Everest 2018: Inside the Mind During the Last Rotation
This week may be the most important week, including the summit attempt, of the Everest 2018 season. Climbers on both the Tibet and Nepal sides are making their last acclimatization rotations before the summit attempt, still a couple weeks away. Once completed they begin the waiting game back at base camp. They will need four to seven days of summit winds under 30mph/48kph with little to no snow for a safe summit push. Focus on Red Blood Cells, and the Weather As the 2nd of May comes to an end, there are climbers literally all over Everest. I try to keep track of their general locations on both sides with the Location Table, but it looks more like a scattergram today. From the base camps to the Cols they are spending difficult nights in tents trying to sleep. The first, or even last, night at attitude makes sleeping nearly impossible. It’s a fitful night of constantly rolling in your bag, occasionally waking up gasping as your body “forgets” to breathe and gives you a “gentle” reminder with a near-death experience. This Cheyne-Stokes pattern is well documented and not dangerous but scary, especially for your tent mate, also struggeling, who hears you stop breathing all together! There are no reports thus far of difficult snow or climbing conditions on either side. The ropes are making their way to the summit placed by superhuman efforts of Sherpas and Tibetans. The weather has been acceptable, just a bit of wind from time to time – actually a lot of wind but nothing too serious. The weather forecast looks decent for early May. There might be a front moving through this weekend bringing wind and snow above 7,000 meters. Winds near the summit will be over 50 mph/80 kph. Hopefully the Sherpas can get the ropes to the summit before this arrives and climbers can be at the lower camps. This is Not Easy Alain Riedacker hopped to summit Lhotse with IMG, but things went wrong: My journey towards Lhotse’s summit has come to a point where my physical condition is too weak and too painful. I’m suffering from breathing issues for very basic movements during the day, and it is also very difficult to breathe during the night, preventing to recover quickly within this harsh environment. My condition has unfortunately been worsening since my first rotation, and pumps up all my mental and physical energy. Following the discussion with my expedition leader and climbing team mates, I decided to leave the expedition, as it would have been too painful to pursue the same efforts for an additional 4 weeks. I cherished all the journey towards my dream, and would like to thank strongly my family, friends, colleagues, and climbing team mates for their warm and solid support. It is now time for me to go back home, and work on my health issues, before settling back towards the city lifestyle. There are over 400 foreigners with permits for Everest and Lhotse, but now 10, 15 or even 20% have ended their dream. That means perhaps a little over 300 hope to summit. Yes, the attrition rate is high. Sometime its fear, others its illness and then there is the human mind. And for those back home, it is definitely not easy. Tiffany, the wife of David Snow climbing with Seven Summits Treks, posted an update that he just had their Puja and will begin their acclimatization process, albeit a bit later than most teams. What caught my eye was this part about how she felt last year when David made an attempt and he was out of touch for days: This is the time period where I had a very small breakdown last year (ok, maybe not so small haha.) Dave didn’t have a way to communicate with me for about 4 days (no wifi and he wasn’t carrying a GPS device), he was super sick and I was getting some distressing intel from the guide and other group member’s wives. Everything turned out fine and we all learned some great lessons…. like never climb without a GPS texting device unless you want a crazy wife. Also, don’t accidentally omit information about being deathly ill to your wife (although he probably still would.) As for some on the mountain, it is time for mind games. Mathieu Durand quit his 2017 Everest climb early as his health deteriorated. He worked hard to return but seems to be struggeling again. In a personal post he says: I’m not ready to go, but I’m ready to let go. It’s not so much a reflection on Everest, but on my last 5 years. Thinking back on all the adventures and misadventures that I had during my 15 shipments. Traveling the 7 continents, meet great people and witnessed the world from the top of the mountains. Everything is beautiful in appearance, but on the other hand, I have spent over $ 250k, I sacrificed relationships and time with friends and family, I work just to pocket money to start, and I spend most of my time working out or recovered. Yes, the Seven Summits and especially Everest was a dream, but I think I now realize that there is more to do than climb in life. Edmund Hillary said “this is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves” and I guess I finally conquered me. I’m not sure I found exactly what I was looking for, but it clearly mountaineering has filled a gap in my life that needed attention. now I want to settle down and enjoy the city more trips and take a real vacation. mountain life is difficult and m ‘ allowed to grow as an individual in many ways, especially at times like the last camp Denali waiting for the storm for 5 days or when one is “lost” on Ixta Mexico. will -I get to the top of Everest. Hopefully! As I said, I’m not ready to leave the Everest in 2018 but I am willing to let go.