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Everest Blog: Decision Time
So after a very successful trip to the North Col and above, we slogged eight hours and 20 miles back down to Base Camp to join the rest of the team.
It was great to be back together as one team and the others were full of anticipation watching the weather and waiting for the seven day window needed to have a shot at the summit.
Now I needed to decide what to do.
For Dad the decision was easy – in reaching the North Col he had reached the absolute limit of his endurance and could go no further. He was going home.
For me the decision was a little harder. I had proved myself as probably the fittest member of the team and certainly the one person everyone assumed would make the summit.
Source: Richard Walker
The Sherpas kept saying how strong I was (probably because, like them, I am short and don’t weigh much and so have the ability to go uphill quickly!) and that I could go all the way.
Before the trip began I assumed that I would go for the summit. However, being out here for so long has made me think hard about my responsibilities as a husband and dad.
I have decided that the level of risk in going for the summit is not acceptable for me. Five years ago perhaps, but not now that I have other people to think of as well as myself.
Most of the other members of the summit team are also husbands and fathers. However, for them the risk level of summiting is acceptable because it is what they have always dreamed of. I’m a bit of a fraud in that sense.
I have not spent years dreaming of reaching the summit. Indeed, until a year ago I had never even considered it. Twelve months ago I had never held an ice axe or worn a pair of crampons. So for me the reward of summiting is not so great that I feel I should risk anything in getting there.
It’s a hard decision to make and I know a part of me will regret it; but it is the right decision.
Never short on ambition, it was only nine months ago that Dad and I set our target of reaching the North Col .. .and then walked up Snowdon for the first time!
We never realised just how hard climbing to 7,000 metres would be but we achieved our goal. Now is a good time to bow out, and quit whilst we’re winning.
It’s been a great adventure. I would not have missed it for the world.
Everest Blog: Looking at the world from 7,020m
The next morning the storm had disappeared and it was a beautiful clear day.
Source: Richard Walker
From 7,020m the world looks amazing, and the views down to ABC and up to the summit of the world were crystal clear. The summit looked so close, and you could see the four day route perfectly that leads to the top.
Dad and Rikki were well and truly whacked, and spent the morning recuperating. I headed off for an acclimatisation walk with Alan and Zangdu, a charming and tough Sherpa who has summited seven times.
Source: Richard Walker
I took my oxygen cylinder and mask but decided to try and not use it, which I managed to do.
We slowly plodded up the whale backed snow slope toward Camp 2.
The walk was tough but manageable, and I loved getting that bit closer to the summit and seeing how the route to the top progressed.
After about an hour we got to about 7,200m and reluctantly had to turn round, as we needed to get back to the North Col and descend down to ABC.
Needless to say the descent was quicker than the ascent, but due to the steepness of the ice wall and wearing crampons we all had to be very careful. Clipping into the fixed rope was essential, as one slip and we might fall 600m down.
We returned to ABC triumphant but knackered, and decided on a rest day the next day before proceeding back to Base Camp to rejoin the others and think about what we would do now.
Everest Blog - I’m Turning Into Howard Hughes
Well, we finally got to Advanced Base Camp (ABC). It is a two day trek ascending 1,200m over about 20km.
At altitude that hurts a lot, and I was really surprised at how tough it was. The worst bit however is the ‘Interim Camp’ overnight stop. It’s horrible; but at least that provides a motivator on the second morning to get out of there a.s.a.p. and carry on up to ABC.
My time to get from Interim to ABC of five hours was the quickest out of the whole group, so my smugness levels were pretty high upon arrival.
In one way it’s good to be here – Everest is right above us, with the North Col acting like a giant 600m ice wall that we have to climb up to get onto to the ridge that leads to the top. It feels like we are making progress and our target of the North Col isn’t far away now.
Source: Richard Walker
However, the downside is that we are now living at 6,400m! No humans on the planet live at these altitudes and as our team doctor bluntly put it we are all slowly dying.
Everything is a massive effort: after getting dressed in the morning you need to sit down to recover for 10 minutes. Drinking makes you out of breath. No appetite. Constant headaches, nausea, blocked noses.
The lack of oxygen effects your circulation and so at night you get cold and can’t stop shivering no matter how many layers you put on. My advice is to stick to Padstow or Barbados as altitude is horrible!
It’s good to be back together with the rest of the team, although pretty shocking to see the deterioration in them after five days at ABC. Someone’s tooth randomly fell out today; something to do with air pressure on the root! It’s like a high altitude old people’s home.
Another unfortunate side effect is that I seem to be turning into Howard Hughes. Half the team are suffering from a baffling range of ailments such as sore throats, strep coughs, giardia (!)...you name it.
Germs are everywhere and I’ve become hyper sensitive not to catch them. I haven’t quite resorted to roping off areas of my tent yet, but I do insist on my own mug and sterilising pretty much everything before use.
Source: Richard Walker
I even sleep in a daft mask to stop me getting a cough from the dry air (once they catch a “Kumbu Cough” people have been known to break ribs from the violent coughing fits or even to cough up parts of their throat lining).
So the guys who have been here for a few days longer are trying for the North Col today and then will be heading down to Base Camp soon after, as there is a trade-off between acclimatisation and deterioration. Dad, myself and Alan will have a few more days of resting and rope training before attempting the North Col. After which we’ll also head back down to the thicker air.
Everest blog: The North Col
So after sitting around at the unhealthy altitudes of ABC, it was time to make our attempt on the North Col. That is why we came to the mountain and there was no use putting it off any longer, as the trade-off between our bodies acclimatising and deteriorating was starting to show. We had to get down to lower altitudes soon.
The North Col was already proving itself to be no easy feat. As part of the team was ahead of us, some of them had already attempted the near 1000 metre climb.
Three of them did not make it (after three attempts). The Seven Summiteer and mountain enthusiast was sick when he reached the top. The impressively fit Red Arrows pilot coughed up blood as he staggered into camp. So needless to say Dad and I were slightly worried that we had set ourselves too ambitious a target!
To get to the foot of the 600 metre ice wall that you have to climb up to reach the North Col, there is a two and a half hour walk to get there up a steady incline. As we were now in serious mountain conditions, we were wearing our ‘summit boots’ to protect us from the cold and snow. It made walking cumbersome and slow.
Source: Richard Walker
Halfway into the walk to the ice wall you reach ‘Crampon Point’, where you put on your harnesses and crampons in advance of reaching the ice wall. The North Col climb is probably the most technical section of the whole of the Everest north face ascent.
‘Jumar Point’ marks the foot of the ice wall and is where the fixed ropes begin. We reached this point within about two hours despite the weather closing in and a snow storm around us. Things weren’t looking good – the others had struggled in sunny weather and we were taking on the North Col in a storm. Graham at ABC radioed twice to see if we were still proceeding.
The standard four hour ascent of the 600 metre ice wall was definitely the hardest part of the whole trip. The gradient was 50 degrees in some places and you could see other climbers slowly making their way up the cliff like little ants disappearing into the distance. If you look carefully at the photo and zoom in, you will see the lines of climbers going up the ice wall.
Source: Richard Walker
But being built like a Sherpa (i.e. small and light!) I seemed to race up the cliff much faster than the others. Indeed, Dad had several Sherpas come up to him saying “Your son – strong!” What a compliment coming from those guys!
After about 20 lines of fixed ropes and three hours I was making good progress. Then my heart stopped.
We were very near the top and were faced with three ladders lashed together, forming a makeshift bridge over a bottomless crevasse.
News to me - I thought there were no such ladders on the North side! To make matters worse, the ladder was not fixed into the snow at either end, just lain on top of the ground. This made it wobble and bow as you went over it.
Source: Richard Walker
At the end of the ladder was a near vertical 20 foot scramble; and then – finally – I was in camp. Our tents were at the far end of the 40 foot line of tents, and hilariously this took about 10 minutes to walk as I had to stop every few steps for breath.
As soon as I collapsed into the communal tent I took a picture of myself – I think from the expression on my face you can tell how tough the climb was!
Dad did amazingly well and an hour later also collapsed into camp. He ascended using oxygen and just kept ploughing on; refusing to give up. He completed the climb in an impressive six hours.
Not bad for a 65 year old who has never climbed mountains before!
The final member of the team that day, Rikki, was about two hours after Dad.
He is the most stubbornly determined guy I have ever met. Despite suffering from a bronchial infection for weeks, he refused to give up.
He staggered in almost as it was going dark, clutching his chest and whispering “I can’t breathe!” I honestly thought he was about to have a heart attack and die.
That night we huddled together in the communal tent. I had about 10 cups of tea and pasta soup cooked in melted snow, which tasted fantastic.
It was very cold - I put on my thermals, down summit suit, hat, gloves AND slept in my sleeping bag. We all slept on oxygen that night and bizarrely I slept well…and dreamed of doing property deals!!
Everest Blog: High Altitude Mountaineering is a Test of Patience
Don't think I'm heroically ploughing up some steep snowy slope, clinging on for life with gritted teeth.
Oh no. I am in fact lying in my tent completely bored out of my rapidly shrinking, hypoxic brain. For the second day in a row.
We are waiting for a weather window to make our way back up the mountain. I was all set to go this morning and sprung out of my tent with a fully packed rucksack to be greeted by this.
Source: Richard Walker
Another lesson learnt: look out of tent before packing.
The others stuck out the bad weather higher up, whereas us softies beat a retreat to Base Camp. That was the sensible thing to do, but now my competitive mind is filled with envious images of the Paratroopers already goose-stepping their way up to my target of the North Col, whilst I languish at Base Camp. And I'm told not to worry about what other people are up to.
The reality of climbing Everest is that there is a lot of hanging about. A lot of festering in tents. It is above all a mental test, and those who can cope with feeling rubbish at altitude and doing not much at all, win.
There is a lot of talking in the mess tent. At least the others can talk about 'the time I got pulmonary oedema on Denali' or 'that heli vac on Acongacua'. Surprisingly no-one wants to hear about where prime office yields are at in Warsaw.
So I cross my fingers for tomorrow, and hope that by the end of the week I can finally rejoin the programme at Advanced Base Camp (6400m).
Everest Blog: No More Claret, But Lots More Altitude
On Good Friday we finally left Base Camp, after a week of acclimatising. It felt good to be making progress up the mountain and taking a further step toward our goal of the North Col.
But like the old bloke in ‘Shawshank Redemption’ who didn’t want to leave prison after 30 years, I had become slightly institutionalised and fond of our primitive luxury. And as we were now going up to more extreme altitudes, no more booze.
I’d heard that the walk was long and arduous, and this hit me after about five minutes. The trek started off along the flat glacial plain that is Base Camp, before turning into an ablation valley in between the mountain side and the glacier’s edge. It went on forever.
After a few hours we turned sharp left up a steep hill until we reached another massive glacial valley. Except this time we didn’t go along the side of it but right over the middle of the glacier. But don’t think ice and snow - this was gravel moraine after gravel moraine. Each one being a mini mountain we had to go up and down.
At one point we were passed by a group of Sherpas almost running down the mountain. One Sherpa was bent double carrying another on his back. We later heard he had every climber’s worst nightmare - cerebral oedema - and was being treated in Kathmandu.
I suppose in total we walked for about six hours and gained 600m over 10km. Doesn’t sound like much but at those altitudes it is. Only problem was that our destination - Interim Camp - was horrible.
Perched precariously on top of a rocky moraine our tents were lined up like a battery chicken farm. One toilet over a crevasse shared between far too many people. The mess tent had no table or chairs and we ate our noodle soup sitting cross-legged on the floor between yak dung and mud.
The seasoned explorers and army blokes among the group didn’t seem to have the slightest problem with any of it, but for a Property Softy like me it was tough! The next day was the worse news ever - a rest day! What a place to try and rest!
I lay in my tent all day and all night, unable to sleep and wondering why I wasn’t back in Hanover Square drinking a latte. All of the rest day and night it snowed heavily and we woke on Easter Sunday with the morbid news that the weather was too bad to continue up to the next camp, Advanced Base Camp (ABC). A tense discussion ensued.
Those that had no problems with the filth were happy to sit it out. But Dad and I had to listen to our guide on this trip Alan Hinkes - the only Brit to have summited all the peaks in the world over 8000m, and so a guy who knows a thing or two about high altitude mountaineering - who advised going back down to Base Camp.
This would mean an enormous effort to go back downhill, but our bodies and minds could rest in relative comfort and thicker air. When we finally got back down last night there was an enormous dump of snow which seemed to validate our decision to descend.
The weather is now clearing up and we hope to be at ABC by the middle of the week. So here I am on Easter Monday, back at Base Camp, sitting in the sun, drinking Chateau Minuty.
Everest Blog: Luxury living at high altitude
We've been at Base Camp for five days now, and are redefining luxury at altitude!
Our set up here is great, especially the food. Most evenings we will have hors d'oeuvres of Parma ham carved off the leg by Chris, the fantastic chef we brought with us, and Parmigiano cheese accompanied by various wines.
This will be followed by our special Loxton’s "sous vide" food that Chris developed for the expedition - with recipes ranging from Irish Stew, Spanish Chicken and Wild Salmon to Lamb Hot Pot.
Most nights after dinner we will have a lecture from the very varied people on the expedition - talks so far have ranged from flying in the Red Arrows, exploring regions of the North Pole to Beekeeping!
Tonight I am giving a guitar recital (I intend to take my Spanish guitar as high as possible). Other nights we will turn our mess tent into a high-altitude cinema. Last night it was "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".
Having had his Hine Antique XO blessed by some Buddhist Lamas, Dad opened the bottle the other evening. Only cigars were missing; but I suppose that wouldn't be a good idea with roughly half the oxygen available at Base Camp that there is at sea level.
So we are trying as hard as possible not to rough it - because why live in a grot hole if you don't need to? Certainly as we go higher the booze will be banned and things will become more simplistic, so I'm enjoying these luxuries whilst I can.
Source: Richard Walker
Over the last few days we have done a series of training walks, which involve trying to get as much height as possible before descending down. "Climb high; sleep low" is an adage that has been used by Everest climbers since the days of Mallory and Irvine. It allows your body to produce more red blood cells when you go high, but relax and work less hard during sleep. Yesterday we got to 5,800m.
The other thing of note over the last few days has been the wind. When I am inside my tent at night I can hear the rumble of wind whipping down the valley and then - bam! It sounds like a freight train has just collided with the tent. Needless to say it makes sleeping difficult.
The other morning there was a clear view of the summit, which is well up into the jet stream. We estimated the winds up there to be over 200 kph, ripping snow off the summit and producing a 10 mile long "spindrift" of snow and cloud trailing horizontally through the sky.
Source: Richard Walker
Everest Blog: The remaining kit gets blessed!
So Tingri was worse than Nyalam; but I won't continue to slag off these places. They are just very remote, very cold and very dirty! The landscape quickly transformed into a barren and lunar like scene, as we are now up onto the Tibetan Plateau.
Source: Richard Walker
Finally, three weeks into the trip, we are now at Base Camp. Our expedition took the unusual step of doing a two week trek in Nepal first and it seems to have worked wonders, as despite being at 5,300m everyone in the team is happy and healthy.
Base Camp is comparative luxury! We have a little tented village with a communications tent (although not currently working as there is a not insignificant mountain the in way of the signal), shower tents, toilet tents, a mess tent, and individual sleeping tents - who could ask for more?
Our settlement is at the end of a flat glacial plain, and as you look up the valley you can see the enormous mounds of terminal gravel moraines marking the end of a 15km glacier.
Towering over everything is the hulking mass of Mount Everest. It is impossibly high and the tiny summit is often blanketed by a long line of snow that is being blown off it by the 100mph wind.
The summit is high enough to be in the jet stream, and the trick is to wait until those jet streams stop for a few brief days to be able to go up high.
Source: Richard Walker
After a few days of settling in, today we had our "Puja". It is a Buddhist ceremony held by the local Lamas in order to pray for our safe passage up the mountain.
The ceremony went on a few hours, but the rice throwing, chanting, dancing, drinking and unfurling of prayer flags made it go very quickly.
Talk about atmospheric: we sat in the bright sunshine sat around a makeshift stone temple with Everest as a backdrop.
Apparently the omens were good as the smoke from the juniper that we burnt was blown toward the mountain; and in return the summit had its line of snow blowing off it as if to answer back.
We also placed our boots, crampons, ice axes and harnesses next to the altar to be blessed; so we've now got insurance against equipment failure.
Source: Richard Walker
Everest blog: Football in the foothills
So here I am at 2,800m in a remote hill top village in the foothills of the Himalayas. We’ve just had a game of football with the local kids.
We have been on our Nepali trek for three days. It is a 12 day route designed to get our bodies kick-started into the altitude acclimatisation process. It appears that we are far from any standard trekking routes, judging by the baffled looks we get from the people in each village we pass through.
We are in remote areas now, with no road access to these towns, just steep and narrow muddy paths. The people lead a tough subsistence life in very old Tibetan style huts. Small Buddhist and Hindu temples are everywhere.
The landscape is stunning, as you look two kilometres down into ravines and stepped mountain sides where crops are grown. I’ve been trying to avoid looking four kilometres upwards however, knowing the challenge that awaits us.
The team is getting to know each other and we seem to have a good, varied bunch. We’re taking the pace slowly and eating lots, which suits me just fine. We’ve had blasting hot weather in the daytime; although as we climb higher you can feel the temperature dropping.
Today I got my first glimpse of some seriously imposing Himalayan peaks. Far off in the distance, they blanked the skyline blocking out everything behind them. My awe was quickly swapped with concern as I found out they were “only” about 7000m – almost two kilometres lower than Everest.
Onwards and upwards…
Everest blog: Chaos at Kathmandu
After a day of travelling we landed in Kathmandu – a massively overcrowded and chaotic city. “Kdu” is located in a valley and has seen its population explode in the last five years since the Maoists took over. It is city planning gone badly wrong, with dry stinking rivers, rubbish everywhere and endless traffic jams.
The team of 10 climbers were greeted at the hotel with a small Hindu ceremony by a group of traditionally dressed women and children. That evening we had dinner in the hotel and gauged the people we would be spending the next 60 days with. At the end of the dinner our Sherpas came in to say hello and we gave them all Iceland branded expedition kit. These are exceptionally tough but modest men who risk their lives every year for their western clients.
We hung out in Kdu for a few days, sorting out our kit and preparing. We had a runner who frantically charged around the city buying all sorts of random requests – mirrors, high altitude gloves, flip-flops, batteries, water sterilisers, etc, etc, etc!
I met up with an old friend from Uni who is Nepali and lives in Kathmandu. A little local knowledge goes a long way and I was eating in these fantastic, hidden away traditional restaurants.
However, we were all keen to get on with the mission we are here for and on Thursday morning we left at the crack of dawn into the foothills of the Himalayas on the road to Tibet. Firstly we have a two week acclimatisation trek, which should be the most pleasurable and certainly the least painful part of the trip.
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