May 21 The Descent to Camp 4
I spent about 30 minutes on the summit of Mount Everest. The views were spectacular, but I was not really in a state of mind to appreciate it. I sat around for a while at 8850m without my mask on and started to feel the affects of the lack of oxygen. I had a difficult time breathing and walking around and my memory was not so good.
It did not really feel real. I thought it was a dream. Did I really do this. It is such a huge project and commitment and so few people actually make it. It has still not really sunk in. Susan did some research and it appears that Angus and I are (give or take a number or two) the 50th and 51st Canadians to have climbed Mount Everest.
Eventually I decided it was time to go. I was so tired I was a little concerned about getting down safely. Most fatalities on Mount Everest happen on the descent. People are working at the extent of their physical and mental abilities and can easily make mistakes.
I had no desire to join this group so I started down slowly and methodically. I asked my Sherpa to turn up my oxygen so I could move better.
The first few steps were painful, but I forced my body to keep going.
At the top of the Hillary Step my progress ground to a stop.
Many, many climbers were coming up the step as we were trying to go down. In many cases, common courtesy is thrown out on Everest. The obvious thing to do is to allow a few people to come up and a few people to go down. Take turns. Well this is mot what happened. The climbers kept coming up with no break. I was standing on a narrow ledge, hooked to a safety line and could not see the bottom of the step and how many people were there.
As the climbers passed us they had to unclip from the safety line, walk around us and clip back in on the other side. This was a daunting prospect at best as a slip while unclipped would mean a fall of about 3000-feet. As the climbers unclipped to go around me I would make myself as small as possible to give them space and give them my hand to help them past. Although scary, it worked.
One climber decided that he would not unclip. He looked at me and just started walking. I guess he thought he would go through me somehow. His tether was clipped to the same rope as mine so as he got closer his line started to move across my body. He pushed harder and started to bend me backwards. Soon his tether reached my neck and he kept pushing. I could not breath, but he did not care. He was determined to somehow pass right through me. Several people saw what was happening and they jumped on him. They pushed him back and physically unclipped him from the rope. He said nothing, but just kept going. He was in some sort of trance. He was not in the same world with the rest of us. Was it summit fever or hypoxia. I'll Never know. All I know is that is was strange.
I have modified a saying to help explain the weird stuff that goes on here at Everest. I recently watched the movie Blood Diamond, in that movie a lot of bad and weird things happen. They explain it by saying TIA - This Is Africa. I have changed it to TIE - This Is Everest. It does not make things right it just means it is a different world up here.
After the strangling incident I still stood at the top of the Hillary Step waiting. The line of people coming up did not stop. Finally I looked down to a climber approaching the step and yelled "You, in the blue, STOP" and I waved my hand in a emphatic stop gesture. They stared at me and stopped. The line in front of that person kept going until it ran out and we could finally descend. We had stood at the top of the Hillary Step for 90 minutes.
I got to the top of the step, skittered over the angled rock and looked at the mess of ropes to climb down. I grabbed a handful of rope and stared to lowed myself down the face. My crampons became entangled in the rope and I started to invert. It took all my energy to stop myself and correct my descent. Several years ago a climber died in exactly this same way. They got caught in the ropes on the Hillary Step and ended up upside down and alone. He could not free himself from the rope and died.
I made it to the base of the step safely and worked my way around the waiting climbers towards the South Summit.
To make it to the South Summit I had to go up the slope I had previously gone down. Going up was very tough. I made it to the top of the South Summit and sat down for a rest. Al B showed up with his Sherpa Lama Tame and Al sat down. Lama Tame looked at him and said "no rest, too late in the day, go down now". Al looked at him and reluctantly said ok. I too started down. I was so exhausted that I had to sit down and rest every 100-200 feet. I knew I was tired when I had to rest going down hill. I crossed the rock at the base of the South Summit and slumped in the snow. I would then move a little further down the hill and sit down in the snow. I found as I would sit down I would involuntarily moan out loud. I have heard people doing this on mountains before and found it strange, but never understood it. Now I was doing it. I was exhausted and in physical pain from every movement.
I continued down and told Kala (my Sherpa) that we would stop and take a break at The Balcony. I was beyond exhausted and stoped every 100 feet on the way to the break. Eventually I made it and collapsed in the snow.
I pulled out my water and a snack to eat. I laid in the snow and stared at the sky. Eventually I had enough energy to keep going and grabbed my pack to out it on. I looked at my oxygen regulator to turn it up a bit because I was feeling so bad. When I looked at it I saw that it was set at 0.75. I couldn't believe my eyes.
On the way up I was running at 2-2.5. When I got to the top I was exhausted using this flow. After my rest on the top, I asked Kala to turn me back on for the descent. I wanted it at 2-3 liters per minute, but I guess he wanted to conserve oxygen so he set it at 0.75.
As a result, I was way more tired than I needed to be. Once we reached The Balcony and I realized how low it was I was shocked. I cranked it to 3 and moved down hill.
The difference was amazing. I was a whole new person. I moved ahead of Kala and left him in my dust. I was a little upset that I had suffered so badly when a little more oxygen could have solved my problem and made the descent way more conformable, but the Sherpa are not guides and do not offer the same level of care or look at you in the same way. The Sherpa are extremely strong and I would not have climbed this mountain without them, but their job is to get us to the top and to help us if we get into trouble. They are not the same as a Western guide.
After a four hour descent I walked into Camp 4. I was tired, but not too bad. Ryan met me with a cup of juice and we talked for a few minutes.
Ryan had problems with his regulator during the summit bid and he was not getting a clear oxygen flow. He was essentially climbing without oxygen which is extremely difficult. The oxygen also helps to keep climbers warm. Just above The Balcony Ryan decided he was too cold and moving too slow and turned around. Alan Arnette also returned to Camp 4 after climbing to The Balcony. I have not spoken to Alan and do not know exactly what happened. I do know that making it to The Balcony takes a huge toll on a person physically and mentally.
Once in camp I took off my climbing gear and slid into the tent. Angus was already there resting. He did not have the same hold up at the Hillary Step so he made it down much faster than I did. Kala soon arrived and we made water and soup.
The next thing we did was to strap our oxygen masks to our face and go to sleep.
Alan A had already descended to camp 2 with Lama Babu before I returned to Camp 4 and Al B arrived in camp about two hours after me.
Ryan decided to make a second attempt that night. I thought it was a good idea at the time, but was concerned about his energy level, his lack of rest, and that he would go alone.
Ryan started for the top around 8pm and Angus and I went to sleep. I slept amazingly well that night and woke the next morning feeling refreshed.

May 22 Descent from C4 to C2
After a good night's sleep it was time to leave Camp 4. I know that Camp 4 can be a very hostile place, but while I was there it was a pretty nice place. It was warm with no wind and the views were spectacular.
Even though I had had a great summit night, the night was not without tragedy. Reports of several deaths were in the air. Rumors were saying that three had died, but this was unconfirmed. I could not understand how anyone could have died on such a beautiful night. Two of the people I personally talked to during the summit push were supposed to be dead. I will not provide any details as little has been confirmed and I do not want to upset anyone at home with stories that may or may not be true.
When I got out of my tent in the morning there was a body wrapped in a tent not far from me so it was true that at least one person had died. The other two turned out to still be alive, barely. They had spend a night out at The Balcony and had somehow survived. As far as I know they are still alive, but I do not know their condition or where they are on the mountain.
As I was descending from the summit I also came across another body not too far above Camp 4. I was told it was Scott Fischer, but I am skeptical. I was told the body was usually covered with snow, but since this is a low snow year the body had come to the surface. This is a dangerous place, but for some reason Everest smiled upon me.
Angus and I set out from Camp 4 around 9am. I was wearing oxygen and Angus was not. The difference in our level of performance and speed became immediately obvious. We walked slowly, keeping together. At various spots we would buddy breath. I would give him my mask for a few moments while we rested and then we would continue.
There was a bit of a slow down at the top of the Geneva Spur and it turned out there was a climber who was snow blind being helped down. This would not be a fun way to leave Camp 4, but I suspect it is not that uncommon.
Angus and I descended the Geneva Spur with no problem and started the traverse across the Lhotse face towards the Yellow Band. Part way across the traverse we saw a climber being lowered from the Lhotse high camp. The climber could not walk and was being belayed down the face. We stopped and I offered them my oxygen, but they declined. We moved on as there was nothing else we could do and the situation seemed to be well in hand. It would be a long and hard descent for the pair.
We continued to descend and it was a glorious day. We moved quickly and as we got lower Angus felt better in the thicker air.
We got to our Camp 3 and took a break. I was very hot in my down suit so I changed out of it into my standard climbing gear. I continued to use O's down the Lhotse face as I just felt so good. It was a great mountaineering experience to rap down the Lhotse face heading back to Camp 2.
We got to the base of the Lhotse face and started the walk to Camp 2. We arrived at Camp 2 around 1pm after a four hour descent.
I spent the rest of the day at Camp 2 resting, eating and drinking. Not much else went on.

May 23 Descent to Base Camp
We woke this morning to three pieces of bad news. 1) it was snowing and windy and looking not too good for our descent, 2) Lama Tame could not see due to being snow blind, and 3) Ryan was not doing well at Camp 4.
Ryan was extremely tired from his summit bid and was experiencing some health issues. I was not there so I can not say exactly what was going on, but we were all quite worried. We gave Lama Tame some eye drops and told him to stay in a tent with his eyes closed, but we could not really do much else for him. He would just need time to recover (usually 24 hours).
The weather was getting worse so we had to go. Ryan was in radio contact with camp and was slowly making his way down.
Angus, Al and I left Camp 2 around 10am. It was snowing and blowing, but not too bad. We were all pretty tired from our summit and our climb down to Camp 2, but we only had to make it to Base Camp for our summit to be official (in my mind at least).
It was a relatively warm day so the snow was wet and stuck to our faces and clothing. The trail was fairly easy to follow which was good because as the snow intensified and the wind picked up, visibility became about 100 feet or less.
I loved it. This is what mountaineering is all about. A small team of climbers making their way through the mountain wilderness. Few other people were on the trail so we pretty much had the route to ourselves. We made it to camp 1 no problem and headed for the Ice Fall.
The Ice Fall was beautiful. There was a coating of fresh snow and no people to be seen. We started down in the silence and worked together to get through the Ice Fall safely.
Because of all the fresh snow there were quite a few avalanches as we proceeded through the Ice Fall. Mostly they were far away, but a few sounded too close for comfort. I was not too worried however, as the route descends through pretty much the middle of the Ice Fall and there are tons of cracks everywhere to absorb an avalanche before it reached us.
We continued to walk and the snow stopped. I really enjoyed my last trip through the Ice Fall. Perhaps exactly because it was my LAST TRIP THROUGH THE ICE FALL.
As we got close to the bottom of the Ice Fall we were met by Chering and some of our other Base Camp Sherpa. They had come out to meet us and congratulate us and to give us juice and beer. It was a nice welcome, but we were all anxious to get to Base Camp. We downed our drinks and finished the walk to Base camp.
Once in Base Camp we changed out of our climbing clothing. Mine were incredibly stinky. I had been wearing the same clothing (all layers) for a week. I walked in them, ate in them, and slept in them. My Gore-Tex pants proved to be quite an odor barrier as I did not think I was too smelly until I took them off. Then I realized it was bad. I gave myself a baby-wipe bath in my tent and put on different (not necessarily clean) clothing. We then had a big lunch.
After lunch the tension in camp increased greatly. Ryan was not doing well and was sitting in Camp 3 in need of help. He was suspected of being severely dehydrated and having the start of HAPE. It was very bad news. Phil Crampton was at Camp 2 and started up with Sherpa, oxygen, medication and drinks. There were a tense few hours as we waited to see what would happen.
There were also apparently many other teams in trouble on the mountain. Bad weather had moved in higher on the mountain and it was becoming survival up there.
Partly due to the lack of acclimatization, people were having a hard time dealing with the bad weather. Many people had not fully acclimatized due to the climbing restrictions imposed by the Olympic Torch carry. I have never written much about this, but this had a hugely negative impact on Everest climbers this year.
It turned out the storm was not too bad and that Ryan made it to Camp 2 without too much trouble. Before we went to bed we were told he was sleeping on oxygen and taking medication for his condition. He was not out of the woods yet, but was doing much better.
A crazy few days.

Saturday May 24. Base Camp.
We will start to walk out tomorrow (May 25). Our plan will be to go to Deboche on the 25th, Namche on the 26th, Lukla on the 27th and Kathmandu on the 28th. I have a flight scheduled home on June 1 (Susan, if it is possible to make this flight sooner [30th or 31st] that would be great, but I know how much work this has been already so if it is not possible I will find stuff to do in KTM). I will have a few days to kill in Kathmandu.

Today I had a well needed bowl bath (our shower is broken) and shave. I am now starting to pack. My tent is full of stuff I must somehow get into two duffell bags. I got it here so I guess it will fit going home.

Ryan is expected in camp at any time. I will try to provide an update on his condition before I post this later today.

4:45pm Update:
Ryan made it back to camp around 3:00pm. He looked much better than I expected. I think the reports of his condition were a little exaggerated as tends to happen. There is no doubt he was sick, but he has recovered a lot. We all sat down with him as he had something to drink and eat. He told us the story of his last few days. He then went to his tent to sleep. He looks tired and has a little cough, but he really looks not much different than we did when we came in yesterday.
We are all glad he is ok.
I have almost finished packing and am ready to go tomorrow.
That's all for now.
Hugs to Susan, Amy, and Colin.
Scott.