In March 2006, Paul and Fiona left Melbourne to undertake our biggest climb yet...Mt Everest.  We decided to do an unguided trip and used IMG to provide the logistics, and then hired a personal Sherpa each. 

We had a lovely trek into basecamp with our friends Chris and Bridget joining us for this section (which actually resulted in them getting engaged in Gorek Shep - the town just before basecamp).  Once at basecamp, we took our first foray into the icefall and tested our skills on the first ladder.  Luckily it was not as bad as Fiona had thought it might be (she'd imagined having to crawl over the ladders which would have been totally impractical as there's about 40 of them each time through). 

After this we settled in for a few days rest and acclimatisation.  At this time, Paul started to get a throat/chest infection so we decided to trek back down to Pheriche with Chris and Bridget who were heading out.  We stayed a couple of nights here and then came back up, but despite the lower altitude and antibiotics, the infection was proving difficult to shake.  We ended up spending about 3 weeks at basecamp before we decided to make our move up to camp 1. 

During this time, there was a terrible accident.  For a long time details were sketchy.  A large section of the icefall collapsed at around 7am in the morning and tragically 3 Sherpas were caught underneath and were killed.  One of these Sherpas was from the IMG team.  Phinjo held a fairly senior position in the team, and was much loved by both the Sherpas and the Westerners. He left behind a wife and two children (aged 12 and 14).  Two other Sherpas (both of them brothers-in-law of his) left as soon as the news hit to break the sad news to his wife. 

This certainly sent a shock-wave through basecamp.  Almost everybody responded by collaborating to build a heli-pad in case an emergency evacuation was needed (helicopters can't land and take-off easily at this altitude so its only an emergency situation that a helipad is used).  In the end though, there were no injured people and the helipad was not used.  The effort of moving rocks in a people chain helped people cope with the news.  Everyone goes there knowing it's a dangerous place but it sure gives you a different perspective when those dangers come to light in the worst possible way.  There was a lot of reflection about the risks involved.

After a few more days, Paul still wasn't 100% but was starting to improve and had been given a different type of antibiotics by the Himalayan Rescue Association.  After a difficult night's sleep at camp 1, Paul felt a lot better for the rest of the climb.

It had always been our intention to do two acclimatisation rotations prior to our summit push.  Most climbers do three, but we wanted to avoid one trip through the icefall.  Anyway, now that we'd waited at basecamp so long, we didn't have any other option.  We spent 3 nights at camp 1 as Fiona was feeling the altitude and Paul's chest was still recovering.  Then we pushed up to camp 2 and spent another 3 nights here.  Camp 2 is in a very safe position so we felt much more comfortable here.  There's also a dining and cook tent which makes it a bit nicer.  We were glad to have brought up a couple of books though because you can't really spend much time outside without getting quite cold.  On this rotation, we did a walk to the bottom of the Lhotse Face - about an hour and a half away.  We returned to basecamp and celebrated our first successful rotation.

About 4 days later, we left for our second trip.  This time we spent one night at camp 1 and then moved up to camp 2.  We rested here for a day and then pushed up to camp 3.  This was the highest we'd go without using oxygen.  The Lhotse face was a hard climb up and we were exhausted by the time we got there.  Although it was quite cool outside, our tent heated up incredibly and before long we were uncomfortably hot and reaching outside for snow to dab on our foreheads!  Who'd have imagined!  We slept ok considering the altitude and precarious nature of the campsite before heading back to camp 2 in the morning.  We spent another night here - just to get another night at altitude - and then made our way back to basecamp.  We were excited to have successfully completed our second rotation, and even happier to see Mary, Paul's step monther, who had trekked into basecamp to stay and support us for the rest of the climb.

Over the next week or so, we enjoyed catching up with her and started preparing everything for our summit bid.  At this time we started receiving weather forecasts and spent a lot of time discussing our strategy for when to leave.  In the end, we decided that basecamp was really too far away from the summit to make our decision, so we climbed up to camp 2 to wait for a good weather window.  The weather forecasts changed quite a lot in the space of a few days - even leading to a very experienced guide climbing up to camp 3, then deciding to retreat back to basecamp, only to return to camp 2 the next day.  Meanwhile we sat tight at camp 2.  Eventually, after a false start where we decided to stay put after a new forecast came in, we were finally confident that we had 3-4 days of low winds ahead of us. 

On May 21st, we headed up to camp 3 again.  By now our acclimatisation allowed us to walk slowly without stopping for breathing breaks on the flatish section.  But once we hit the Lhotse Face, the hard work began again.  Once we got to camp 3, we focussed on melting enough snow so that we'd both be well hydrated for the next day.  I think we drank almost 4 litres each.  We slept that night using oxygen for the first time. 

At 6am the next morning, we left and continued up the Lhotse Face in great weather.  We crossed the Yellow Band and then on the Geneva Spur, Fiona's crampon came off.  Luckily the safety strap prevented it from sliding down the mountain which could have been disastrous.  We made it to camp 4 on the South Col at about midday.

The South Col is a beautiful place and there were only about 15 people there with us.  We started hydrating ourselves again and preparing our equipment.  There was a lot to think about and we didn't get any sleep at all as we were too busy, putting new batteries in torches, packing our bags, melting snow, drinking, eating and everything else. 

As Fiona travels slower than Paul, she and her Sherpa left at around 9:30pm and Paul left about an hour later.  In the pitch darkness all we could see was a small circle of light in front of us.  The climbing started out reasonably easy and then got progressivly harder and we found ourselves stopping for a break every 3-4 steps.  Close to the Balcony, Paul caught up to Fiona and we climbed the last section together and then shared a break on this little perch - the only place where you can really stop for the whole climb.  We rested here for about 15 minutes and then started getting cold so continued upwards.  After a while of climbing together, Paul was not getting warm enough so decided to go ahead with his Sherpa.

By this stage the going started to get really tough.  The climb seemed to get steeper and steeper the whole way and it was difficult to get enough oxygen.  One of the hardest parts of the climb was a section just below the south summit where there are a few stretches of steep rocks.  For some reason, we hadn't read much about this section so it kind of took us by surprise.

Just above this section, but still below the South Summit, Paul ran into difficulties.  All of a sudden he found the going much tougher and found that we could no longer keep up with the group he and his Sherpa had been climbing with.  He stopped to catch his breath.  When that didn't work, we sat down - which is when he realised that the plastic bottle that acts as a reservoir on his oxygen tank, wasn't moving - there was a problem with his oxygen.  He took his mask off and focussed on breathing deeply while he waited for his Sherpa to notice that he was no longer following close behind.  By Paul's estimate, it took around half an hour for his Sherpa to reach him - after all, he was finding it tough going so when we noticed Paul was resting, he just waited up higher for him to continue up.

When Dasona reached Paul, he looked at his oxygen gauge (which was in Paul's backpack and as it was too steep, Paul couldn't take it off).  Confirming the worst, he said to Paul "your oxygen tank's empty!" - Paul had hoped it was a kink in the tube blocking the flow.  On the flow rate it was set on, it should have lasted 9 hours, but it had been only 3 hours since he picked up the fresh bottle at the Balcony.  Dasona then got the oxygen bottle and slid it down the side of the mountain.

By now, Paul was fading and so Dasona took his mask off and gave it to Paul.  Within just a few minutes Paul was fine again, but now Dasona was fading.  How could they get down sharing just one bottle between them?  They tried to radio for assistance but couldn't get any reception.

There was one Sherpa on the IMG team who had a reputation for being super-human.  He had fixed most of the rope on the mountain and always climbed with incredible speed.  An incredible stroke of luck meant that he was coming down from the summit at that moment.  When he reached Paul and Dasona, they told him the problem and he immediately said that he was happy to descend without oxygen.  He handed over his bottle and continued down.

At this point, the sun was just rising and Fiona and Mingma reached Paul.  He told her what had happened but said to "keep going - you've got it in the bag" - which was anything but how she felt.  At home they had discussed what they'd do if either of them couldn't make it and had decided that the other one would continue on if there were no safety issues - so this made it a no-decision-decision.  Fiona continued up, while Paul started down - there was not enough oxygen in the bottle he had now to continue his climb.  He was only 100 metres vertically below the summit!

After another hour or so of climbing, Fiona got to the Hilary Step, somehow hauled herself up that, and then finally made it to the summit.  It was 7:50am on 23rd May.

On the summit, she spent less than 10 minutes.  Taking in the spectacular views, she felt the bittersweet joy of being on top of the world - but without Paul.  This was one scenario that neither of them had thought of.  She radioed and spoke briefly to Mary at basecamp, and then Paul who had just now arrived back at camp 4.  She tried to have a drink, only to find that both her thermos and Mingma's were frozen shut and no amount of force would open it.  Getting the camera out from inside her down suit, she found that this it was too cold for the batteries.  After warming the battery by hand, she managed to get 2 photos but no more.  Feeling tired and starting to get cold, she began to descend.

At around 12:30pm she finally arrived back at camp 4 - utterly exhausted.  Paul congratulated her and they shared their stories of the climb.  Despite climbing almost all the way to the summit, Paul was feeling strong.  He'd realised that due to IMG's logistics, if he was going to have another shot at the summit, the only opportunity was to try that same night.  They deliberated on whether this was a smart thing to do or not.  To climb Everest on two consequtive days would be superhuman and potentially reckless to attempt it, but if he didn't try he'd always wonder whether he could have made it and having put all the effort in to get this close, it seemed a shame not to try.  In the end he decided to give it a go - but promised to turn around if he was feeling fatigued.  He probably slept for about an hour and then started preparing to leave that night.

He left at about 9:30pm, this time with a different climbing Sherpa as Dasona was too tired to go up again.  He felt good about with his breathing but a few hours into the climb, his legs started to feel extremely heavy.   At this point, he made the difficult decision to turn around.  Having just had an experience which made him very aware of the fragility of humans at this altitude he thought this was no place to push himself to the limit.  At 2am, he arrived back to the tent at camp 4.

The next morning, we all packed up and headed down to camp 2, and then down to basecamp the following day.  It was a fantastic feeling to get through the icefall for the last time - the climb is never over until you're safely down.  Mary had climbed up the first section of the icefall to meet us and there were big hugs all round.

We had a fantastic climb - which would have been perfect if Paul hadn't had the problem with his oxygen.  But by now, we couldn't wait to get off the mountain and back home.  We started the trek out the next day.

Throughout our climb, we sent daily updates to a website - these are all available here.  The best thing about this was feeling like we were in touch with the people close to us, as well as connecting with a wider group of people that were following our climb.  We received messages of support every day and still get the tingles when we re-read them now.  It was almost as though we could feel all these people there cheering us on.

When we left Nepal, Paul was pretty sure that he'd be back again but didn't make his final decision until several months later.

< Back to other Previous Climbs