WE MADE IT! An Everest Expedition Field Report
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FILED BY: LEISL CLARK AND LIZ COHEN, WITH LINDA MARCOPULOS
THE SUMMIT DAY - RETRACING THE STEPS:
Wednesday, May 22, 7pm - It was another restless night on Mt. Everest for the
science/film/climbing team, and after over two months of physically and emotionally exhausting
efforts, our group was attempting to catch their last few winks of sleep before beginning their summit attempt.Most of the other expeditions on the mountain were gone--having departed after one of Everest's greatest tragedies claimed the lives of 8 climbers on May 10. However, the expedition members were in good spirits because the weather had finally broken, the jet stream was safely to the north, and clear skies and low winds were projected for the next few days.
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MOUNT EVEREST
Screenshot from the movie
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The jet stream is a fast-moving wind current that blows from east to west at altitudes between 25,000 to 45,000 feet The top of Everest is at 29,028 feet!. It blows ferociously in the winter, out during the spring in the Himalaya, its position fluctuates, and ideally, a low pressure system pushes the jet stream northward to Tibet, creating a climber's "window" of calm weather. During the past few weeks, the jet stream moved south, and according to Boo Rice, a jet stream specialist and meteorologist from Lancaster, Massachusetts. the calm weather was very unpredictable: "When the jet stream moves south, it becomes extremely unstable and could snap back north very quickly, catching climbers on Everest unaware," This scenario unfortunately played out a few weeks ago, when 21 climbers were caught exposed on the southeast ridge by a fast-moving, fierce blizzard.
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Both Breashears and Viesturs are conservative when it comes to safety on the mountain. "The
weather conditions, snow conditions, your attitude, your will, your health, and how strong you are all have to come together on that one summit day," Viesturs advised. "If one of those things is not there, you're not going to make it."
THE TWELVE HOUR CLIMB:
Wednesday, May 22, 11:45pm -After spending more than two hours preparing gear, putting on down suits and melting ice for their last hot drinks, the climbers were ready to begin their summit attempt. The trek to the summit from high camp takes nearly 12 hours, so with headlamps and starlight as their guide, the group left Camp IV at midnight.
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"On summit day, you get into this mantra, you're in a cocoon. Every bit of focus and concentration and drive and ambition one has goes into putting the next foot in front of the other," says Breashears. "You turn up the Southeast ridge toward the South Summit, and it's an enormous effort -to climb at these elevations even with oxygen. You are continuously moving for almost 10 hours -before you reach the South Summit. Now you're only three hundred feet from the top, but then you have the treacherous Hillary Step and the climbing becomes much more exposed."
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NIGHT CLIMB TO THE SUMMIT
Screenshot from the movie
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In Tenzing Norgay's book, Tiger of the Snows, The Autobiography of Tenzing of Everest, Norgay recalls the famous winding "snowy humped" ridge and steep, rocky step, some 40 feet high, that blocked Hillary and Norgay's way that morning of May 29,1953. After Hillary's discovery of a crack in the step, and a way to jam and wriggle his body upwards, the two climbers set forth on the final path to the summit. This sharp ridge is still known today as the "Hillary Step."
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JAMLING TENZING (85) ON EVEREST
Pic From Jamling
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Today, Norgay's son, Jamling, with his father's book in hand, walks in his father's footsteps fulfilling a lifelong dream. "I've always had this urge to climb Everest. Since I was 18 years old I wanted to climb, but my father said no. He said `Why do you want to climb? I already climbed it for you.'" But for Jamling, climbing the mountain is a tribute to his late father, to the love that he had given, to the education his father's climbing efforts had paid for.
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Other climbers had equally moving and emotional sentiments while striving to accomplish personal goals. From the Base Camp support team, Viesturs' wife Paula .knew that this climb was going to be a difficult one for Ed, after losing two close friends in the tragic storm of a week ago. But as a professional climber and mountaineering guide who has led several clients to the top of Everest, he was well aware of the special challenges this team would encounter.
For Araceli Segarra, reaching the summit of Everest grants her a place in history by becoming the first woman from Spain to reach the summit of the mountain. But for Araceli, taking part in something she loves is her predominant goal: "First I like to go climbing with friends and to enjoy. (Climbing) is like dancing." Her positive attitude, humor and spirit have been a great blessing to this team throughout the expedition, and as a physiotherapist, her role has been important to the climb.
By 7:00 a.m. the Sherpas at Camp IV could see our climbers on the South Summit. Breashears and Austrian assistant cameraman Robert Schauer were seen with the IMAX. camera, filming. Viesturs was attempting the summit for the sixth time-his fourth without supplemental oxygen. Because of his need no keep moving, he continued his trek up the mountain, breaking the through waist deep snow Breashears waited behind at the South Summit for the others who were behind by at least one hour. Upon reaching the South Summit, Sumiyo Tsuzuki: decided to end her journey up the mountain, and waited there to join the group on their descent.
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