must remember to recoup my extra money I spent on a 60 day permit from HKE. We were met by Stuart from Summit Trekking outside the airport and he got a nice white van take us and the luggage to the Summit Hotel out on the outskirts of the city. What a culture shock from a pollution standpoint it made Bangkok look very clean. The van took us through streets that had people, sewage, animals etc. The air actually irritated the nose and throat and the van drove at speeds narrowly missing people, cars, buses animals etc. Large plumes of black dirty grime came out of every vehicle we passed so you didn't want to open a window. Temperature was about 70 degrees with the sun shining. We went up various winding roads and streets which are not named and finally arrived at our Hotel. The property is Danish-owned but it has a British flavor with a large open courtyard. David Walsh, our expedition leader, came and introduced himself to us and gave us the room key. We met a few of the others and waited until later for the others to arrive. We did the usual first time meeting formalities and talked for some time. The next day we went over our technical equipment and packed our gear for the flight to Lukla the next day. John, Josie, Rob and I went down town to each look for different things. I went to find longer crampon straps but after an hour and only finding two narrow webbing I left the polluted section called Thamel (which is also the tourist and equipment section) then I found a taxi and had a harry ride back to the Hotel. I continued to pack my gear up as we had to separate into Basecamp and trekking gear. The basecamp gear of course going straight through and our trekking gear going on porters with us on our acclimatization trek to Basecamp. Top | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
March 26th About 35 minutes into the flight we saw the airstrip which is carved into the mountainside at 2,860 metres. The airstrip is 60 metres higher at the top and there is no over shoot, so you are committed when you are on short final. As we got off the helicopter it was swarmed with porters who are jostling to unload the gear. We went to a lodge named "Yeti" just off the gravel airstrip for lunch prior to setting off for Phakding (2,610 metres) a two hour and a half walk away where we would spend the night. I had a pancake which was the size of a thin 6 inch disc, very disappointing. It was interesting watching our Sirdar Pemma arrange the loads for the porters into 70 lb loads. We left shortly after noon, descending gradually, passing the large village of Chaunrika and on through smaller villages, fields and forests. We stopped for a break at Thado Koshi, a nice setting above a stream and bridge. We stopped for the night at Phakding in the "International Trekking Guest House." The lodge is built from sculpted rock and had very clean toilets, and rooms. All during the day we would see porters carrying heavy loads with a strap on their head.
March 27 We passed the water-turned prayer wheels and headed up into town and stopped at the Khumbu Lodge. This is a very famous lodge owned by Pasang Kami "PK" a Sherpa who climbed Annapurna in 1974. The lodge has posters from various expeditions from over the years like David Breashears who stayed here in 1983 when he guided Dick Bass to the summit and also stayed here 4 more times. Jimmy Carter (has a room named after him)has stayed here as well as Robert Redford and many others. The daughter Nawang went to school in Prince Albert Saskatchewan and received her Dental Therapy Diploma. We stayed in a dorm setting for the night with a promise of an upgrade the next day. We all gathered in the dining/lounge for food and warm drink. I had a shower in a setting right out of a Turkish prison prior to bed.
March 28
March 29 We will go on to Machermo for a night and then on to Gokyo for two nights before heading back down stopping in Phortse for the night and cutting over to the trek to Everest Basecamp, stopping in Pangboche, Dingboche for two nights then Lobuche and onto Basecamp. Outside there are two people who have brought up on a long pole an industrial food mixer for one of the lodges. On our way up we saw the pole and mixer on the side of the trail but no porter in sight. I had a good meal of hash brown potato and Tibetan bread. The hash brown is a large piece about 5 in long 4 wide and 1 1/2 high and tastes quite good with ketchup, the Tibetan bread is a flat piece fried in Yak oil and it is sweet. I went to bed at 9:30 pm after getting my water bottle filled up with hot water, I put the bottle in my sleeping bag and had a great sleep. The lodge we are at is a nice place, clean and good food on the whole.
March 30 I then walked back to the lodge passing by the Hillary School which he founded in 1960. There are quite a few stone buildings with one wooden. I went back to the lodge to charge my computer batteries which took 1 hour 45 minutes. David Callaway the physicist from New York and I went to the highest bakery in the world about 5 minutes away where I had a cinnamon roll and a piece of apple pie. They were quite good really. The Sherpa showed me the big oven and mixers in another building and I found the Mixer that we had seen on the way up, it was for him. Steve Goodwin and I went to another lodge that had a fax so he could send out his story. We met up with a bunch of Canadians doing some work for Khumjung people (they were to be there another 3 weeks). Mark the teacher told me that the hospital in Khunde had email capability so I immediately left to go back and get my computer and head up, a 25 minute walk away with Sundeep our team doctor. I introduced myself to Sue Heydon (husband John) and she invited us in. I hooked up my computer but I couldn't get a line out, we even tried it on her computer. She let me write an email to Jamie and Zach but when I tried to send it I couldn't get a line, so she told me she would keep trying to send it. She told me about the Canadian team from last year and that she remembers Dave Rodney and that she has regular correspondence with Jamie Clark who got married there last year. When we left at close to 6 PM we were treated to the most spectacular sight. The clouds had cleared and we had a clear view of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, and Kentaga, very special. When we got back we ordered supper and talked then went to bed at 9 ish.
March 31 We had great views the whole way of the big Himalayan giants, and looking back towards Namche Bazaar and Khumjung was magnificent. At the top of Tengboche is a famous monastery which we toured and took pictures, but the biggest sight was Mount Everest way off in the distance. This is what I had come to climb the big one. You could see Nuptse, Lhotse, and the summit of Everest with the SE ridge from the Balcony on up. After an hour we headed on down to Deboche and our lodge Ama Dablam Gardens. I had a shower and ate. The owners have a very cute little girl who can't be much older than 3 or four who liked to entertain us. She has a Canadian Flag pin on her sweater and I showed her mine. I am feeling really good and am drinking lots of fluids as well as eating lots, today I have a lot of gas for some reason. I also took some good video today of the mountains, Yaks and surrounding area. We have another 7 days or so before we get to base camp, and I hope the living conditions don't get me sick before then. I miss Jamie and Zach and think about them often. We got the sat phone back today but it still won't accept an email, this is a big joke as the phone should have been tested out prior to coming to Nepal. I guess I could use one of the other teams email once I get to Basecamp, Tom Whittaker is a friend of Laurie Skreslet and they have email for sure with Everest Online.
April 1 Some of the people stopped in Tsura for lunch while Steve Goodwin, Dave Walsh (our expedition leader) and I went ahead to the Snow Lion Lodge in Dingboche (4,480 metres). We had spectacular views of Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Nupste, Tawoche, Cholatse, Island Peak all in a clear sunny day. The lodge is new (opened for two weeks) and very clean with the best menu and meals since Bangkok. It is owned by the same people in Namche Bazaar at the Khumbu Lodge ("PK" Nawang). We will probably use this lodge for our rest stop before heading for the summit once we have established all the camps and fully acclimatized. I am going to try to email or fax my diary to Jamie and Zach and the Calgary Sun tomorrow at the Hospital here in Dingboche. We will take a hike up a ridge tomorrow to help further our acclimatization. I called Jamie and Zachary [wife and then eight-year-old son] tonight on the sat phone, it was so nice to here their voices. Zachary told me about his new bike and that he is getting performance pegs for it. Jamie, Zach, Monique, Natasha, and Laurie are going to either Hawaii or LA. Arrive in Nepal | Top | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
April 2
April 3
April 4 From here we followed the small valley and stream bed on the left side of the moraine wall. Lobuche is tucked in a sheltered corner of the Lobuche Glacier at the base of Mount Lobuche. There are a few lodges here which provide very basic accommodation and food. We went up a valley and to the left to a new Lodge which is off the beaten track up towards Lobuche Mountain. It is at the Italian research station and they have built on a whole compliment of rooms, shower, toilet etc. It has power for all the rooms and is very clean. All the lodges have been better than what I expected from anything I have read. This may be because of our desire not to stay in any lodge that is known to be dirty or have an unclean reputation. The research station is a pyramid shape glassed structure which has an abundance of solar panels on the sides and is full of testing equipment had a quick tour of the three level structure and it is equipped with three VO2 Max bikes plus the accompanied equipment, VCR, shower, toilet , sat phone etc. The pyramid structure has been around since it was built in 1990/91.
April 5
APRIL 9
April 10
Our upper camps will be well stocked with food that is quite palatable, like deserts of puddings, cakes, fruit, breakfast of powdered eggs, sausage and hash browns, lunch and dinner of chicken, beans and sausage, steak, etc., all boil in the bag food. We set up the 30 ft antenna so our radio calls will be heard from all camps higher up the mountain. The Sherpas helped level off some rocky ground to set up another tent for storage, it is quite the site watching them work with the rocks, they are great craftsmen. The nights have been windy, up at camp one the Singaporean tents were just about flattened and it was quite cold. Camp II has not been established yet but will have loads taken up tomorrow. I met Lapka Tshering a Sherpa at the Tom Whittaker American camp, he was one of the Sherpas who was with the 1982 Canadian Team, he summitted with Pat Morrow (the 2nd Canadian to climb Mount Everest), he also summitted last year with Jamie Clark of the Canadian Team. That is a span of 15 years between summits. All around us are Sherpas who have summitted this mountain, they deserve most of the credit for anyone reaching the top, they are unsung heroes in the Himalayan Mountains. We have 9 Sherpas on our team. Together they have reached the top about 10 times.
April 11 Up here there is no room for errors, you must always be alert a mistake could mean your life. Jim Williams showed me where Wally Berg, an American and one of the most experienced guides on Everest, in 1995 or 96, fell into a crevasse on his way down, and fell 100 feet to the bottom. He just about died from his injuries and probably would have if he had been higher up in the icefall, he didn't clip into a fixed line and when he tripped he had nothing to stop the fall. After we came out of the icefall and had lunch I went over to the American site and was able to email and retrieve, it was great getting 16 emails, from my son Zachary and wife Jamie to friends from all over. It is nice in this day and age to be half way around the world and still have communication. I even have received emails from Edgemont School in Calgary. If you can picture this, I am in the mess tent typing this out, I am beside a heater and 5 of our team are playing a friendly game of cards. I was just called out to look at the full moon lighting up the icefall, it's times like this that I wish I was a better photographer. Tomorrow is the Puja which will start at around 10.am and will last about 2 hrs, this is a very important part of the climbing Sherpas' religion and as I have spoken to a lot of people around the camps, they are strong believers in the blessing as well. I will be able to give a better account after tomorrow. Well it's off to bed.
April 12
April 13 The sun is shining but it is windy here at the moment. For breakfast we had pancakes (unfortunately we don't have syrup) and boiled eggs, porridge and drinks. As I was leaving to go to the American tent, a large avalanche in the Icefall occurred, pretty awesome to see, it didn't cross the route we take at all. You wouldn't believe how the little things like taking a shower can change your attitude, I felt like a new man.
April 14 SHERPAS SUMMITTED:
Here is a list of elevations on our trek into Basecamp and our camps etc.
We left at 6:30 a.m. to head for Camp I above the icefall, the Sherpas had left 1 hour prior to carry loads up to Camp I and Camp II. We left together but soon it was apparent that some members were quite slow, the team leader David Walsh had me lead on and finally after 3/4 of an hour realized I was faster than anyone else, he told me to just carry on and he would see me at Camp I. The icefall has ladders across crevasses and up tall vertical ice blocks, up to 4 ladders high going up or the longest across a crevasse was two ladders. There is a lot of fixed rope which is fixed (or anchored) into the ice by an ice screw. It is quite amazing that the blocks of ice some 200 ft high did not fall as I passed underneath following the route up. You want to move as quickly and safety as possible and not stop to admire the surrounding beauty too much until you are in a safe area to do so. I took 3 rolls of film with about 1 hour and 10 minutes of video footage along the way. I felt extremely strong and fit on the way up through the icefall and very confident in my mountaineering ability to solo through it on my first time. About 3/4 of the way up you could see where the route had collapsed about five days earlier. Crossing the ladders is actually very easy, there is a fixed rope on either side which you clip into (from your harness you have two pieces of webbing attached to a caribiner at each end) you pull up on the rope and with your balance walk across making sure your crampons are touching the rungs of the ladder so you don't get tripped up or have your foot fall through. The ladders will flex under your weight as you cross so you just match the movement with your own. The higher you go the less oxygen you have so it is very important to never get out of breath, I felt so at ease with the climb and I must say Fitness is outstanding, to the point that the other expedition members are constantly talking about how strong and fit I am. Very near the top there is a vertical pitch, with a bit of an overhang of about 30 feet where you have to use your ascender (or Jumar) to get up it. I stood here and shot a lot of footage of Sherpas descending down that pitch and of surrounding beauty in the icefall. A few minutes later I met up with our Sherpas who had rappelled down the vertical overhang, and took some pictures of them. They were all very excited to see me and everyone of them told me as they passed by that I am a very strong climber, the strongest one they have seen on the mountain, that made me feel very good about myself. Nima the assistant head Sherpa had told me that the Sherpas had all told him that I am the fittest and strongest of all the team and that I will be the one to get to the top. It's funny because around camp I would see them looking at me and talking and pointing at my legs, Nima told me that they were saying how big and strong my legs are. The wind was really howling at this point up near the top of the icefall and my fingers were getting cold from shooting video so I packed the video camera in my pack and went up to the vertical overhang. I had caught up to 5 Iranians from the Iranian Expedition who had left 2 hours before me and I had to wait for them to ascend up the overhang before I could go, so I brought out the video camera again and filmed them. Finally it was my turn and I clipped my Pretzel ascender into one of the four ropes hanging down and clipped a carabiner onto another rope for a safety backup. I got up the wall of ice and looked down on an amazing scene, the icefall is truly spectacular with all the shapes, sizes and shading from the sun. Here I was on top of the icefall that I had read and heard so much about, many people have lost their lives in this constant moving river of ice and I felt very fortunate to be able to look down on this as a great experience. After a short rise is the normal Camp I which had tents from three different teams set up, Henry Todd's team, Tom Whittaker's team and the Singaporean team. Our Camp I is another 40 minutes past this site and it starts to flatten out compared to what I had just come up, just picture a water fall and now at the top you still have water coming down but not as steep. There is still fixed rope that you clip into because of the hidden crevasses which you are or could be walking on. The sun was shinning and the Shoulders of the West Ridge and Nupste were staring me in the face. I have seen a lot of photos and film footage of this area and it was nice to see it all come together. I came to a large crevasse which had two ladders across it and on the other side were 7 tents, I crossed the ladders and arrived at what I thought was our camp of 7 tents and poked my head into one and I saw a sleeping bag which had our expedition name on it, yes it was ours. I took some pictures of the area and then went to find the tent which had some of my equipment which the Sherpas had brought up. I took off some of my gear and realized I had not had any liquid all morning, I took out a one Lt. water bottle which I had filled with hot water early in the morning and sat back and drank it all. I organized the tent with my gear as I knew I would be sharing it with Steve Goodwin. I waited for about 2 1/2 hours for the next person to arrive who was David Walsh our expedition leader he said the others were a long way away. I just relaxed and video'd him coming across the ladders. The last member arrived after 8 plus hours in the icefall, sun burnt and exhausted. The camp is at 19,900 ft about 500 ft higher than the normal Camp I . We all got into our own space, I went into the tent and just relaxed and got the stove fired up to melt water, more water and then lots of water. To help you to acclimatize you want to drink as much water as necessary to keep your urine clear. It cooled off quick as the sun went down at around 6 PM, we all did our own thing, I melted more water and cooked up boil in the bag food, which is very good and tasty. Tomorrow some of us are going to go up into the Western Cwm. Rob Owen gave me a small piece of cheese for my birthday, I read all the cards Jamie and my family had sent along, I settled down to a night of wandering thoughts. As I looked at it I could invision myself climbing up all of the camps and on to the summit, this is what I have come to do, Climb Mount Everest. I took lots of pictures and video footage of the area, ate and drank some fluid and headed back to Camp I for another night of acclimatization. Tomorrow we will head back to Basecamp and rest. I had a good sleep, the temperature in the tent got to -10 c. Arrive in Nepal | April 1 | Top | April 17, climb plan | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
April 16 It was very hot and as I was filming at times when ever I put my head down my glasses would fog up. At one point I heard an avalanche in the icefall somewhere but could not see a thing. I got down to Basecamp and told the cook to get lots of hot water and food ready for the rest of the team members, I went to my tent and took off my gear and had some food back at the mess tent. About 2 hours later some of the team started to trickle in, too long in the icefall in the day's heat, that is when the ice can shift the most. I ate and went to my tent and read and listened to music, I will email Jamie and Zachary tomorrow plus the Calgary Sun and others. I really do appreciate the emails I get from everyone around, it sure adds to my day, thank you to all the interested people out there.
April 17 Wow 24 emails I received today, thank you very much. We are going to stay down in Basecamp for about 3 or 4 days before we go up to Camp II. We will be at Camp II for about 4 days to further acclimatize. Some of us will go up one day to Camp III on the Lhotse face and come back down to Camp II. When we are done this we will all come down to Basecamp for a day then down the valley to Dingboche ... Dingboche is at 14,000 ft and we will rest up for three days before taking two days to come back to Basecamp. We will be eating and resting and breathing thicker air before our ascent of Mount Everest. We hope to begin our assault in the next 3 weeks depending on the weather of course. Yes I might be home in the 3rd week of May. So here is a bit of a schedule:
Arrive in Nepal | April 1 | List of expeditions and elevations | Top | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
April 19 I had a great sleep and woke up at about 6:30 a.m. thinking about the summit of Mount Everest and how I will be standing there in a short period of time. After breakfast (boiled eggs, pancakes, porridge, and drinks) I went over to camp America to see if I had any emails. I had a couple and I sent the diary to the Sun and various people. My dad sent a nice long one in which he talked about my persistent personality from over the years, I guess how I hate to lose at things. I must say when you are alone in your tent at night you have time to reflect on your past, and on your future. We checked over our oxygen masks, regulators, and splitters after this and found some problems with various components. These will all be rectified immediately by getting the parts from Kathmandu. For lunch we are having a variation of Pizza, I can hardly wait to have some good Alberta Beef when I get back, and my usual large portion. I would sure like to find out how the Calgary Flames are doing and how Wayne Gretzky is doing in the scoring race. It is overcast at the moment but is not snowing at all. I will be going up to Camp II for 4 days the day after tomorrow and will go to Camp III on one of those days. I don't see the need to sleep at Camp III during the acclimatization process but I will stay there for a couple of hours. I forgot to mention that one of the Brits this morning at breakfast wanted to arm wrestle me for the last boiled egg, needless to say it's Canada 1 Britain 0. Go Canada Go.
April 20 We got up early for breakfast and had the usual porridge, boiled eggs, hot fluids, etc. We had all our gear packed for our Camp II and 3 stay (I still didn’t know if I would be sleeping at Camp III). We left shortly after 6.15 am, I very soon started into my pace which had me climbing faster than the others, I soon passed Henry Todd and a few of his members as well as an American environmental clean up team. I noticed where the icefall had changed in a few areas and continued to climb higher into the icefall. I feel very at ease in the icefall even knowing there have been several deaths in this part of the climb. My pace is faster than most everyone and I had soon caught up with the icefall Sherpa that maintain daily the fixed ropes and anchors in the icefall. I met them at the bottom of the vertical pitch at the top of the icefall where they were going to put up a three ladder section beside the hanging ropes to make it easier to climb up to the top of the icefall. I soon Jumared (ascended) up this steep section and was on top looking way down on Basecamp, now our Camp I is another 30 minutes away (most other teams have theirs a few minutes away). I arrived at our Camp I in 2 1/2 hours from Basecamp, the same time our Sherpas got there. I waited for the others to arrive, some started to get there about 2 hours later. I brewed up water and ate some power gels and just relaxed. David Walsh, our expedition leader, and I were going straight to Camp II so I waited for him to arrive, he arrived at 12 noon and wanted to rest till 1pm. The others were going to sleep at Camp I and come up to Camp II the next day. The heat was already getting extremely hot by this time, it is hard to believe that at this altitude it can be so intense. Dave and I left Camp I at 1 PM and headed up towards the Western Cwm and Camp II, I had all my outer wear off and lots of sun cream on. In this section you climb up into a huge valley which climbs up at a gentler grade, because of this the ice separation is less but still there. You cross over larger crevasse sections with deep holes underfoot. It is truly a spectacular area, picture yourself walking into a boxed canyon miles long with mountains rising up on all sides and snow underfoot. You can now see Lhotse and the route up to Camp III way up on the steep face half way up and up on the left Mount Everest with it’s plume of blowing snow trailing off the summit. The snow was getting soft as were walking, and up in the distance we could see the glacial moraine that would be our Camp II, it sits under the west ridge and between that and the western Cwm to it’s right. It seemed to take forever to get there, I don’t know how for shortening works but at times you would think it can only be a few more minutes. Finally we arrived after 2 hours 10 minutes (in the heat it seemed longer, it was at least 35 degrees Celcius). The Sherpas had set up three tents the day before and filled them with gear, we went about emptying out one tent so we could have a place to sleep. We went over to the glacier and filled up a stuff sack full of ice to melt for fluids. We looked into the food stash and cooked up boil in the bag food. Every movement was a bit of work in the heat and altitude of 21300 ft. Around us was the beginnings of other expedition camps being set up on this rocky outcrop. We went to bed early (7pm) curled up in our warm sleeping bags waiting for tomorrow and the other members to help get the camp further set up. Camp II will be our ABC or advance Basecamp so it is well stocked of food, and equipment.
April 22 Shortly after 2 PM the other members started trickling into camp, I had boiled up water to rehydrate them as some were very tired waling up in the heat. The views were outstanding as I took lots of pictures from all angles, it was as though I had been here before from all the pictures Laurie Skreslet had given me from his trip in 1982, everything was new but it seemed like a familiar place. You can see the route up to Camp III, across the yellow band to the left, up the right side of the Geneva Spur and traversing to the left up to Camp 4 on the South Col, what a sight. At the South Col is a huge band of ice leading off up the triangular face which can be seen from the Western Cwm. We set up a mess tent for cooking and general meeting, it has two kerosene stoves which smell and smoke a lot but cook faster than the other stoves which burn a propane/butane mixture. It takes a long time to melt ice for water, we boil it to make sure it is as safe as possible to drink. Inside the tent large stones have been placed around the edges to sit on while we eat etc. Next to this tent we have another large one which stores all the food and extra equipment like Oxygen etc. We built a toilet out of rock and we have a plastic bag set up, one of the boy’s fell over backwards doing his thing but the only thing hurt was his pride. Some people started getting head aches from the altitude and feeling rather drained, I felt very good which of course pleased me nicely. I couldn’t feel any difference in the oxygen content up at ABC {Advanced Base Camp], although you make your movements a bit slower so you don’t lose your breath. It seems some of our team members are not doing very well in the altitude department, they struggled getting to Camp II today badly. April 23 Some of the other teams' Sherpa were coming up stocking their camps with tents, food, oxygen etc. Sherpas are incredibly strong, carrying large loads day after day, ours carry for two days and get a day off. it is nice to know that our bodies are adapting, so that the each day we are getting stronger. At night as soon as the sun goes down it gets cold so you want to have your warm clothes on for around 6.PM for sure. Snowed last night about 4 to 5 inches, lots of frost in the tents. No Sherpas or members from other teams arrived up at camp 2 today because of the weather.
April 24
April 25th After 1 hour 15 minutes I was at the base of the Face where the fixed lines start, the next closest was about 30 minutes away. The face rises up pretty steep over a bulging cerac at about 75 degrees. You just keep clipping and unclipping the rope at each anchor point and continue Jumaring up. I did not feel it was very difficult, just continuous work. I didn’t get out of breath but just continued working at a heart rate which allowed me to keep moving forward or up as it were. I really can see how my fitness is extremely high as I was moving as quick as the Sherpas (actually gaining ground) without burning myself out. It is a great feeling when a plan comes together. At one point a person was descending down a fixed line (rappelling) as I was coming up, in steep cases like this there is usually two fixed lines one for up and one for down, well he was on my line. I told him to switch over to the other line when he slipped and fell hitting into me knocking both of us down the steep pitch with only the rope holding us from falling down the Lhotse face. He apologized saying he was very tired and could not stand up well on the steep ice. My only concern was the elbow and shoulder I fell on, I hoped I wouldn’t break something on the concrete like ice but everything was OK. The view behind me was unbelievable with the Western Cwm unfolding beneath me down to where the Icefall falls away to Basecamp. I remember Laurie Skreslet telling me about the time he looked down the Western Cwm and I am sure we were looking at the same thing. It started to snow after a couple of hours as I continued on up the constant slope, up the fixed lines to a point up ahead I could not see. Down below could not see any of the Team at all. I finally could see where the remains of tents from years gone by were and some Sherpas coming down from Camp III. I asked them how long to Camp III and they asked which team I was from, after they told me they said our camp was the highest and about 40 minutes away. It continued to snow and I was in a cloud, the snow wasn’t bad at all, it was a dry pellet like snow. Finally I saw our Sherpa about 30 feet above me coming down. We called out to each other "oy" a saying that them and myself had started saying to each other when ever we saw or met each other in camp. They could not believe how quick I had gotten up the face, I had actually caught up to them, they said camp was 20 minutes away, and to be careful as the tents were perched on very steep ice. I arrived after only 4 hours 25 minutes of climbing from Camp II, I felt very good about myself, I did not over push and hurt myself on the way up. By now I was totally surrounded by cloud and couldn’t see 20 feet in front of me. There were 3 tents pitched for 8 of us, these are actually 2 man tents at the best of times so I knew it was going to be cramped. I looked into the tents and went into the one that had my sleeping bag and took off my crampons, pack, harness etc. Here I was at Camp III the 2nd last camp to the top of Mount Everest. I took out my video camera and started shooting the surrounding area which was enveloped in cloud. I got quite emotional as I spoke while recording, just thinking about all the hard work that has been done to get here and the love and support from family and friends I have had along the way. I soon slapped myself to reality and got settled into the tent waiting for the others to arrive. The snow continued for some time and still no one in sight, I started to think that if it continued to snow there could be the potential for avalanche conditions. Finally after 2 1/2 hours after I arrived our team doctor Sundeep Dillon yelled my name up to the tents. I helped him into the tent as he was cold and helped take off his snowy clothes. After I helped get him warm I asked him how far back the others were, he said quite a way as most were really having a hard time with this and were considering turning around to go back to Camp II. After another 2 to 3 hours others started to trickle into Camp III, freezing and extremely tired. I helped warm some up with warm fluids and directed them to tents. Our leader David Walsh had arrived with a back member and he said his hands were very cold. One of our people was freezing cold but had her onepiece suit undone and tied around her waist. It’s funny what the altitude can do to your thought process. As it was taking so long for the members to arrive I thought we might be in for an epic night on the Lhotse face with the snow, cold and avalanche conditions. Once everyone arrived and all the stoves were fired up and people warmed up we settled in for a high altitude night cramped inside a 2 man tent with 3 people bundled up in our warm down clothes, not a lot of room to move. One of the guys in my tent was suffering badly, wasted in strength from the climb and suffering from what I think was AMS [Acute Mountain Sickness]. Very bad head ache, worrying that he might have AMS the other person in our tent, Doctor Sundeep Dillon, gave him some medicine which didn’t do any good. I knew he needed fluids so I worked the little stove melting snow into water (this takes a very long time) I melted pan after pan of water well into the night so that we all could get some. I ate two Freeze dried packages of Sweet and Sour Pork (each pack had 512 calories) and drank as much as I could. You didn’t dare go outside for fear of falling down the Face so we used our pee bottles and emptied them out the back of the tent. It was quite the night with the sick person constantly asking the doctor about HAPE [high altitude pulmonary edema], HACE [high altitude cerebral edema], etc. Every 15 minutes we would wake up (if we were asleep) and ask him if he was OK. Now, can you imagine three large guys in big down sleeping bags trying to sleep at 23,720 ft above sea level, in a 2 man tent with a very sick person in with them? Very difficult. I had no head ache and felt very good except for the cramped-ness.
April 26
After eating and getting dressed, 3 of us started down pulling out the fixed line from the snow and blazing a trail down the Face to Camp II. It is pretty tiring plowing down through the snow even if it is down hill. It was bright and sunny out as we made our way down the steep face. We made it down to the bottom and stripped off a lot of clothing as the sun was out in full force. We made our way across the Western Cwm watching out for hidden crevasses which were now covered by snow. We arrived at Camp II tired and hungry and thirsty as it was probably over 30 C. Resting was the course of action for the rest of the day as tomorrow we would go down to Basecamp having finished our acclimatization process.
April 27 While we are away the Sherpas will be fixing rope through the Yellow Band up to Camp 4 and then fixing areas up to the summit. It was a great hot day down from Camp II to Camp I above the icefall. I passed through the icefall quickly as this is no place to stand around during a very hot morning. There had been some changes since the last time (7 days ago) through, I guess it is kind of like Russian Roulette. I was the first one back to Basecamp and I heard "OY" yelled out to me from the Sherpas gathered around. It was such a nice feeling being back in Basecamp, I could hardly wait for a nice hot shower even if it’s on rocks. I ate and cleaned up for the first time in a week, shaved my scruffy face and washed my hair. Looking into my messy tent it looked so inviting, but I knew I should clean it up. Soon after it was off to the American tent to receive my emails and yes I had 39. It is so nice to hear from so many people -- lots who don’t know me other than from reading the Calgary Sun or finding our Web Site, school kids from Calgary asking questions, or just people cheering me on. Then there is family and friends who are and have been there for me. (just kidding) Our Sat Phone (new one) arrived while we were up the mountain so now I can have better access to emails as we use the phone to send DATA. I have been using the American Teams Sat Phone and they have been charging an astronomical price. I am going to have a wonderful sleep tonight as I know now all I have to do is rest, eat and get ready for the rest of the route to get fixed, and then it’s off to the top.
April 28
April 29th It was interesting to see all the movement and melting that had taken place while in Basecamp and up the mountain. The going was smooth with not much movement from Porters or Yaks. After an hour (I had already caught up to Rob and Lily) I arrived in Gorak Shep with them and we stopped for some Hot Lemon. We left shortly after and climbed up a steep section heading for Lobuche. This is a stopping point for most parties going to Everest, but has run down Lodges or Tea Houses, a lot of people tend to get sick here. We stayed up the trail about 30 minutes at an Italian research station turned lodge called 8000 metre Inn. Just after cruising by Lobuche the weather started to turn and the clouds and wind picked up considerably. We made our way to Dughla (a stopping point for Tea or Lodging) where you descend into and across a gorge and up over the other side leading you to Dingboche along the mountainside for another hour and a half. During the last hour it was snowing and blowing quite hard. We arrived at the Snow Lion Lodge at 2.30 PM hoping there was room for all of us, and yes as if by magic there was. The Lodge is new this year with spacious rooms, 10 double rooms in all with a large dorm room which holds about 7 beds. The food is the best in the Khumbu with a large variety of dishes. (Man, could I use some Alberta beef) In the lounge you have large tables with padded bench seating all around the perimetre. In the center is a steel stove which burns Yak Dung (surprisingly it doesn't smell) this is used to heat the large room. The food is cooked on kerosene in a small off-room , I still can not understand why in Nepal they like to cook, prepare, mix, on the floor rather than on a table. Anyway here we were for 3 days of rest, breathing in thicker air at 14,300 ft.
April 30th
May 1 The people of Dingboche get their water from high up on the mountain (500 metres) and run hoses down to their places. The weather has been clouding over in the afternoons and turning cooler, with a bit of snow flurries. From Dingboche you can see the back-side of Nuptse and Lhotse and they were in the cloud most of the time. Arrive in Nepal | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | Top | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
May 2nd
May 3rd
May 4th Jim Williams, one of our guides who stayed behind while we went down, had found a bunch of new palatable food hidden down in a barrel, and he had stacked the stone mess table with mouth watering foods. So I did my thing and ate. I ended up staying up late trying to figure out why I couldn't receive any new emails, so I called Jason at the Web Site and he said my lovely wife changed the pass word...... so I got the new password and received to my delight 39 emails (my wife had been having problems with our emails at home and I guess Telusplanet had her change the password and of course she couldn't get in touch with me.) It is such a great feeling hearing from so many people around Alberta, some wishing me luck, some to say Hi, and of course family and friends. I called Robb at the Calgary Sun to let him know what the scoop was here. The scoop is ... I don't know! We are waiting for our Sherpas to come down on the 7th for their rest and let us know how many loads and of what has been taken up to Camp 4. More tomorrow.
May 5th This is all a guessing game at this point as we have to make sure the weather is going to be ok, ropes are fixed up to the South summit and the Hillary Step is fixed with rope as well. This we will know in the next few days. What I will do for sure is email when we are leaving for Camp II so you will know about when things will happen. We do not have anyone who will be staying in Basecamp who can speak English well enough and/or communicate well enough on the phone etc. So you will be left a bit in the dark for 5 or 6 days or so. It is possible that all this may change in a day or so. All the expeditions are ready and acclimatized at this point, and are only waiting for the right conditions to be in place. The time to summit is anytime between now and the end of the month so we have a bit of time, but it is all coming together for us and the other teams. Our Sherpas just radioed in from Camp II saying they had completed the carry to Camp 4 today, they are carrying to Camp 4 tomorrow and will be down on the 7th to base camp to rest, so that is confirmed. Most of my summit gear is at Camp 2 which I will be taking up to 3 and 4 and summit, it is too warm to wear at the below camps. I will of course up date as I hear news.
May 6th We have heard a bit of news from the North side of Everest that a few strong teams were poised to summit from a top camp of 8,300 metres. (Russian and Yugoslav) But now we've heard they had stocked their upper camp only. We also heard a Japanese team tried for the summit and got as far as 8,500 metres and were turned back. We only hear bits and pieces from around Basecamp. I went to my tent in the afternoon to rest and soon it was to hot to stay in there - 98 degrees Fahrenheit. The amount of fluids a person drinks a day is substantial -- I must drink 8 litres a day and pee out 10. All our water is boiled to drink, and all of it is hauled in 5 gallon plastic containers, they will haul in four of these from the glacier in the morning alone. The food at Basecamp is all starting to taste the same, our cook Arjun Rana tends to put ginger in everything, and I mean everything. Did I tell you about the cabbage pizza we had, well you can imagine how it tasted. Anyway he is doing his best...
May 7th
We have a good bunch of Sherpas, they are always smiling, and laughing with one another. Most of them brought back old spent oxygen cylinders from the South Col (Camp 4) as they receive $20 US for the clean up effort. Nima Gyumbu Sherpa brought back seven, as well as his own gear. He has been to the summit 3 times prior. They were all sun burnt on their faces, the sun is 80 per cent more intense at this altitude than at sea level, so you must be constantly putting on suntan lotion. The evening ritual starts at about 5:00 p.m. where the lucky people who get in the mess tent first get to sit in front of the propane heater. I get on my laptop and type in the Diary, as I am doing now, and others read a book, check their emails and generally gather around and listen to the BBC World Report on the radio. It is a little difficult to understand what is being said through the static. We get our weather report at about 3:30 p.m. from Bracknell England, who together with Washington do the world weather forecast. We have a Indian-built Honda generator which provides electricity for charging batteries, and for lighting up the mess tent. To regulate the amount of Volts that are going through we have a 6 plug bar which has a voltage metre on it. The voltage metre only tells you how many are going through so we regulate the voltage by screwing in or screwing out light bulbs depending on the voltage metre, man we are a long way from home. Did I tell you about the Sherpa we have Kusang Dorjee Sherpa who just informed us he had to use the Sat Phone to call his wife, it seems he was supposed to go with an expedition to the North side of Everest but our Sirdar Pema Sherpa talked him into going with our team. Well he had not told his wife and family of the change until the other day, talk about not telling your wife where you are, can you imagine....! It is close to a full moon out and the evenings have been quite well lit up with the stars within reach and the icefall shimmering. I fell asleep after reading a whopping page of Seven Years in Tibet.
May 8th The morning was already hot and sunny down in Basecamp but up high the wind was howling. The last few days we have been eating our breakfast out front of the mess tent in the sun, and today we had scrambled eggs, and pancakes. I gave the Sherpas who had burnt cracking skin some face cream to help moisturize as well as some lip balm, friends for life now I guess. An American from Washington wandered over from Wally Berg's camp. (Wally has summitted 3 times and is back doing GPS work for Brad Washburn of the National Geographic) The visitor's name was Tim from USA Today and he is writing about the different people in Basecamp. He offered to put in the paper my WEB SITE and a few words. It seems Wally Berg's team (4 climbers 12 Sherpa) are going to be the first team to go for the summit. He has such strong Sherpa support to plow the way up, so ourselves and the other teams will follow up a day or two later. This is to be confirmed tomorrow. It is 6 p.m. our time and the weather update calls for a couple days more of high winds from the jet stream with it moving south, the high winds are good to help move the deep snow and to make it firmer, so we'll continue to hurry up and wait. The other expedition leaders were around today to discuss upcoming plans but really we all have to wait on the weather.
May 9th
The Sherpas have been getting up and playing cards and a dice game since coming down the other day, they play for a little money. It seems the weather is going to continue with high winds until at least the 15th or 16th of May. Tomorrow 80 knot winds on the summit are expected and right now the winds are starting to pick up down here in Basecamp. We have to be patient to climb this mountain and not let the waiting get us down. I knew coming here that the weather would play a big part so I am just waiting for this to unfold without getting anxious, although it is a little boring sitting around Basecamp. CBC Talk Radio wants to do a phone interview but we are having a hard time reaching each other, hopefully we'll touch base soon, so stay tuned. A 52 year old Japanese person died on Kala Patter the other day, it is the time of year (a short holiday period) that a lot of Japanese people come over to view Everest Basecamp, he had a pace maker as well. They only have about 7 days in all to get up here from Japan, which is not enough to acclimatize. An eye witness saw two people trying to break this persons spine so he would fit into a porters basket (Rigamortis had set in) to be taken down valley. I guess my mail server is being repaired so I have not been able to send out today any emails to update, this should be repaired shortly I'm told. I have been asked by a few people in some emails to talk about the group dynamics, but I am reluctant to put on my web site information on team individuals that they might not want talked about, or opened up to the public. As well, in any group of people who are spending time in a close environment, personalities come out and opinions are formed which may not be kind. So there you have it, I won't be talking about the team in public. Spent the afternoon reading Seven Years in Tibet, and I am finally getting into it. It has cooled off all day with high winds all day. There was two very large avalanches within 30 minutes of each other which came off of Nuptse, the snow plume lasted for quite some time, I took out the video camera and the still camera and took a bunch of shots. I called my Mom and Dad this morning to say hi as it has been awhile since we last spoke. I guess it is Mother's Day tomorrow so it would be wise on my part to call home to Jamie tomorrow, now wouldn't it?
May 10th One of the cook boys has become ill with a temperature of 101 F, but our doctor, Sundeep Dhillon, is looking after him. If he worsens we will have to get him down valley for treatment. It has started snowing now, and it looks like it will stay for awhile. We are still waiting for an email (late afternoon) on the weather as it has been two days since the last one. Our generator is giving us some problems today (contaminated fuel I think), so my computer batteries are low. The generator starts on gas and runs on kerosene and has been giving us problems off and on.
May 11th The winds must be over 100 mph on top as the jet stream is right above us. The wind is blowing snow off the ridges to heights of 2,000 ft plus, it is quite the sight. All the teams are just waiting for the winds to die down so tomorrow we can go up and assess the damage. We sent up 2 Sherpas this morning at 4.30 am to go up to Camp II to check out the camp and up until now 11:24 a.m. we have not been able to get a hold of them. You can see the winds blowing snow down through the Western Cwm and over the Icefall in huge plumes twisting in every direction. We have no idea the state of Camps at III and IV, I assume the worst. So what next? We will go up and assess the situation, restock, re-tent and get on with the climb, it is not the first nor will it be the last time a storm has hit Everest. The only problem could be members' gear that was left up at Camp II for the upper sections, Down gloves, jackets, pants, suits etc, we don't know if they are in the tents (which need to be recovered) or where they are. My gear (cold weather down equipment etc.) was in a duffel bag in the tent so I expect all of it to be found. 8 p.m. update: our two Sherpas Pemba and Ang Dorjee arrived at Camp II and found that three members' tents were knocked down but still in the camp. The cook tent was gone with just poles around, the big tent which was tied down with rope and had a sturdy double layer with thick poles is still at camp but has a few broken poles in it. All three Sherpa tents are gone at this point as well as two members' tents. So, out of the 10 tents which were up at Camp II only 5 are still there. The major problem is if Sherpas and members' gear is lost, as we all left up our cold weather gear for higher up.
Our two Sherpas tried to come down but turned back when they could not see in the Western Cwm. One of our Sherpas it's reported has some frost bite on one of his hands. They are huddled up in the Americans' cook tent with the Americans' cook and two Singaporean Sherpas. Wally Berg's camp seems to be intact as he had three Sherpas up there at the time and they knocked down the tents to keep them from blowing away. The Iranians' camp is gone as well as Henry Todd's. The winds were pounding all the tents and it was all the Sherpas could do to anchor themselves down and keep everything from blowing away. From Basecamp it looked like a hurricane was happening, the wind blowing snow thousands of feet in every direction. I took 1 hour of video to show people how violent the wind was, the sound itself was incredibly loud as the jet stream pounded into and over Everest and the West Ridge. All expedition teams are in the same state, the Sherpas that are up at Camp II will work together tomorrow for all teams to look for equipment that has been blown away in the Cwm. The rest of our Sherpas were going up tomorrow morning but have since decided that the avalanche conditions are bad at the moment with snow build up on Nuptse. This set-back means a delay in our plans but our permit to ascend Everest ends on May 31st and I plan on staying till the bitter end to climb this mountain. We need to assess the damage, and what gear both personal and communal is missing before we get too excited. The weather forecast has not arrived for the 3rd day in a row and this is crucial in our planning, I guess the computer is down in Britain with the weather company Bracknell so I hope tomorrow it will come. Arrive in Nepal | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May 1 | Top | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
May 12th They left yesterday morning at 4:30 a.m. for Camp II to see what state it is in. They went up through the Icefall with no problem and very little wind, but as soon as they got over the lip of the Icefall they were hit with tremendous winds, so hard that they could barely stand up. The gloves that they had on through the Icefall now were too thin for the wind and cooler temperatures but they were afraid to take their packs off to get warmer mitts, they thought the packs would blow away. (I don't know why they didn't go into one of the tents at Camp I to put warmer clothes on as the tents there were ok, they are in a hollow). They continued on through the strong winds and blowing snow at times not being able to see the hand in front of their face, which means they couldn't see ladders over crevasses or any holes etc. We had no radio contact with them until very late in the afternoon as they were afraid to take the radio out to call in case it blew away. After many hours leaning into the wind they arrived at Camp II, it took them 2 hours to walk from Henry Todd's camp to our camp a distance of 1/4 of a mile. During this time one of the Sherpa, Pemba Tshering had one of his hands get quite cold, to the point where he had a hard time using it. The other Sherpa Nima Dorjee was ok. Up at Camp II there were 6 other Sherpa hanging on for dear life in two different tents. The winds were blowing up to 100 mph and had scattered tents and gear 100s of metres around the Western Cwm, one of our tents was found across the Cwm beneath the Lhotse Face a good mile away. Our two Sherpas got into our only standing tent, a large dome design which had up till now withstood the wind, it had three broken poles. They boiled up some water and added salt for Pemba's hand to soak in and to thaw out. The Sherpa from Tom Whitaker's camp (about 60 ft away) joined both our guys in the tent later in the afternoon when the wind died down enough to look out. Up to the time of our Sherpas arrived, Tom Whitaker's Sherpa had been hanging on for dear life in a partially collapsed tent wondering how long he could last before he blew away with the tent. At some time in the afternoon the drama reached its climax as our Sherpas tried to return down the Western Cwm to the Icefall and Basecamp. Pemba said he could not see his hand in front of his face, and could not see where they were putting their feet. The Western Cwm is covered with deep crevasses, some very wide some no wider than your boot. With the snow blowing it was impossible to spot the death traps. Pemba was most concerned and told Nima Dorjee he was turning back for Camp II, Nima wanted to keep going to Basecamp but soon listened to the older Sherpa. They settled in for a long uncomfortable night.
May 13th This little setback has only put us back a few days, we'll have Camp II back up in a day or two, and then we'll wait for the weather forecast window to move up. Some of the other Teams are in the same shape we are, while the Iranian Team is in bad shape, they lost all Camp II. I don't know if they can restock Camp II or not. I spoke to Calgary 7 TV last night (morning your time) and Lethbridge TV the Night before, for a live report. Some of us went up to Pumori Basecamp and above just to stretch our legs and get some exercise for the afternoon, we had some great views of the Everest Summit Ridge (this can not be seen from Basecamp) and the South Col.
May 14th
May 15th We will leave for the summit at around 11 p.m. that night. I expect to be on the summit by 7 a.m. as I will be out front with Nima Gyumbu Sherpa leading the way (on 20th). I plan to stay on the summit to take pictures and video for 45 minutes and then descend to the South Col to spend the night. I do plan to video the ascent and descent from the South Col and up. The next day I'll go down to Camp II spend the night and then down to Basecamp where I can call and give you all the good news. If you don't hear from me on the 22nd, it is because the weather has forced us to stay a day or two at a higher camp. Thanks to all my friends and family for all your support all these years and to all the people who I have not had the privilege to meet but who have been emailing me faithfully and supporting me throughout my climb here on Everest. I have tried to answer as many emails and questions as I could, but some return addresses would not allow me to return a message. To my sponsors, I hope you received some benefit for all you have done for me, for I, like you, know what it means to have a successful ending. To the schools and individual classes who followed along with the climb, I promise to come and give a talk and slide show presentation for all of you. Friends and family ... thanks for being there. Arrive in Nepal | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May 1 | May 11, storm at Camp II | Top | May 20, the disapointing end
May 16th I left at 6:10 a.m. as I was the first person ready to go, I was excited to begin our summit push after the disaster that happened up at Camp II with the storm. David Walsh, Stephen Goodwin, and Rob Owen had been up at Camp II helping to organize the mess for the last two days. When they had arrived they looked upon what they thought was the end of our expedition, tents completely flattened, poles broken, fabric ripped and torn, ice and snow melted inside the tents and equipment soaked, tents missing as well as gear etc, and this was after the Sherpas had been up twice to clean up. We were not the only Team in this state, everyone had been hit hard, the Iranians had nothing left, most were in our condition, with the need to rebuild. Anyway, sorry for the rambling -- prior to leaving I had packed a bunch of items that I felt an attachment to, a picture of Jamie and Zachary, a penny my older brother Rick had given me when I went to Argentina and summitted Mount Aconcagua, a piece of gum that my Dad gave me (he wanted it given back by me personally) a glow in the dark spider and little man from Zachary, an Aries sign that my sister Leslie gave me to take (we are both Aries) some Vulcan "Live long and Prosper" pins from Randy Wolfe, a great Town of Vulcan supporter, a small Canadian, Alberta, Ford of Canada, Ford Credit Canada, Vulcan Ford Mercury flag, Ford of Canada pins, and a Calgary Sun plastisized front page congratulating me on my success, as well as a special card my wife Jamie had sent along for me to open. I seemed to be weighed down with a few extras, but I wanted to be able to share these items with everyone. I had lots of film packed, my Leica camera, Sony video camera and all the little extras one thinks about when he is sitting alone at night in his tent dreaming of climbing the highest point on earth. So where was I, oh yeah, ok I left at 6:10 a.m. from Basecamp and headed towards the Icefall, I passed Jim Williams one of our guides (very slow, the kind of person who felt he knew everything about anything) and told him I was on my way. As I was making my way up I told myself that this is it, the reason why I had come 15,000 miles from home, to capture my dream of climbing Mount Everest. I was making my way up through the Icefall when I saw Dave Mensen from the MIT team, he was putting some GPS sensors in the Icefall I believe, I stopped to talk for a moment and he asked me where the rest of the team was, I told him that they were a long way back, he said my nick name was the Rocket among climbers this year on Everest, I just laughed and said see you at the top. It had now been 2 weeks since we had last been through the Icefall (we had finished our acclimatization on April 29th and headed down valley to Dingboche to rest) so I did not know if I would be as strong as before. I worked my way up through the ice and had noticed a some change since the last time through. More ladders were now needed to cross some areas as the crevasses had shifted, the area known as the Eggshell (quite delicate) had rearranged itself. I soon caught up with two Sherpas who were stopped at the top of a tall vertical section having a smoke. (You had to Jumar or ascend up the fixed rope about 40 ft.) The Sherpas were part of Henry Todd's team and only worked keeping the Icefall fixed properly. Everyday they checked on the anchors, rope, ladders etc and repaired as necessary. These guys had made a suspension bridge higher up near the top of the Icefall that would rival the top bridge design engineers, 4 ladders long suspended over a very deep crevasse at an angle of 30 degrees I believe, the rope work used was a marvel. I soon worked my way over the top lip and made my way towards our Camp I, 25 minutes past the normal Camp I.
Our Sherpas had left 30 minutes after me (all 9 of them) so I decided I would wait for them 20 minutes after our camp, on a rise with a great view of Pumori mountain to the West. It had taken me only 2 1/2 hours to climb through the Icefall without pushing it and I felt great. The sun had now peaked over and shone brightly into the Western Cwm so I took off my one piece wind suit and was now down to my long underwear. I sat for an hour waiting for the Sherpas when they finally came, so we traveled along together to Camp II. It's interesting watching the Sherpa travel on ice and snow over ladders and using rope etc. The Sherpas usually don't clip into the line (rope) like Westerners when crossing ladders or walking along narrow ridges etc. In the Western Cwm most Sherpa take off their crampons while most westerners keep theirs on. We soon broke up into groups with Nima Gyumbu Sherpa and I in the lead pulling away from the others, (Nima had summitted 3 times prior) and arrived in camp 2 hours later, a very quick time. Upon arriving I found Rob, Dave Walsh, and Steve who had just put up some new tents, sitting around relaxing and brewing some water. Once all the Sherpa arrived they quickly got down to fixing up a mess tent from what looked like tattered remains of our old one. After chipping away and pulling for a couple of hours they finally had resurrected the tent, and set up a couple for themselves. Nima Gyumbu got down to making his Sherpa milk tea, which really hits the spot nicely, and the rest of us sorted through equipment drying out what had been damp or wet from the storm. Later that evening the leaders from most of the expeditions were meeting down at one of the team's tents listening to Henry Todd read off a forecast that was causing quite the stir. It said that a Cyclone was brewing in the Bay of Bengal and moving towards Everest in a few days time, we had to react now and move up if we wanted a chance to climb Everest this year. The last time a Cyclone happened a few years ago they said it dumped two metres of snow in the Western Cwm and one team took 18 hours to go from Camp II to Basecamp. The concern was high as we all heard the bad news, I was thinking about how two months of hard effort could come crashing down so quickly. Our leader Dave Walsh went over and asked Wally Berg if he had heard the weather news and he said yes, and started rambling on about Henry Todd saying he wanted to close the Icefall etc. You would not believe the egos and politics up on the mountain even if I tried to explain them, it seems no team leader has anything good to say about the other. Wally (who had summitted three times prior and seemed to know the mountain well or at least talked a good story) seemed to think that the time to move was now, tomorrow morning he was sending his people up to Camp III, this included Eric Simonson his head man, Charles Corfield, Greg and about 7 Sherpa. Wally had to get some equipment on the South Summit and the Summit for Brad Washburn of the National Geographic. Moving up quickly posed a new scenario for our team as we still had people at Camp I who would just be coming up tomorrow. It seemed these people were always slow taking at least double the time to get up to various camps, and they would not be able to move from Camp I to Camp III in one day. I asked our Dave Walsh if he was thinking about waiting a few days if I could move up on my own and follow Wally Bergs team, he said to wait a minute as he thought maybe the people who were in Camp II would move up with everyone else the next day, but first he wanted to hear the next forecast from Bracknell in the UK tomorrow morning at 6am to see how the Cyclone was moving. So by now pretty much all the teams had made a decision to go for it while they still had a chance, if you recall we originally were trying for the summit on the 20th, now it would be the 19th. As usual our radios were not working well and Dave had a hard time getting a hold of Jim Williams at camp 2 to talk about the situation. So most teams, as well as ours, wanted to wait till morning and the next weather forecast, I went to sleep.
May 17th I went over to our camp and waited for Dave to come back from the meeting on weather. Upon his return we met in the mess tent with Pema (Sirdar) and Nima Temba (climbing Sirdar), they too felt that we needed to make our move right now and not wait a moment. Nima Temba stated he had been a Sirdar on 19 expeditions and knew when timing was everything, Dave Walsh concurred with Nima Temba and said to move up to Camp III immediately today. I had all my gear packed and ready in 10 minutes and was ready to go. Rob Owen was concerned that we were not all moving up all together but the reality was we were in position to move and we needed to move now, given the weather forecast information that we had. Dave Walsh tried to get a hold of Jim Williams at Camp I on the radio but surprise Jim was on a different frequency or something. Dave decided he would have to wait till later in the day when Jim and the others arrived from Camp I and tell them what was going on and follow us up to Camp III. I left Camp II and Rob and Steve followed up 30 minutes after. It was going to be a clear hot scorcher of a day so I stripped down to just my light colored long underwear and packed my one-piece wind suit in my pack. I cruised out over the moraine at Camp II towards the rising terrain of the Western Cwm leading to the foot of the steep Lhotse Face. I passed many people along the way including Michael the Dane who was slumped over his pack and would remain that way for much of the day. I soon caught up to people who had left 2 hours before me and soon realized that with the rush there could be some bottle necks on the fixed ropes leading up the Lhotse Face towards Camp III and beyond. I stopped for a quick drink prior to the fixed rope and gave myself a quick squirt of a Power Gel. There were a lot of people who had left earlier clogging up the lines so it was hard to pass them, finally the slow ones stopped to rest and I went past. I wanted to get up to Camp III as soon as possible so I could rest up for the next day's move up to Camp IV. The views were incredible looking back down the Western Cwm with no clouds in the sky. I was moving along good and strong and arrived in 4 1/2 hours up to Camp III. Our tents were situated in what people referred to upper Camp III as our tents were another 40 minutes higher than the lower tents. We were in four two man tents which were perched on a cut-out ledge, one slip would put you sliding down a sheer drop a few thousand feet. I started heating up some ice and snow for water and eating what ever I could find, the camp for some reason was not well stocked. I was outside the tent when I heard a crack and snow and ice started flying overhead, it was an avalanche started higher up the Lhotse face. I made myself part of the Cerac on the Lhotse Face hoping a huge slide or blocks of ice and snow would not be coming down taking me with them. After a few tense moments everything stopped moving and I looked down the Lhotse Face (I don't know what I expected to see). Yes another moment in paradise. I finished boiling up drink after drink when I heard a voice talking on the radio about 25 feet away, it was Neil Laughton from Henry Todd's team talking to David Walsh, (my expedition leader) Dave had asked Neil to relay a message to me (I did not have a radio) that he was sorry but he would not be up but to tell me the four Sherpas would be up at around 7 a.m. tomorrow morning. I asked Neil to ask him where Rob, Steve and Dave Callaway were and Dave had said on the way up. After another 2 hours Rob Owen and Steve Goodwin arrived with Dave Callaway about 20 minutes behind, they were pretty tired. I had boiled up enough water to give them all a litre and I told them to lie down and relax for 20 or 30 minutes with some oxygen turned on. Looking down the Western Cwm from 23,700 ft was a beautiful sight, you would have to pay a lot of money back home to have a seat like this. I ate a chicken casserole boil in the bag, 4 chocolate bars, half a container of Pringles chips, 3 Power Gels, and some Hobnob cookies (UK cookies like a digestive but not as good). We asked Neil Laughton from Henry Todd's team if he had heard an updated forecast and he said that we had 48 hours to get up and down the mountain before the Cyclone hit, obviously the time to move was now. Most of the teams were up at Camp III by now and it started to lightly snow, Rob and Steve were in one tent, Dave Callaway in another and me in one, we settled in for the night hoping for good weather tomorrow. I had one concern and that was the amount of people that would be going up the fixed line tomorrow, (over 50 people) there would be varying degrees of skill and speed that would inhibit others.
May 18th I had a great sleep last night, I have visualized standing on the summit every night since I got to Nepal, I dream constantly about climbing from camp to camp working my way higher and higher up the mountain effortlessly. Today is a big day as I have not been higher than Camp III, every step up is a new height for me. I woke up at just before 7 a.m. and yelled to the others to see if they were up, I started boiling water right away as I knew the Sherpas were to be here at around 7:30 a.m. I was excited this morning as it was all working out so well and in 24 hours I would be standing on top of the world, I felt like a million bucks, proud of all the support my family and friends had provided me, surprised at all the support I had from people back home who I had not even met but who emailed me with encouragement and wrote to me as if we had been friends for years, I was full of Canadian pride. At about 8.am who should appear but our expedition leader David Walsh, I did not even think he would be coming with us but he had gotten up at midnight and left from Camp II to climb during the night, what a leader he is, not the loud boisterous type but a genuine nice guy. I was concerned about our late start as the Sherpas were not here yet and I could see the people already moving up the steep face on fixed lines. I really did not want to get stuck behind slow people as it takes a lot of effort to unclip and move around them up so high and on steep terrain. At around 8.30 our Sherpas arrived, 5 of them, our climbing Sirdar Nima Temba, his brother Nima Gyumbu (summitted 3 times), Ang Dorjee Sherpa, Pemba Sherpa, Nima Dorjee Sherpa, Tshering Dorjee Sherpa (summitted when he was 22). They were antsy about the number of people moving up as well and wanted to hurry up. By the way, it was a beautiful morning, clear skies, not much wind at all. I was the first one to leave (we all were carrying pretty big loads on our backs) and start up the fixed ropes. We all had an oxygen bottle in our pack and I had the mask just dangling on the side of the pack at this point. I got clipped onto the fixed line and could not believe the amount of people above me and below me that were going up to Camp 4 because of the weather forecast, just like hungry ants at a picnic. For the first 1/4 it is very steep and on very hard blue ice that had been wind swept for hundreds of years. I felt very strong and was soon passing people who had stopped to rest or had stopped to let me pass. I could look up and to the left and see the Yellow Band, a rock formation that runs through and across the Lhotse Face and over onto Nuptse Face. As you look down into the Western Cwm you really get the feeling that you are larger than life, and you are thankful to be allowed this experience. I soon started passing some very good climbers , some who had summitted in years past. It takes a tremendous amount of oxygen to pass someone up here, it takes awhile for your heart rate to come back down to normal (normal up here is a lot higher than down at sea level) and you must control your breathing by breathing in deeply and expelling making a sshh sound to help you. At around the Yellow Band I decided to put on my oxygen mask and I set the flow at 1.5 litres per minute. (at 2 litres per minute the bottle would give us 6+ hours). The Yellow Band has some mixed climbing of rock, snow and ice and has rock steps that must be Jumared up, not a problem at sea level but can be a little tiring up here. After the Yellow Band comes a long Traverse over to the Geneva Spur a huge rocky out crop between you and the South Col. There were lots of people who had stopped and were resting along the way and as I never had a rest I was able to pass just about everyone who started out 1 to 2 hours prior. I remember thinking what Laurie Skreslet had told me about his first time up to the top of the Geneva Spur and how looking back down into the Cwm was one of the most magnificent sights he had ever seen, I could certainly relate to this. Up ahead the route steepened as it climbed the Geneva Spur and I remember saying that I sure would not like to fall here as it would be next to impossible to stop yourself. I looked behind me and I could see Nima Dorjee, one of our Sherpas a way down the line but I couldn't make out anyone else from our team, I found that I had been climbing and thinking with such ease and comfort that I was in my own little world. After a final bit of Jumaring up the top of the Geneva Spur I was finally on top looking down I could see a long line of people, Camp III nestled under big Ceracs on the Lhotse Face, Camp II way way down beneath the South West Face (first climbed in 1975 and repeated in 1988 with disastrous results), down across from Basecamp was Pumori (a Canadian team was climbing this at the time and I believe most were from Calgary area) and behind this Cho Oyu another 8,000 metre peak were way off in the distance. Up ahead was the South Col, and only a simple traverse stood between me and the 8000 metre Camp IV. In 1963 Barry Bishop of the first successful South Col route American team called this place the highest garbage dump in the world (more on this later). I worked my way across this long rocky traverse and arrived on the South Col in just under 4 hours, I had beaten even our own Sherpas up to this rocky windswept wasteland, I was feeling powerful about this, it was a good sign. (I know my wife Jamie will be saying "enough Byron, already") I walked over to where I saw what looked to be a tent of ours, it was hard to tell because it was pushed over to one side, had broken poles sticking through it, the fly cover was shredded and it had a very irregular shape to it, but it said on the front of it "Hyperspace" which I knew to be ours. I sat down on a flat rock and took off my pack and turned off my oxygen and just took in the sights on this the highest Col on earth. Bottles of spent oxygen were every where to be seen, yellow, black, orange, silver, big, small, old and new, if only they could talk, the stories they could tell.
Tents from years gone by lay tattered and fluttering in the wind, the faded colors of years gone by held down by spent oxygen bottles and rocks, tied by old cord. The occasional tent had been used as a burial home for the unfortunate climber who had succumbed to the dangers of Everest. Oh yeah, the wind was also howling through this high Col (saddle) that separated Mount Everest and Lhotse with tremendous force letting you know that now was not the time to let down your guard, as people were setting up their tents one was ripped from a climber's hands and went flying across the Col. As I recall reading Barry Bishop and the first American ascent in 1963, (first American ascent of South Col route, Hornbien reached the top from the West ridge a day or two earlier) called this place the world's highest garbage dump because of all the bottles and tents, tent pegs, cans, plastic, and excrement. You had to be careful where you sat or put your hand or set up your tent or you may have the unpleasant sight and smell of foul crap staring up at you (we had this in the vestibule of our tent by accident and it was not a pleasant smell). As I had read pretty much every book written on Everest (yes you can even ask Jamie) I felt at ease with what was around me, straight ahead lay the weathered Ice Bulge, a 200 ft rise of hardened ice, then next would be the Triangular Face which steepens and leads you to the Balcony on the South East Ridge the sight of the last camp for Hillary and Tenzing in 1953, this is at a height of 27,500 ft. From here it leads up the narrow ridge to the ever steepening South Summit at a height of 28,750 ft. That was as high as you could see from the South Col but it fit in perfectly with everything I had read. The wind was blowing quite hard up high and was blowing snow off the ridge a few thousand feet over the Kangshung Face and out into Tibet. I could hardly wait for tonight so I could be one of the few [748, by 1998] to stand on Top of Everest. About 30 minutes later the Sherpas started coming across the traverse from the Geneva Spur and entering the Col. We started setting up the tents immediately. We used spent oxygen cylinders to tie the tent cord around then picked up heavy rocks to hold the cylinders down, this all took a bit of time in the thin air. We had set up two tents when Nima Temba our climbing Sirdar (he would stay at the Col and boil water and help prepare food for all of us) said it would be 3 people to a tent. I said "no way," as they are only a 2 man at the best of time and with bulky down sleeping bags and suits we would not be able to move. He agreed and we set up another tent. After this I helped Nima Temba go and collect hard snow, which we hacked out with an ice axe, and filled up a very large bag. This was a lot of work at 26,000 ft breathing thin air. Ang Dorjee and Pemba arrived and dropped their loads and said good bye, they were only going to help bring up gear and supplies and go back to Camp II. This left Nima Temba, Nima Gyumbu, Tshering Dorjee and Nima Dorjee on the Col. I put my gear in one of the tents and was waiting for the others to arrive. About 2 hours after I arrived, Steve Goodwin showed up and I helped him with his pack, he said he thought that Rob Owen and Dave Callaway had turned back and would not be coming up. After a while longer I could see Dave Walsh our Expedition leader on the traverse to the Col, he looked very tired and he sat down prior to our camp. I went over to where he was and took his pack for him as he continued to wear his oxygen mask and we walked up to where the tents were. Dave had just spent about 14 hours climbing up from Camp II to Camp 4 and was one tired puppy. Dave had said he thought that Dave Callaway had turned back (this was Dave's 3rd time on Everest) but that Rob Owen was still coming but really tired and hurting. We settled into our tents as the Col became engulfed in blowing snow and cloud. Steve Goodwin and I in one tent, Dave in another which he would share with Rob. I started to drink and eat as much as I could and Nima Temba made Ra Ra Noodle soup for us (just like Ramen or Ichiban but a bit spicier) I looked out my tent and saw Rob on the traverse and went out to meet him, I took his pack as well and helped him over to his tent, he was spent. It was shortly there after that we had some tragic news. Pemba Sherpa (at first I thought he had said Pema, our Sirdar, and it was not till the next day I got it straightened out) who had carried up a load to the Col earlier had been hit with some ice just below Camp III and had what they thought was a broken leg. (It turned out to be only a very bad bruise once it was looked at by a surgeon who was at Basecamp) He would spend 4 hours hanging onto the rope waiting for enough help to take him back up to Camp III. The radio news was sporadic and we had to get this information from the Singapore team on their frequencies as our radios never worked well. Then Dave told us he got a radio call from Jim who said that Nima Nuru Sherpa's (very strong and young and first time on Everest) father had just died on Dhaulagiri (another 8,000 metre peak) and he had left Basecamp ASAP. So, because of this, Nima Dorjee Sherpa would have to go down to Camp II tomorrow and not go with the summit team, he would have to be with the 2nd summit team as we had just lost two Sherpa. After some time (around 3 to 3:30 p.m) Dave informed me that he and Rob would not be making a summit attempt, Rob was suffering badly from a head ache and he was too bagged to go, but he would wait here at the Col for Steve and myself, a true leader this man. Rob would head down at first light with Nima Dorjee Sherpa for Camp II and subsequently Basecamp and out back to Briton. Steve, Nima Gyumbu, Steering Dorjee and myself prepared for the summit tonight by drinking, eating and then resting in our tents. Here was the plan, Wally Berg's team (Wally was at Camp III and would not be going up tonight but had all his people Charles Corfield, Eric Simonson, Greg Wilson plus at least 7 Sherpas) was going up to set up GPS equipment on the South Summit and Summit for Brad Washburn. His team was to coordinate the fixing of the South Summit Ridge, Summit Ridge and Hillary Step. His team got a few strong Sherpa together who were very experienced from various teams, and set up the plan to leave at 10 pm this night to fix the route. Well I don't know what happened but when I got out to go at 11.30 pm that night people had just started to leave. I was wondering what was going on here, I sure hope there won't be a bottle neck up the line.
May 20th I packed a one litre thermos of hot water and took my camera and film, Power Gels, spare goggles and glasses, two chocolate bars, sun cream, a small knife, a package containing a picture of Jamie and Zachary in our favorite place "Maui", a glow in the dark spider Zach gave me with a small toy man, a penny that my Brother Rick gave me, an Aries symbol that my sister Leslie gave me (we are both Aries) a piece of gum that my Dad gave me (Chuck Yeager fans know what this means) Vulcan pins from Randy Wolfe, a Canadian flag from Barry McFarland (my MLA), a Calgary Sun front page, Flags from Ford of Canada, Ford Credit Canada, my dealership Vulcan Ford Mercury plus various other items I thought necessary to pack up there including a touching card my wife Jamie had written and sent with me. (I have long since gone up to my room to finish this where it is nice and cool and quiet) It was quite windy moving up to the Ice Bulge and I could feel a small portion of uncovered cheekbone starting to freeze, I remember saying to myself that if this is the only thing that freezes I'll be doing OK. I was walking behind Nima Gyumbu with Tshering Dorjee and Steve behind, we were about 15 people behind the front and all you could see was head lamps moving and flashing left and right. As I was on Nima's heels he let me pass and I started to lead up the face, it was interesting to move as I never really got a clear picture in the afternoon of how steep the face was and now I was making sure I did not make a mistake and go sliding back down. We continued on for some time and I lost Nima somewhere behind me, I was not worried for him as he was more experienced up here than I was. At times you would see a light go falling past down below and you knew that a person was under it but you just carried on as if nothing had happened. You had to double kick in the hard snow to make sure you had a good perch prior to planting the next foot, it seemed to me that a fall would not be the right thing to do now as it takes a tremendous amount of energy to recover from. After a time we started angling up to the right and towards the Balcony (SE ridge), it seemed to get ever steeper the higher we went. Steve was close behind me as we made our way up onto the Balcony where we had caught up to the Sherpas who were leading the way. The Balcony is a small area on the start of the SE ridge and we rested and waited for our Sherpa to catch up. It seemed like some unorganized confusion going on as some lead Sherpa were just standing around a few yards ahead trying to fix rope on an area that I didn't think needed fixing, it only made for a back log of people. As soon as our Sherpa arrived we left one bottle of oxygen (half full) on the balcony and hooked up a fresh bottle (we were carrying two bottles) and worked our way in the line of people waiting as the Sherpa fixed a small section. We made our way past some people and finally the line started moving and they removed the piece of fixed rope that had been placed for no apparent reason. We started going up the SE ridge, moving easily on the hard wind blown snow (remember the storm that had rocked the mountain some days earlier, that helps the snow conditions on ridges) for some reason there would be delays in movement and I kept thinking I should just move past these people and climb on by, up the ridge, then I thought that there were some pretty experienced Everest climbers ahead of me and they must be going slowly for a reason. We got up to where the rock starts below the South Summit and steepens sharply, I remember Nima had turned my oxygen flow down to 1 litre per minute (he thought at the rate the line was moving we better conserve oxygen). I had made myself a seat on the steep face and sat down and looked out at Makalu (another 8,000 metre peak) and Kanchenjunga (yet another 8,000 metre peak way off in the distance). Nima passed me a drink as we waited for the Sherpas who were fixing the rock band to start making some progress. I caught myself nodding off and quickly turned up the flow to 2 litres per minute, most people from other teams were using a 3 litre per minute flow and some would eventually run out on the South Summit. The line started moving again and we made our way up the rock band toward the South Summit looking like it was straight up. It seemed very easy to me in fact maybe too easy as I was expecting an excruciatingly hard day. The anchors were not that strong and we were on about a 7 mm thick line that you could play a note on it was stretched so tight, I pulled on it as lightly as possible thinking that if the anchor broke there would be no way of arresting everyone who had clipped into the line, it was just too steep. I was excited about the South Summit as from there to the summit was an hour more at the maximum and I was almost at the South Summit, nothing was going to stop me I thought. I was well in control, felt super strong, and here I was going to make a dream come true, three months away from my family, living in a sleeping bag and eating things that, to be kind, were very different from what I was used to. It was important to me to feel strong as the hardest part of this climb was going to be the climb back down to Basecamp and you needed a lot of strength to be in control of your movements. The views were out of this world as I made it to the top of the South Summit, less than 100 metres to go now. The South Summit is the 2nd highest point on earth, no mountain other than Everest is higher, I could see the Summit ridge leading to the Hillary Step was so close. I was the second person other than the route fixing Sherpas to reach the South Summit and they were just sitting down doing what I thought was resting, Eric Simonson from Wally Berg's team asked them what they were doing and to go fix the Summit Ridge and Hillary Step but nobody moved. A short while later he asked again, still nobody (the 7 Sherpa) moved or looked Eric in the eye. He finally went over in front of them and said "speak to me guys, what is going on here?" "tell me what is going on." Then one Sherpa said they didn't have enough rope left to do any more fixing. Here were Sherpa, some who had summitted 6 times, climbed with Rob Hall, David Breashears, Scott Fisher etc, etc, etc, and they had not coordinated bringing enough rope to fix the Summit Ridge and Hilary Step. I could not believe what I was hearing, I stared up at the Ridge and Hillary Step wanting to get there before more people got up an created a bottle neck at the Step. I thought of free climbing it and then thought how one misstep would not allow me to see my family again, and how that would be a selfish act that no one would forgive. I remembered the last thing Laurie Skreslet had said to me over the phone at the Calgary Airport (he was calling from in the lobby, slept in I guess), he said "Byron I know you are going to do it but just don't get caught in a bottle neck it's not worth it." Here I was staring up at my goal, thinking about Jamie and Zachary, staring up at my goal then thinking about family and friends. I thought why me, I trained so hard, there was no one stronger on this mountain right now but the kid from Vulcan, it had seemed so easy to me climbing Mount Everest, not at all like I had read or had heard. Then there is my obstinate personality which won't allow me to ever give up, and when it gets hard that's when I excel. Then I thought of Zachary again and how much I love and miss him and his beautiful smile, and Jamie's pillar of strength which has helped us all. It would be unfair if I didn't come back because of an obsession to climb this mountain (besides Jamie's next husband would never have to work) and not be able to watch Zachary grow up, ride his new bike, play hockey, base ball and his new love of golf, because of an obsession to be the best at what ever I want to do. At that moment it seemed so unfair to end like this. Andy Evans who had sent me an email asking to bring him a small Canadian flag that he had put on the summit tripod last year, had ended his email with the remark "Byron, the mountain will always be there." That may be true, but have you ever had something so close and then taken away from you due to something beyond your control? It just tore me apart. Steve Goodwin had just arrived and I filled him in on what was going on, I asked Nima Gyumbu what he thought about going on without rope (remember he had summitted 3 times prior) and he just shook his head no! Then Nima Gyumbu pointed up to the plume of snow coming off Everest and said the winds are starting to really pick up (it seems they always are blowing on Everest) up 70 mph he thought. It was at that time that Eric Simonson said to his people lets get the %%^!@#! out of here. I did not want to get behind a downwind of slow people going down (by now Steve Goodwin said there was over 50 people up on the South Summit, that would have been a new daily record) so I made sure Steve was with both Sherpa, changed into a new bottle of oxygen and bolted down the fixed ropes towards the balcony. I had made my decision to go, it was the absolute hardest decision I have ever had to make, bar none. I thought about all the time and effort it had taken to get this far, the months and months of training, the sacrifice my wife Jamie and son Zachary had made giving me the unconditional support required to get prepared for this climb. I looked up at the summit of Everest, 270 feet above and about 45 minutes away and I thought how easy it would be to free climb the knife edge ridge to the Hillary Step. (Everest had not been climbed in over a year and there was no sign of rope anywhere) I thought if this was the Canadian Rockies, I would do it in a heart beat, then I looked down at my feet and thought of my wife Jamie and son Zachary. I looked back up at the summit and said to myself "it's a cakewalk, I can do this" then I looked back down at my feet and thought about family and friends and how selfish it would be for me to continue on without the safety of any rope. (There was not enough rope to even do a running belay with another climber) There is a 6,000 foot drop down the left side of the ridge into the Western Cwm, and a 8,000 foot drop on the right into Tibet, one slip and you are dead for you cannot react quick enough up at this altitude. So I made the toughest decision of my life, which was to turn back and climb the mountain another day. No one summitted that day from any of the Teams on the mountain I can recall reading that American Ed Viesturs (five time summiter had turned around at the same spot in 1987). It only took me 1 hour and 18 minutes to descend 3,000 ft to Camp 4 at the South Col. Along the way down I would see many climbers still ascending, I told them about the rope situation but I could tell I was looking into glassy eyes (I now know what the thousand yard stare looks like). I stopped to help one climber just below the South summit who somehow got all caught up in the fixed rope, you could tell he was just zapped from any energy. I finally got him untangled from the rope and was then able to clip my descender into the rope and continue down. I stopped at the Balcony to drink the first liquid of the day out of my thermos. I had been so preoccupied at the South Summit about what was happening and making the decision to go down that I didn't take any pictures, had not even taken my cameras or video camera out of the pack, which is quite unlike me. I started down from the balcony and I could see a long line of people descending, I stopped along the way down now and again to take pictures up and down and away from the mountain. Now that it was daylight on this section you could see how steep it was and that a fall could bang you up pretty good as we were about to hear from some others. I sat down above the Ice Bulge and took some pictures of Nuptse, Lhotse, and Makalu and thought about how suddenly it had ended, how through incompetence and mismanagement of rope my summit had been taken away from me. I was now starting to get mad, real mad about what had just happened. I carried on down to the Col where Dave Walsh had come out to meet me, Dave put his arms around me and we both started to cry, I just could not believe what had happened up there. All the time and effort wasted because of no rope, leaving too late to fix the South Summit rock Band had not helped either, I felt I could have been up 3 hours earlier had things been coordinated properly. Nima Temba brought me over some hot tea as Dave and I made our way into camp. Dave said he heard over the radio (I could not believe it worked) that there wasn't any more rope and said some kind words to me. I really just wanted to be left alone for the moment and think about my decision and what had just happened to my Mount Everest Summit. From up above I could see the whole SE ridge up to the South Summit engulfed in a snow plume, it. was really blowing up there now. As the day went on a few people would straggle in, it seemed that all the route fixing Sherpa had made it down and then I saw Steve, Nima Gyumbu and Tshering Dorjee coming down the Ice Bulge, Dave and I went out to meet them and help carry packs. As the day and night wore on the radio was buzzing with activity, people with snow blindness, people having too short rope, others who were in bad shape. Sherman Bull had fallen 200 metres down the face, broken ribs etc, frost bite on his finger tips and who knows what else. (I saw him at the airport as he flew to Bangkok on my flight, he was in rough shape, they flew him from Basecamp to Lukla in a helicopter) Some people took over 12 hours to get down to the Col which lets you know how tired and out of it they were. There were cases of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema) we even had Tommy Hienrich from Argentina (he had summitted in 1995 and was working on the Tom Whittaker Team) stumble over to our tent with a face that looked like a bat had hit it and an arm that had been punctured completely through by his ice axe. Tommy had fallen 100 metres and was lucky to be alive, his face had hit the ice and was a mess and his arm was useless he said. I was grateful I had the quickness and strength to get down without an injury. I was going home. We only had enough resources (oxygen and Sherpas) for one summit push. I was asked over the phone once I got to Basecamp if I was going to go back up in a few days and I said no, our Expedition Leader Dave Walsh and guide Jim Williams had made it clear we only had enough oxygen for one summit push and stated that we were done on Everest this year, we had our try. (I had thought about all the way down to Basecamp about resting and going back up). The Icefall had changed dramatically since I was last through it, crevasses widened, areas changed with blocks lifted and dropped ladders now just barely making it over crevasses. The bottom part of the Icefall was a mess, the heat had really done a job on it and I could see that something was going to happen soon. The other thing is resources like oxygen, food, fresh Sherpas etc. -- we had none left, we only had enough for one summit push each so it really was out of the question to go again. I had just got into Basecamp and sat down (my pack was still on) when the phone rang, it was for me, someone at the Calgary Sun. I was pretty tired from packing a large load from the Col down to Basecamp in two days and I don't really remember what he asked me other than is there anything I want to say to Jamie and Zach, I had a hard time finding the strength to fight back the tears, I said tell them I love them. From the point I started descending from the South Summit I immediately started making plans in my mind for the next time I would go back to climb Everest. This time I would organize and lead my team from beginning to end, being in full control of the out-come. See you at the top!TM Byron Smith Top | Arrive in Nepal | April | List of expeditions and elevations | April 17, climb plan | May | May 11, storm at Camp II | May 15, Summit push begins | May 20, the disapointing end
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