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2000
Himalayan Experience Everest Expedition Climbing the North Ridge of
Everest (8850m./ 29,035 ft.)
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Approximate
time line:
April
1 Fly to Lhasa, Tibet.
April 8 Arrive in Base Camp.
April 12-13 Sherpas establish Interim and ABC
April 15 Members arrive at ABC
April 20-May 20 Stock the higher camps
May 20-30 Summit attempts
June 7 Return to Kathmandu |
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Dispatch
covering 30th May to 31st May
Days 64 through 65
Correspondent: Tony Kelly - Climber
Subtitle: "Himalayan Experience Everest 2000 Expedition 2nd Summit Attempt
aborted at 25,000ft (7500m) Camp 2. The team is pinned down at C2
in horrendous wind and snow and can neither go up or down."
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For
further information and different perspectives on our expedition see
coverage also at:
- capgemini.co.uk/everest2000
- mountainzone.com
- earthtreksclimbing.com
(a perspective from Chris Warner, mountain guide)
Live Dictated over Radio at Camp2 25,000ft to ABC Manager for onward
transmission -NOTE FROM ABC MANAGER: DUE TO COMMS. PROBLEMS, EXACERBATED
BY THE WORST WEATHER FOR SEVERAL YEARS THIS MESSAGE IS UNLIKELY TO BE
FORWARDED FOR SEVERAL DAYS, APOLOGIES.
30th
May - Day 64
The
route up the north ridge is difficult and very hard work. Andy's plan
for the ridge is for all to move together like a snow train plugging
steps. Tony uses oxygen to keep his pace up and conserve strength. This
works pretty well for half the slope. We set off on a crisp blue sky
morning, but then the wind increases and it starts to snow heavily.
Fairly quickly Tony drops back and finds himself alone in near zero
vis. plugging away up the ridge making his own steps since the ones
from the team are filled in completely in less than the fifteen minute
gap that has opened. For the snow train it is a 3.5hr plough, for Tony
it is a mildly brutal 6hr grind. But he arrives pleased to have done
it in 2hrs less than the last attempt in similar bad conditions. He
was feeling reasonably sharp and not worn out.
31st May - Day 65
The Summit Attempt is aborted but we have a very serious predicament
to extract ourselves from, what next?
We are being buffetted in our reasonably sheltered spot by 45kt winds
and blizzard conditions. The wind speed is twice what was forecast.
Around the corner and upwards on our ascent route Chris did a recce
and estimates the wind speeds at twice that again (65-85kts). We can't
stand properly let alone make progress and the risk of frostbite is
in the "close to certainty" range.
We are Chris and Tony in one tent, the sherpas Lhopsang, Phulbar, Kharsang,
Geltzen and Dawa in 2 other tents and Andy in a small tent some 30ft
down the hill in a slightly more exposed position where his tent is
near collapse.
Two sherpas have already tried to leave this morning and got only 100m
or so down the north ridge before being avalanched and needing assistance
to get back to Camp 2 and relative safety. To descend further at this
stage is out of the question. To go up is impossible.
Well, back to today. A long radio debate ensues between Russ, Chris,
Andy, Lhopsang (our climbing sirdar) and Tony. The problem is, even
if we wait a night and the wind drops in the morning, there is a dangerous
amount of snow loading in some critical places above us. We still have
to fix some rope as we go and there is no suggestion the conditions
are going to get better.
Russ makes the expedition leader's decision and calls a halt. Our primary
objective is now to find a way of getting down safely by looking for
a narrow (few hours) reduction in wind strength to allow us to get out
of C2 and down to the C1 and from there we can mount our retreat to
ABC. In order to achieve this safely, with the snow loading as it is,
Andy will belay Chris down the slope where he will attempt to deliberately
trigger any avalanche risk.
Tony is in the company of the finest high altitude sherpas in the world
and two of the greatest mountain guides anyone could hope to meet, together
with Russ (the "creme de la creme of expedition leaders (as quoted:
Eric Simonson) on the end of the Radio. If a "bit of an epic" is likely,
this is the team to be with.
They all all shed tears when the decision is made to retreat - there
has been too much build up, energy and emotion pumped into getting to
this point with our sights set upward, for there not to be tears.
Now they must concentrate on getting off this hill. In a dash for safety
they will probably have to leave $20,000 to $30,000 worth of gear behind.
Its just too dangerous to retrieve and in some cases impossible. Russ
will dig it out next year since he's very careful about rubbish on the
mountain but, almost certainly, a good portion of it will be unusable.
Tony Kelly
Pinned down at Camp 2, 7500m, 25,000ft
Mount Everest
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Expeditions
