On to the Summit

Hi All its Walid here. Firstly, check out the Adventure Peaks web site (link on right) for some updates and photos (one of Max) Secondly, I received this question from the Uncle of Steven Greene, a Mr. Allister Taggart:

Walid. Could you give us some insight into the physical and psychological pressures that Max will be facing in his final summit bid based on your experiences on Everest in 2003. Allister

This is a wonderful question, in my opinion, because it breaks down the challenge into the physical and the psychological. I have always found that the value in climbing is often found more in the mental challenge than the physical. There are many factors that can affect the mind during a long expedition, including prolonged time in tents, in the cold, with no running water, no clean clothes, constantly thin air, and tired muscles. After a while these things wear people down and I remember on my own trip that by the end many of us were sullen, quiet and irritable. This is especially true if the team has to wait a long time at BC to leave for their summit bid. I believe we waited for ten days and some in our group were more bothered by the waiting than anything else.

Once the weather looks ok and the summit bid starts it should proceed as follows.

Day 1 - BC to ABC
Day 2 - ABC to North Col
Day 3 - North Col to 7800M Camp
Day 4 - 7800M Camp to High Camp at 8200M
Day 5 - Summit and return to 7800m
Day 6 - Back to ABC

Day 1 is easy, as the climbers are now fit and acclimated, though it should be mentioned that it would be wise for them to climb slowly at the lower elevation even if they feel very strong to preserve their strength. The night at ABC should be comfortable and they should try and force as much food into their bodies as possible. They should also work very hard and drinking heavily (not booze!) as the body is hard to keep hydrated at that elevation. Once they start to the North Col the climb really begins. I believe that on my summit bid the climb from ABC to the Col took me about 7 hours and I felt good. This step also marks the time on the mountain when the climbers are in a constant state of deterioration, they will not be able to stay hydrated or eat enough food, simple as that. They have only a limited time to summit and return, so they have to be very conservative with their actions, their food, their equipment and their water. Theoretically they should sleep fairly well at the Col, though I do not remember sleeping well at or above 7000M. The lack of sleep is also very detrimental to the body and especially the mind as it can affect the ability of the climbers to make good decisions.

Once they leave for the camp at 7800M it becomes really serious. For me this was the hardest day and if it were not for the help of my team mate Peter Madew I would not have made it to this camp. The climb is very straight forward, but the challenges are immense. At sea level this climb would have taken me just over an hour, but at that altitude it took me over 11. The challenges of altitude become very apparent because they are now climbing without oxygen to roughly 26000 feet. I was physically exhausted from the previous days and every step for all those hours felt like agony. The wind was bitter, I was forced to go #2 along the way, which took up time and lots of energy, and once above 7500M I was sure I was suffocating. I also suffered from some major mental anguish from the sheer immensity of the mountain; I looked up and thought 'no way'. I began to quit, both physically and mentally. Then my Aussie friend found me a mere 200m from camp sitting on a rock about to cry. He told me 'get up or I am going to kick you'. So the last 200 meters we climbed together, about five minutes moving and five minutes sitting. I resigned myself that this camp was it. It was a really, really hard day.

Once I got to camp and sat for an hour and had some tea and some food something happened that was very strange, I came back to life. Now, in retrospect, I am sure that I did not feed myself enough that day and I was running out of fuel. It is very important for the climbers to stop regularly to eat and drink. This is very hard because once you actually get yourself moving you don't want to stop and the altitude wrecks your appetite, but luckily now there are many foods, like GU, which are very easy to eat.

From 7800M Camp to High Camp should be a wonderful day for the guys. They will have started using oxygen and they are only gaining 400 meters all day, so they should enjoy the view, go slow, and take it easy. That sounds simple enough, but this will also be a very taxing day on some very taxed bodies. For me this day was glorious because I really felt that I might actually make it, I was alive again and my spirits came back, which makes all the difference.

The night at High Camp should be focused on just a few things. Eating, Drinking and Making water. If they sleep, fine, but I don't remember sleeping much. They need to rest, relax and make sure that they are ready to leave ASAP in the morning. The utter lack of oxygen is startling and the immensity of the proposition of actually climbing Everest tomorrow is very strange. They will also be pretty dazed and I remember that the three of us on my summit team spoke little and just stared at each other most of the time. If they get here they should be able to get to the summit. Also, at this point the supplemental oxygen makes a world of difference. I have a friend who summitted in 1999 without oxygen becoming the 98th person in the world to do so, and I have to say he was super human. His resting heart rate was 32 and he used to win 100 mile ultra marathons. Amazing. Without the oxygen I would not have been able to continue, and it I had managed to I probably would not have come home.

Summit day. They will force themselves out of the tent in the pitch dark, with two liters of water, three new oxygen bottles, and some food. They will have approximately 18-24 hours of oxygen left at a good flow rate of 2 liters per minute and the adventure begins. I recommended to Max to leave camp very early to avoid the people. They will climb straight up the North Ridge to it apex where it meets the North East Ridge. The climbing is steep, tiring and route finding can be tough if the weather is bad. Sadly, there is a dead Spaniard at about the top of the North Ridge and people always joke 'get to the dead guy and make a right'. That is in bad taste, but I guess we all chose to be up there. Max should, theoretically, not remember too much of this part of the climb. It is dark, cold and his goal is simple; clip in and climb up.

Once they get to the Northeast Ridge the climb is very straight forward, go along the ridge to the summit. However, there are three tough spot along the way called the three steps. The first step is a 15 meter near vertical cliff that they must negotiate. I would recommend to them that they try to arrive at the first step around sunrise or 7 am. The climbing is not too hard but with the obscured view due the oxygen mask and the big, cumbersome clothing it takes a little time to get used to things. Once over the first step they traverse for some way until the second step, which is the hardest of the three. This is where my expertise ends, as I was forced to turn around half way up the second step when my friend broke his leg.

From what I hear the climbing after the second step should be fairly straight forward to the summit. The guys should be on or around the summit by 12 or 1 to ensure that they have time to return in daylight and with Oxygen left. The official turn around time is usually 2pm.

It is tough to generalize about how people will feel above 8000M. Suffice to say that they should not really be there and they should stay there for as little time as possible. I was up there for 48 hours which was terrifically tiring even though I had oxygen the whole time. Summit day is the one day on Everest when you really give it 150%. You don't want to kill yourself and you want to save energy to descend, but most people who get to high camp dig deep and really find out what you are made of. I have great faith in Max's toughness, both physical and mental, so I don't think that will be a problem. He will have to use his judgment if he feels sick to turn around and get home safely. I also have faith that he much prefers living to summiting. Clearly there are many dangers for the climbers, altitude, falls, other people, etc, but much of this can be mitigated through wise choices and good planning, and I am confident that the team will have both.

Climbing any high peak is a major accomplishment and challenge, Everest is especially hard because it's summit is literally in the stratosphere. I have found in my travels and adventures that people who approach things like this with a clear mind and good intentions generally do well. Those who are driven by vanity or insecurity have a much harder time. Clearly, being able to say 'I have climbed Everest' will impress girls at a bar, but that is a bad reason to be on that mountain. There is no right reason to climb Everest, but there are bad ones. I imagine that for Max (though I don't want to put words into his mouth) one of the reasons he is there is to benefit as a person from the sheer challenge and to enjoy the fruits of such an accomplishment. I don’t think he is there to impress people or to bathe in the vain light of his success. I believe that on summit day he will be quite driven and will not have to search too much for motivation, though he will have to use his wits to keep is fingers attached and come home to all of us who are rooting for him. All the best, Walid