Judy and I were just able to talk to Anders (5:30 am here on the East Coast and 3:15pm in Nepal). We had a pretty good connection. He was out of breath, dehydrated and in need of grabbing another O2 bottle but this is what we learned:
1. He climbed Mount Everest! He was very happy about this. He said the climbing was fantastic and that he felt very, very good throughout the climb.
2. The reason they spent so much time at the Balcony was they came across a "German or Scandinavian" who was not on O2 and who wasn't going to make it (survive). They focused on rescuing him and Brent (Anders' guide) ended up bringing him down (we gather) and most likely saving his life. Brent apparently is in a tent now at C4 and Anders was going to try to find out more. They also came across another fellow they tried to save--Anders said his face was "completely frozen"--they injected him but apparently he was too far gone. The Himalayan Times has confirmed the death of this man, an American, the 3rd death of this climbing season at Everest.
3. Anders ended up climbing a lot on his own. High on the summit ridge he ran out of oxygen. He waited for one of the climbing sherpas from Madison (I think there were two of them) and got a replacement. We're not sure how long or how much climbing he did without oxygen. But he did comment the being without oxygen "sucked". (no pun intended)
4. The Hillary Step is definitely still there! By this we guess he meant it was still very difficult to get past this challenging feature of the ridge, which is located between the South Summit and the true Summit.
5. He said it was a real mess (not the exact term he used) on the way down. Lots of people struggling and short roped. I'm sure this was a real challenge to move past them on the descent--with its steepness and exposure.
6. He said they climbed strong and ended up passing a lot of people both up and down(which entails a lot of unclipping from the fixed ropes).
7. The climb from C3 to C4 was amazing--especially climbing over the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur. When they arrived at C4 they found other people "squatting" in their tent. He said they were able to sort it out and it was ultimately all good at C4.
8. He didn't call from the summit because it was really cold and he was worried about how cold his hands were (we told him we were very fine with this decision).
9. He was definitely tired as they left at 11pm and it was after 3pm when he arrived back at C4--which means at least 16 hours door-to-door.
10. He was going to get together with his team now and see what the plan was (after getting some O2 and fluid). We hope they will head a bit lower but they could certainly spend the night at C4 if necessary.
We may not hear from him until he is back down at Base Camp. We'll feel a lot better when he gets there but we are relieved, proud and very excited about his accomplishment. Last night was definitely pretty stressful (to say the least).
We know there is probably a lot more to this story--and we probably have some of the details wrong-- but we'll update more as soon he's able to call back.
Whew! Our son climbed Everest!
Onward and Upward!
1. He climbed Mount Everest! He was very happy about this. He said the climbing was fantastic and that he felt very, very good throughout the climb.
2. The reason they spent so much time at the Balcony was they came across a "German or Scandinavian" who was not on O2 and who wasn't going to make it (survive). They focused on rescuing him and Brent (Anders' guide) ended up bringing him down (we gather) and most likely saving his life. Brent apparently is in a tent now at C4 and Anders was going to try to find out more. They also came across another fellow they tried to save--Anders said his face was "completely frozen"--they injected him but apparently he was too far gone. The Himalayan Times has confirmed the death of this man, an American, the 3rd death of this climbing season at Everest.
3. Anders ended up climbing a lot on his own. High on the summit ridge he ran out of oxygen. He waited for one of the climbing sherpas from Madison (I think there were two of them) and got a replacement. We're not sure how long or how much climbing he did without oxygen. But he did comment the being without oxygen "sucked". (no pun intended)
4. The Hillary Step is definitely still there! By this we guess he meant it was still very difficult to get past this challenging feature of the ridge, which is located between the South Summit and the true Summit.
5. He said it was a real mess (not the exact term he used) on the way down. Lots of people struggling and short roped. I'm sure this was a real challenge to move past them on the descent--with its steepness and exposure.
6. He said they climbed strong and ended up passing a lot of people both up and down(which entails a lot of unclipping from the fixed ropes).
7. The climb from C3 to C4 was amazing--especially climbing over the Yellow Band and the Geneva Spur. When they arrived at C4 they found other people "squatting" in their tent. He said they were able to sort it out and it was ultimately all good at C4.
8. He didn't call from the summit because it was really cold and he was worried about how cold his hands were (we told him we were very fine with this decision).
9. He was definitely tired as they left at 11pm and it was after 3pm when he arrived back at C4--which means at least 16 hours door-to-door.
10. He was going to get together with his team now and see what the plan was (after getting some O2 and fluid). We hope they will head a bit lower but they could certainly spend the night at C4 if necessary.
We may not hear from him until he is back down at Base Camp. We'll feel a lot better when he gets there but we are relieved, proud and very excited about his accomplishment. Last night was definitely pretty stressful (to say the least).
We know there is probably a lot more to this story--and we probably have some of the details wrong-- but we'll update more as soon he's able to call back.
Whew! Our son climbed Everest!
Onward and Upward!
4 comments:
simply amazing! Congratulations Anders and team. Wow. Continue to send him our prayers, praise and love. Can't wait to hear the whole story straight from him!
Seriously amazing accomplishment!! Agreed can't wait to hear more. Safe journey down AC!
Awesome....Congrats!....Truly anazing!!!
Great job Anders! Now get down safe!
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