8898m – The highest point in Asia
Attempt 1 2014 – Mountain closed after avalanche in the icefall.
Attempt 2 2015 – Mountain closed after earthquake causes avalanche through basecamp.
After the disastrous 2014 Everest season I sulked for about three months. Probably put on a few kilograms. Drank a lot of beer.
Then I picked myself up, dusted off and signed up again for 2015. This wasn’t a light decision, the cost had been $40,000USD and there was only the hope that ten of that (the cost of the permit) would be transferred for next season.
Then there was the training. 2014 was the accumulation of 10 months of climbing internationally. This year there was no way I could take that time off again. So I resigned myself to the gym. And running.
Then there was the fallout with IMG. They wanted me to pay for the 2015 permit (at the new price of 11k USD) in advance. Even though we had been assured when we left the mountain that our permits would remain valid for five years. They also upped the price by another 2.5k USD after I had made two of the three payments. This then combined with the fact that they weren’t providing any discount from the previous season (despite initial indications that something may be possible based on the unused oxygen still up at camp 2). So I grumbled… which resulted in me being unceremoniously kicked off the team (by email). So four months before departure date I found myself in the shitty position of looking for a new team… so much for two years and 100K making for a valued client!
Enter Altitude Junkies. The cost was comparable and I already knew one of the climbers. Add to that their camp wasn’t dry (Alcohol Junkies was the popular nickname) and things were beginning to look up! Then my buddy Phil decides to join me, THEN my partner Christine decides to join me. From very unhappy to very happy in three easy steps J
To make sure we got a bit of mountain time before heading up Phil and I headed to the south island of NZ in January. I left a week ahead of him to have an attempt on Tasman (aborted due to icy conditions and bad weather), then on to the main event of Mt Aspiring which we pulled off in lovely alpine style (without the use of helicopters or guides thankyou very much).
Roll on March 31st and we were on our way to Kathmandu. This season had to be better than last!
After the typical two days of drinking at Kilroy’s and shopping in Thamel we boarded a helicopter for Lukla and began the trek up to EBC. We had great weather and as the altitude didn’t seem to affect Christine at all we explored on all of our rest days.
We arrived at base camp on Saturday April 11 where I had to bid a tearful farewell to Christine. The thought of the next six weeks of separation didn’t sit very well with either of us, but without a climbing permit staying at base camp is not permitted.
Over the next week or so we made regular trips up to Pumori for acclimitisation with the only thing of note being April the 18th , the one year anniversary of the avalanche that killed so many people last year. Thankfully this year, the most to report was a cold morning (-8 at six am) and a successful walk to Gorak Shep looking for 3G.
My diary entry for the 20th read: “Ice fall tomorrow, fingers crossed no avalanches. Took heaps of pics from Pumori again. Watched Paddington bear on the laptop. Alarm set for 3.40am”.
We stopped just below what, the previous year, had been called “the football field” at 5,694m. This year it was only a small flat spot, completely changed. This is the same height as Kalla Patthar, but so much harder. We were up at 4, gone by 5, and back at 9am. The cold in the icefall caused me a bit of trouble, again having to switch to mittens – much warmer, but makes for clumsy work with carbiners.
On the evening of Thur 23/4 Phil Huddy and I headed up to Pumori to spend the night at camp one for some photography of the milky way rising over Everest. I took some dusk photos, then set my alarm for 1.30am. It was -14 when I got up. I was glad of my bivvy choice – the -40 sleeping bag on a rubber mat. This compared to Phil who chose to wear his down suit and forgo the sleeping bag. If you aren’t moving, they really aren’t that warm!!
It was an amazing night, with at least half a dozen shooting stars plus a satellite plus a meteor. Though when I looked at my photos afterwards, while I had some success, the main result was a desire to buy a full sensor DSLR!
We got down Friday morning for breakfast and snoozed most the afternoon. At 7.30 we went to a Himex party in their famous dome tent. Russell Brice and the Himex crew sure know how to have a good time! Very entertaining watching Woody (Mark Woodward) free climb the dome to pin a tail on the roof, not something I could force myself to do without a rope! We were out till 11pm, quite the party animals!
Saturday, 25/4/2015.
Well this date has become quite well known. At noon an earthquake triggers an avalanche off Pumori. I was in the dining tent with Phil Crampton and Ann (himex doc). I’d never been in an earthquake, so when the ground shook, I didn’t make the connection. When the ground stopped moving we walked outside, because we could hear an avalanche. Looking up towards Himex and Pumori we could see a huge cloud coming towards us. Interestingly no noise. Then chaos. All I could think was, oh no, not again. We ran back into the tent to take cover on the ground. I was holding a mug of tea which shattered as someone jumped on top of me (I had dropped by the tent entrance, thinking I didn’t want to get stuck under a collapsed tent). The gust hit us, and with it the noise. It seemed to last for about 30seconds, and left us covered in snow (last year’s luck held again). When I got up we found Barbara who had fallen trying to run from the avalanche. She had landed face first into a rock and broken her front tooth in half. Tents all around us were destroyed.
Phil didn’t want us leaving camp. We didn’t know if there would be an aftershock, and we were his responsibility. However, as IMG setup their camp as a hospital, and people started walking past us carrying wounded, we couldn’t sit around any longer. The rest of the day was spent helping as stretcher bearers. For those that have never been at altitude, and wondered why rescues are such a big deal on high mountains, this may be enlightening: it took about six people per stretcher, and we could only move about 20m before having to rotate people. It is hard enough just to walk, but carrying a load we were out of breath almost immediately.
I was frantic to try to contact everyone at home, but cell coverage had been knocked out. This was (and still is) the worst day of my life.
Sunday was sombre. We woke to helicopters flying wounded to Pheriche. Some of the AC clients that were at camp one and camp two got brought down. I spent some time helping dig at the site of their camp. It had been completely obliterated, and they were being hosted by Himex. We were finding tents and gear buried tens of meters from where it had been setup. There was destroyed and abandoned gear all over camp.
I finally managed to get 3G and talked to Dad and Christine. This after walking down the glacier through an aftershock… no panic there.
My diary for Monday 27th reads: “Helicopters buzzing early. Assume evacuations from camp one and two. Many avalanches last night. So far 1800 dead in Kathmandu. 18 here.” That still doesn’t quite sink in.
For Tue 28th: “Cold night last night -9. Got quite drunk.”
And my last diary entry for the trip, Wed 29th: “Packed and climbing gear leaving with porters. Aim to fly Friday.”
Walking out really brought home how lucky we had been. Many of the tea houses that we had stayed at on the way up were at least partially damaged. A roof gone here, a wall there.
In Kathmandu we started hearing about international rescue efforts being thwarted by the Nepalese government. Statements like “all rescue funds must go through the personal bank account of the prime minister”. By the time I was flying home I was beginning to get the same depressed feeling as last year.
I’m finishing this write up in 2018, and it is with mixed feelings that I’ve watched the successes of 2016 and 2017. There have been some changes, but not enough. I believe they can now helicopter loads to camp one? And now that there is no Hillary step, the major bottle neck has gone (though I would love to see a capped number of climbers per year). They also have a new minimum experience requirement, but I doubt it will be enforced. And let’s face it, there is nothing you can do to prevent an earthquake.
Altitude Junkies have quit the South side for now. Russel Brice is stepping back from operations. Mike Hamill has split from IMG and is running CTSS…
And me… I’m still dreaming of climbing… maybe one day I’ll be back?
Climb The Seven 