Camp Two Trial Run

[Click on the pictures to see larger versions with captions.]

The Himex team's first big acclimatization test is complete. Starting from the North Col on the morning of May 3, most of the team began the grueling plod up to Camp Two at 24,500 feet (7,500 meters).

This is a painful part of climbing Everest's North Ridge, and I recall it well from my time here in 1995. From the North Col the route looks easy; you can see the entire path, which on the morning of May 3 was lined with scores of Sherpas and climbers following the arrow-straight line of ropes up the moderately angled spur to a series of terraces where tents are crammed.

Everyone sat around the circular fringe, plump in their down suits, enjoying the closeness. The fumes from the cookers made us all a bit heady. Fred Ziel, usually a straight shooter who keeps to himself, sat laughing like a college kid when someone hooked him up to an iPod loaded with Frank Zappa tunes. Dinner consisted of pre-cooked meals in foil packs.

The next morning was clear, after nighttime snow flurries left the north face of Everest frosty white. I, personally, felt like crap as I crawled out of my tent, which I'd inhabited with four film crew members — Ed Wardle, Mark Whetu, Phil Coates and Ed Venner. Dehydration had started to set in after my first night at 23,000 feet, leaving the interior of my head feeling like a balloon and my body drained of energy. I was glad I didn't have to go any higher for the sake of this assignment.

By 9.30 a.m. the climbers, along with cameramen Ed Wardle and Mark Whetu, began the uphill grind. Soon the sun beat down with a vengeance. Normally this stretch of ridge is a wind-lashed, cold place, but this day it was hot and breathless. For survival reasons, anyone going up from Camp One must wear a life-preserving down suit, but on this uncommonly hot day it was torture to be encased in the feather-filled coveralls.

After one final visit to the big dome to melt enough water for me, Phil and Ed Venner to make the roasting descent to ABC (in which I nearly fainted due to the by-now toxic fumes that had gathered inside there), we descended, leaving the Camp Two candidates to their arduous slog. Once back at ABC we'd monitor their progress from there.

The general rule on this expedition is that candidates for the summit must reach each camp in a reasonable amount of time. The approximate time required to get from ABC to Camp One is five hours; from Camp One to Camp Two is also five hours. Flexibility is allowed, but it's clear that someone taking twice that time doesn't have a reasonable or safe chance of getting to the next camps. The effort it takes to move up becomes exponentially harder at higher altitudes.

So when Betsy had gotten only about a third of the way up in five hours, and had fallen asleep in the snow several times, guide Dean Staples told her to go down. By afternoon, Sherpas had escorted her back to ABC.

"There's no air up there!" Betsy told me on arrival at ABC. "I just wanted to go to sleep all the time, so I'd curl up and nap. I talked a lot to the man upstairs. And I realized there are more beautiful things than Everest — like my dog's face. I kept seeing his beautiful face in my dreams, and I realized how much I miss him."

Betsy never fails to find a unique angle on her Everest experience. I'm not sure where this leaves her in the running for the summit phase of the expedition. She has a lot to learn, for example, about the crucial need to fend off dehydration. As she left Camp One I watched her filling a half-liter bottle with water and suggested to her that her body would need lots more than that to stay hydrated. She shrugged it off and headed up.

My guess is that dehydration, heat and 7,200 meters of thin air lulled this sea-level-living California girl into a potentially deadly dream world. More than a few bodies on Everest have been left behind because someone drifted into that lethargic state of dehydration and altitude and never woke up. Back at ABC today, after a good night's sleep, Betsy seems entirely happy with the place she's in.

During the morning of May 4, the rest of the group returned to ABC. It had been a rough day for all of them.

David Tait was first. His partner for the double traverse, Phurba Tashi, greeted him at his tent. David mentioned how Phurba and his indefatigable Sherpa crew had rocketed ahead of the climbers, chopped platforms from the ice, erected tents, then filled them with sleeping bags, pads and stoves. (Phurba and crew had been on the summit only a couple of days earlier).

Shaking his head in admiration, David said, "We're not a team. We're a bunch of Westerners making individual statements on Everest. The Sherpas — they're a team."

Said Darius when he arrived: "You want to know what is hell? Up there is hell. It was hot, very hot."

Rod: "That was the hardest thing I've ever done. Everything physical is accentuated ten times up there."

Mogens had a particularly hard time. "My asthma went haywire. I think it was the fumes in the cook tent. I vomited near Camp Two, and that's a first.” On previous attempts on Everest, the triathlete had covered the same ground in three hours; this time it took him six.

Hardest hit of all was Li Yong, who, inching upwards and against advice from guides Woody and Dean, wouldn't turn back. After 10 hours, he arrived in Camp Two. Tim made the ascent in about seven hours. At the time of this writing he's still ambling down from the North Col, moving at his own speed. No one is concerned here because, well, it's Tim.

The days ahead: Everyone goes down to base camp for about a week of rest. Then, when the crew returns, the summit bids begin.

Signing off,
Greg Child

The scene at the North Co

l camp, at 23,000 feet (7,000 meters), the previous night was communal: Fifteen of us squeezed into a big yurt-shaped dome tent for dinner. In the middle of the tent sat two cook stoves melting snow in big pots to boiling .

Comments

[Nordgaard]

well, well, well. Sounds like the "men have been separated from the boys" at this point. We're cheering for you and wish you all a safe and successful summit!

[Jon Huelskamp]

We are still pullin for ya big sis, but don't push yourself to far. As Big Boss would say "Everest is no place to take a nap". Many other adventures lay ahead. We miss and love ya very much. Good luck to the others. Be safe and enjoy the view.

[sasha]

My beautiful Betsy wind sister! Oh girl! No snow sleeping! Your soul is soooooo much bigger than your physical being. We are all soooooo proud of your many world wide travel accomplishments and this latest is far beyond what one can comprehend. You are incredibly inspiring to even attempt your dream of Everest. Whatever physical level you attain on that mountain, you have accomplished wonders and have touched our hearts! You are a giant presence in this world, my soul sister. Friends and family love you and we are sending our dear, dear love to you, so that you will make very wise and divine decisions as you guide your physical being on this challenge. Be safe and sound, my very precious friend. We need you and love you, especially your doggie, Ute. God bless the entire team. Your efforts are monumental and a reminder to all the utter majesty of the human spirit, and capabilities. Be safe everyone... And God bless and many thanks to those Sherpas and the guides interacting with our Betz.

[martin]

Nice blog greg and very nice pictures, well written and all.

But has i said in earlier comment's some people on this expedition should never have got this far.
Betsy is lucky to be alive today. But i can say that at least she is really lucid about the decisions of coming down.

Imagine if nobody had help het getting down.....

And for Li i mean why is he allowed to continue...
On the blog it is written that you need climb between camps in a certain amount of time. He did exactly the double.

It is written that you should be allowed that much....
Those people are at risk for THEIR LIFES and the LIFES of THE SHERPA that will get them down....

Just for the personal pride of getting that far......

For the rest of the team i wish you a safe climb and the most important thing on everest is summiting is getting down alive.

[matt hardy]

hey greg and himex team thanks for another amazing blog greg at home when im reading them its like im actually there with the team on everest i really want to argh i need more money but im not going to make it this year so your blogs will do fine they are inspiring to read it just show how fit u can be like mogens but then at that altitude is alot different so much more strain on the climber perhaps a stairlift should be installed its hard to even imagin wats it like to be there for real but your blogs give me a clue to wats its like hows russel doing havent heard much from him. take care greg and thr rest of the himex team some speactacular pictures again thanks for your blogs greg cant wait for the next installment

[Kat]

I really enjoy this blog, and the accounts of the climbers, but the constant second-guessing of Brice and Tashi by the arm chair expedition leaders in the comments is getting a little tiresome. These are professionals; they've been to the mountain many, many times. Brice has NEVER lost a client, and there's a reason people like Mogens Jensen climb with Himex again and again.

They are still in the relatively early stages of acclimatizing, which is why Gong Li, Mogens and Tim, none of whom made the climb in 5 hours, are still on the expedition. I don't think anyone wants to claim that Mogens Jensen is not fit or experienced enough to climb Everest. People acclimatize differently and at different rates, and as Childs pointed out, the fumes from the stoves in one of the tents had an adverse effects on some of the climbers.

I see no reason for me or anyone else to assume that our judgment is superior to that of people who are actually there and who have proved, year after year, that they know what they are doing up there. I do understand the concerns about commercial expeditions and crowded climbing conditions. However, I also feel it should be noted that with the rise of these commercial expeditions the death rate went from 1 death for every 4 successful summits to 1 death for every 10 successful summits.

[SteveH]

The events posted Mr. Child regarding the difficulties experienced by many of the climbers for the traverse to C2 raised some questions in my mind. As stated previously I am not a climber so I would assume that the circumstances inside the tent and the necessity to melt snow for water as mentioned by Mr. Child are routine during high altitude climbs. However the symptoms that afflicted the climbers sound like Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.

As you know Carbon Monoxide is a product of combustion of organic matter under conditions of restricted oxygen supply; hence the necessity to ventilate enclosed spaces when burning such sources as natural gas, natural gas under presure, kerosene or propane. Lack of ventilation inside the tent and most certainly the reduced level of oxygen at 7,200 meters suggests that this theory could have contributed to difficulties experienced by all.

In previous posts it was stated by several that Betsy never exhibited any of the symptoms of altitude sickness yet she found herself unable to remain awake. Certainly I am not taking issue with Mr. Child's assessment that dehydration was reason for Betsy to retreat to ABC but its also possible that she could not overcome the Carbon Monoxide Poisoning at her weigth of 125 lbs compared to the men at 180 - 240 lbs. The fact that even the most fit had difficulties suggests that maybe all were afflicted in some degree.

Obviously if there is any merit to this theory than certainly the goal of this post is to not repeat the same events in the ensuing weeks. Also it would more likely explain the difficulties experienced by Betsy and I thank God that Mr. Staples insisted that she retreat and Betsy had the conviction to abide by the suggestion. And thank God for the Sherpas that helped her get back to ABC.

Whether Betsy tries again to ascend to C2 is going to be a decision that those on the mountain should be making...I for one am extremely proud to call Betsy a friend...she has demonstrated so much courage to get where she is now in spite of enduring so much negativity that started even before she left for Katmandu and continued by many watching the events unfold as vividly described by Mr. Child.

My thoughts and prayers are with you Betsy and those amazing people on that mountain with you...you have done yourself proud...be well...be safe...and like so many of your friends and family we anxiously await your return.

God speed to the all those extraordinary souls on Mt. Everst.

[Elizabeth RN "the nurse"]

Great play by play action from the mountain.Super pictures.Yes,keep typing and pray the cameras do not freeze up.Appreciate the updates on other web sites.Fred is direct and to the point on himex.I like that Good Morning.Tim you can do this.Believe ,faith. so..up up and away.Elizabeth "the nurse" at sea level,NC

[Jeff Borden]

Your doing a GREAT job on this blog Greg! My nine year old son is hooked on it as well. Keep up the good work sir. Stay safe too! Thanks!

Jeff

[Remco Kalf]

Thanks for the well written stories en great pics! Nice to read some of the climbers from last year are back for a second try. The last episode of the 2006 documentary just aired one week ago here in the Netherlands.
I'm fascinated by this plan of David Tait, the double traverse. From your writings, I understand he is planning to summit, then descend all the way down to BC in Nepal, and then turn around, summit again, and back into Tibet? Or is he not descending all the way down in Nepal? And he is taking the head Sherpa of Russels team with him? How does this work with tents/camps and ropes on the Nepalese side, since none of those can be prepared? Could you write some more about this?
Keep up the good work and stay safe,

Remco.

[Ineke Woodward]

Thanks Greg for the photo of Woody,good to know 'my little boy'is looking so good. It must be the food they feed you up there.from his proud Mum

[Armchair Mountaineer]

It sounds like the team is returning to base camp for a week's rest before making their summit bid. Does anyone know when the expected date of their summit bid is? Also, is the mountain really crowded this year in terms of other teams? It always concerns me when there seem to be too many people on the mountain because logjams can occur on the ropes.

[jj]

the commentary and the pics r the best. Please continue to be safe and have fun. hope that betsy is ok and so r u. gods speed. RN in SC USA

[Allison]

Greg, love that picture of the North Col campsite. It says so much. Also, love your books.
Being just a hiker/occasional backpacker I pulled for the 'underdog' last year on the show (Tim), and am still in his corner this year. He takes us regular folk up there with him in a way. And this year, Betsy too. I hope she is doing ok down at BC. Sending good thoughts across the oceans and mountains and praying for a safe ascent and descent for all, with fingers, toes, noses etc... intact :)

[Louise]

This is a great description- thanks for keeping us up with what is happening. Uncle Mark- Tana thinks you should introduce a naughty seat for climbers who ignore good advice.

[Edith]

Once again, a big Thank You to Greg for this blog and your amazing photos.
I wish safety and great adventures to everyone up there.
To Betsy- you are very much loved! Please come back safe and with all the bits and pieces you came in with!

[Frank Bingel]

Amazing blog, especially for those who have already seen the 06 documentation like myself...

Please check this news on a remote Everest rescue helicopter:
http://zenith.engadget.com/2007/02/05/group-plans-unmanned-everest-rescue-helicopter/

Cheers,
Frank from Germany

[Guy, Soph, Ed and Kath]

Hey Rod, we're all routing for you from Guy's flat. Keep safe, we want you home soon! Hope your knackers aren't too cold, you can do it. Big love dudes