We had something of a celebration dinner in BC last night. As Peter, Ed, Jake and Gerry made it all the way down from the South Col to regale us with summit stories.
After all that, it was strange as anything to get up by myself early this morning - and to eat breakfast alone. I have become accustomed to nearly constant companionship in the past few months.
I walked out of basecamp and into a cloud at 4am. This didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling - despite the fact that the cloud had kept overnight temperatures mild, and visibility was fuzzy at best. I like my glaciers frozen solid, and the lower Khumbu icefall was soggy this morning. The high humidity had me dripping sweat and the soggy-ness had me worried that snow bridges would collapse under my crampons. Life got better when daylight began to roll around and found me climbing out of the tops of the clouds. I was delighted to have the whole place to myself. It wasn't until I nearly reached Camp I that I began to meet dozens and dozens of very heavily loaded sherpas coming down along with the foreign climbers they guided to the summit in the preceding days. My work for the day became "congratulations" as I ran into many friends - tired - a little beat up from wind, cold and sun - but obviously content to have just completed their great goal of recent months... years... lifetimes. At Camp I, I made contact via radio with Linden at BC and Seth at ABC. Linden let us know the latest forecast and we all agreed that May 23rd was shaping up as our best summit chance. This meant that Seth, Melissa, Kent and Ang Kaji needed to rally at ABC in order to get on up to Camp III. We'd go ahead with the plan that had us all moving to Camp IV tomorrow. This was fine as all at ABC were sounding strong and ready. A quick check of my own watch showed that I was actually enjoying a day of good strength as well. I got my pack on and walked easily up the Western Cwm to ABC. I didn't reach the camp in time to see my teammates before their Camp II departure, but having made it up from BC in 5 hours, I was satisfied nonetheless.
Through the morning - our Sherpa team collected at ABC, and I was able to strategize with Tendi and Lambabu. I also got to hear their stories of the big summit day on the 19th and was quite impressed with the massive amount of work our Sherpa team had contributed. Tendi himself had spent 5 days at or above the South Col and on summit day he'd heroically initiated a rescue for an exhausted climber from another team. He ran out of oxygen himself in the long and arduous process of getting the man safely back to the Col. The rescue ended up involving a number of teams - ultimately Jake Norton and John Griber from our own team geared back up and finished their own marathon day by climbing back up to aid in the rescue effort. I began to understand where a few of the coughs I was hearing at dinner last night had originated.
My afternoon at ABC was spent resting - the midday heat was nearly unbearable - and preparing for a few hard days of climbing. My team reported good times on the Lhotse Face today and all were moving into Camp III tents in plenty of time to get their own rest for these next make or break days.
I probably shouldn't have accepted the toast from Dave Hahn...after all, red wine with antibiotics to treat a deep-seated chest infection is perhaps not doctor recommended. But, how could I pass it up?
It was nearly 10 years ago that Dave and I and three others - Conrad Anker, Andy Politz, and Tap Richards - stood on a lonely patch of rock at nearly 27,000 feet on Everest's North Face, each in stunned silence, for lying at our feet were the remains of a legend, a hero, a mystery: George Leigh Mallory. He and his climbing companion, Andrew Irvine, had disappeared 75 years before, virtually without a trace, some 800 feet below the summit.
Yup, this is definitely an anniversary worth toasting, antibiotics or not.
That day was, and is now, the most poignant day in my climbing career, far surpassing the fleeting moments I've spent on top of the world, or on top of other peaks around the world. Far removed from personal achievement, our discovery of Mallory was a collision with history, a step back in time, and a humbling, welcome reminder that our goals and accomplishments, successes and failures in the mountains - and in life - are predicated on the efforts of remarkable people who came before. We are, as I wrote in Issue 1000 of Trail & Timberline Magazine, standing on the shoulders of giants.
Indeed, as I sit in my basecamp tent reflecting on May 1, 1999, I can't help but think about my predecessors on this side of the mountain...May 1, 1963, when Jim Whittaker and Nawang Gombu (clad in Eddie Bauer down) struggled through deep snow and blasting winds to stand on the summit of Everest, Jim becoming the first American to reach the top. (Two years later, Gombu would reach the summit again on an Indian expedition, becoming the first person to reach the summit twice.)
Whittaker and Gombu's ascent was made no less impressive by the tracks that came before: Hillary and Tenzin in 1953, the Swiss in 1956 and the oft-forgotten Swiss expedition of 1952, which put Raymond Lambert and Tenzin Norgay within 800 feet of the summit. And, of course, their tracks were only made possible by the reconnaissance expeditions of '50 and '51. And, those, in turn, were enabled by the efforts of the pioneering Everesters of the pre-World War II expeditions of 1938, '36, '35, '33, '24, '22, and 1921. None of those would have happened without Sir Martin Conway, the Duke of Abruzzi, Fanny Bullock Workman, General Bruce, Sir Francis Younghusband, John Noel, and countless others who pushed the limits years before. And...the tracks go back through the ages, each generation standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before.
To some, that may be demoralizing...to them, the idea that someone had climbed the route before takes something essential away from the enterprise today. For me, however, it is far from demoralizing, and rather is invigorating. To look around me high in the Western Cwm, and see hidden in the layers of snow the footsteps of Hillary and Tenzin, the toil of Whittaker and Gombu, the inspiration of those who came before...well, it inspires me to push on against the demon of the day, against the gnawing forces of inertia, lethargy, and the want of comfort, rest, food, and air. Seeing the giants in these hills, the things they accomplished and all they endured, pushes me onward, upward, and forward.
May 1, 1999, was an amazing day, a direct interaction with one of the many giants on whose shoulders we all stand. Tonight, perhaps another toast...
There were elephants walking between our tents in the night. We went to sleep to the sound of them eating grass and shrubs. Breakfast at Lokisale was just before sunrise and so we got the maximum value from our final day on Safari. We hated to leave such a comfortable camp, but we were excited to see what we could see. Within a few minutes drive, we’d crossed back into Tarangire National Park, but a considerable distance from the main gate. Our drivers took us along a gigantic swamp which was teeming with wildlife. We had the place to ourselves for hours. The team was still looking high and low for leopards when we found lions. Two big males, out for a mellow morning of hunting. They simply walked toward herds of hartebeest or Cape buffalo without much stealth, hoping to get lucky.
Then we saw a lioness and her two cubs laying about and doing cat things. Before the morning was out we’d gotten glimpses of another leopard and a couple of Cheetahs. Not close enough for photography but close enough that we felt very lucky to see them. We headed for the main gate eventually, after a hundred more eagles and giraffes, a dozen hippos, a million impala and wildebeest and zebra. There were hyenas and mongooses and darn near everything else… except bears and tigers. And mile after mile of beautiful East African savanna and forest.
By noon we were out of the park and driving east toward Arusha. We made a final stop at the cultural center on the city outskirts and stretched our legs while surveying the artwork. We reached our comfortable and familiar Rivertrees Hotel just after 3 PM. Then we started having to say goodbye to one another as our itineraries diverged. Some of us are flying today, some tomorrow, some are continuing the expedition to the shores of Zanzibar. It was a good team and so we are confident of seeing each other again on some future adventure. Even so, there is just a little sadness that it all has to end for now.
We sure have enjoyed your blog and making us feel like we were on the journey with our friends! Congratulations to all on the tour! Safe travels home to everyone! Can’t wait to hear more about your trip and pictures on IG Cindee! Much love!
Posted by: Allie Frankie & Tillie on 9/2/2023 at 3:18 pm
Thank you, Dave for your wonderful blog. I think you should write for a travel magazine.Your comments and insights are so descriptive - all of us on the other side of the world could imagine being part of your expedition. Thank you for taking good care of our daughter Melanie, and her close friends, Debi and Dan. More travels in the future for these adventurers? You bet!! Wishing you all the best, Janice Smiley
Today we visited the famous Ngorongoro Crater. The crater is roughly 100 square miles and is known for its abundance of animals that call the crater home.
We hit the road early with hopes of catching a few of the big cats before the heat of the day.
We managed to see several lions, including two young males up close. We also saw seven Black Rhino, which have become very rare due to poaching.
We wrapped up the day with a visit to a Maasai village not far from the craters rim. The Maasai people are a semi-nomadic tribe that exist almost entirely off of their cattle. The team spent time asking questions and enjoyed being shown around their small and simple village.
We have just finished another wonderful meal here at the Plantation Lodge
Yesterday we had a relaxing down day at the base of the mountain with on and off thunderstorms, walking exploration of the surrounding area, and coffee drinking. The day culminated in our celebration bbq dinner with our Russian guide Yuriy, master of ceremonies, pouring one vodka toast after another.
Today we’ve just arrived in St. Petersburg after a somewhat tedious journey through Russian domestic air travel. In my experience it’s usually pretty smooth sailing, but today that was not the case. I’ll spare you the details - it’s the same story as you’ve probably experienced in America. We made our flight and the whole team is psyched to be here.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
Hey everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in from the Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition. We are up here at just over 17,000 feet at our high camp on Chimborazo. We had a pretty nice day to hike up here. Was a little bit of clouds, which was nice to have it cool for our hike. The team had a great time and we hired a couple of porters to help expedite our arrival to camp, which was great. We just wrapped up a nice dinner of hot soup and watched the sun go down up here, which was incredibly beautiful. We're crawling into our tents and do our best for a little bit of sleep until we get up. Similar to our game plan as we had on Cayambe. We are going to try to get up at 11 and try to start climbing around midnight. So that will be our game plan for us. We will do our best tomorrow to give a call once we are back down off the mountain. I'm sure it's going to be a long, busy, hard day for everybody. We'll update you guys tomorrow once we are off the mountain. Thanks.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in from Chimborazo High Camp.
The Four Day Summit Climb led by RMI Guides Dave Hahn and Leon Davis reached the top of Disappointment Cleaver before route conditions forced them to turn around. When Dave called to check-in around 7:15 am, the teams were descending the lower third of the Cleaver en route to Camp Muir. They will be back in Ashford later this afternoon.
Hi all,
Well we lucked out with the weather yesterday and made the summit of Mt Shuksan. If you had asked me our chances of climbing yesterday morning I would have said not good. The sky was very dark with heavy clouds hanging all around the summit, but as we started climbing they seemed to dissipate. Kirk and Harry did a great job despite being a bit nervous about the rock climbing necessary for the summit pyramid. We left our camp at around 7:30 AM and found ourselves smiling on the summit by 12:30. All in all a great day.
Today we are resting and recovering during the intermittent rain showers and will hopefully get some more training in when we can.
That's all for now,
RMI Guide Geoff Schellens and Team
Hello from Camp 1. Today we made a bid to get to high camp but we had to turn around due to thunder storms.
We had planned on moving directly up to high camp today and foregoing our scheduled acclimatization day in order to get in front of a storm that is suppose to hit the mountain soon. That wasn't to be however.
The team made a great effort and had camp packed up and ready to go before 9am. There was a cloud cap on the mountain and as we started the climb toward Lentz Rocks, the cap dropped and big thunderheads moved in.
We made the conservative call to retreat. After rebuilding our camp the thunder picked up and we had some hail and rain. Right now the wind has picked up but the sky has cleared. Even with the lull we're committed to staying in camp for the rest of the day.
We have plenty of food and fuel and we'll just see what the weather brings in the next few days.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
James and Pete…June 2010 Electrical storm disrupted Lori / I’s Elbrus summit bid…Thxfully we were able to make it - And you too…Calm and poise and Godspeed…Waltero
Posted by: Walter on 8/31/2013 at 6:50 am
Sometimes you just have to wait it out, thunderstorms on a mountain can be big trouble
The progress continues on Mt. Elbrus!
We followed up yesterday's successful carry with a move to Camp 1 on today at 12,500'. Last night's rain cleared out, and this morning was beautiful when we woke. Having already seen most of the terrain seems to make things easier, and the group did great on our first move today. We are settled in to camp, and all the hatches are battened down just in case we see some more rain. I don't think anybody is bummed to not have to share our camp area with any bovine friends. The plan tomorrow is to head a short way back to our cache site to retrieve everything, and then brush up on our cramponing and rope travel skills just outside camp. We'll be in touch!
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Seth Waterfall and team
We sure have enjoyed your blog and making us feel like we were on the journey with our friends! Congratulations to all on the tour! Safe travels home to everyone! Can’t wait to hear more about your trip and pictures on IG Cindee! Much love!
Posted by: Allie Frankie & Tillie on 9/2/2023 at 3:18 pm
Thank you, Dave for your wonderful blog. I think you should write for a travel magazine.Your comments and insights are so descriptive - all of us on the other side of the world could imagine being part of your expedition. Thank you for taking good care of our daughter Melanie, and her close friends, Debi and Dan. More travels in the future for these adventurers? You bet!! Wishing you all the best, Janice Smiley
Posted by: Janice Smiley on 9/1/2023 at 6:05 pm
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