We were one of the first to summit that morning. So, the crowd that was still coming up towards the summit made going down very hard and very scary. People who were coming up got priority so everytime you passed someone, you had to unclip, go around them and clip back into the safety ropes. As I was already tired coming down, it was quite scary unclipping everytime, especially at the very steep spots near the summit. I saw Mayk and Tim just below the summit. I passed Mike and Louis at the Hillary step. It was harder coming down that hillary step than going up especially when many trying to come up. I had to shout out to the guys to stop them from coming up before I could go down. I saw Jason and Eben near the South summit and I knew they would make it as well. I was happy that the entire team would summit. Awesome!!.
The view from the South summit of the last stretch (You can see people still climbing and the famous Hillary step)
Took a few more photos at the South summit and you could see how strong the wind was at the summit. As we came near the top of the steep rocky section, we saw a climber just sitting and practically sleeping. The guide was yelling at her asking her to get up and keep moving. We were stuck behind her for about 10mins until she gained the energy to move. The guide wasn’t being very helpful shouting at her either. We waited to see if we could help but another guide from her own team made it down to help her, so we decided to keep going. Hope she made it fine to Camp as she looked in bad shape. I decided to abseil down the steep rocky section and I missed the fact that the rope was stuck behind a little rock higher up and had some slack. As I started to abseil down, the rope gave away and I fell about 10 feet and hurt my elbow. Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad but I was in a bit of a shock.
At the South Summit on our way down
Just as I made my way down hard rocky section (strangely this part has never been given a name), I saw a Sherpa roll past me down the snow a few feet from me. He was not tied in and fortunately, he managed to put the breaks on before he fell off the Kanchenjung face. He was possibly trying to avoid the rocky section and come along the side of it, bad idea. The Sherpa was bleeding on his hands but he seemed more in shock than anything else. My Sherpa sat with him for a few minutes until he was ok and we left. It was quite scary to see someone just rolling off next to you. Thankfully, he had found a way to stop himself.
We made it down to balcony with just enough Oxygen left in our bottles. I finally decided to try and eat something as my throat felt better and I was feeling energyless. Changed our Oxygen back to the original partial bottle we used up to the Balcony and down we went. The weather had turned, it was snowing, visibility was low and it got pretty windy. Thank god, we were already down at the balcony. We were slow going down, taking many breaks but we were fairly out of danger and we were starting to enjoy the descent. Tim caught up with us half way down and I finally reached Camp 4 at about 2pm. A super long day and I was tired but hey! we made it to the summit. As I removed my shoes, I realized the damage on my toes. All my left toes were numb and my right toes were partially numb. I couldn’t move any of my left toes but they were not very discoloured. I was scared. Justin, our lead guide, checked my feet and said, they look more like boot ramp than frost bite. Phew!. We used the left over Oxygen in our bottles to rest, enjoyed our summit success and slept like babies. I was hungry but I could still barely eat. My throat problem persisted.
We were going to face a completely new and unknown terrain today. We have been only upto Camp 3 prior to this. Apart from that, from today onwards we carry an additional load of 12 kilograms of an Oxygen tank with us. However, it felt like 30 kgs at that altitude.
I still couldn’t get over losing my own Mitt. First, I decided not to use them, but it was quite cold that morning, so I decided to alternate the use of my single mitten on both hands. Mike asked us to set our flow rate at 2.5 but my Sherpa set it at 2.0 and for some reason, I did not resist. Another example of strange oxygen deprived behavior. We all started about the same time and I kept right behind Mike and Louis but after about 30 mins I started to fall behind and I just couldn’t catch up. I could feel myself climbing slower and slower. I suddenly remembered my Oxygen was lower so I double-checked with Eben on the flow rate and asked my Sherpa to turn it up. Unfortunately, it didn’t help much with my speed. I began to start coughing like crazy and this was different from the Khumbu cough I had. By the time we reached the yellow band, I was about 30 mins behind Mike and Louis. I was a disaster climbing the yellow band.
Day 53 – A few anchors after the yellow band, a busy day
The yellow band is a rocky section of the mountain about 20-30 feet high on Everest. This band runs across all the 8000m peaks from Pakistan to Tibet through Nepal. This is yet another proof that Everest was once under the sea and the continental plates pushing against each other formed the mighty himalayas. At some point in history, I particular meteor strike would have the formed the yellow band layer that today runs across the mighty himalayan peaks. The band was much smaller and easier on Cho Oyu (8201m) as compared to Everest.
At the top of yellow band, I was so wasted, I wanted to a break immediately but Eben who had caught up with me by this time, insisted I walk two more anchors to a much safer point before my first break. After much struggle, I reached that point, just dropped my bag and sat like I had lost every ounce of energy in my body. Just at that point, I see Ted walking past, skipping his break, making the whole climb up yellow band seem simple. My confidence was shattered and I knew it wasn’t the best of my days. Eben decided to accompany me slowly as I inched my way from anchor to anchor. I stopped almost every 10-20 steps to take a short break. We took a longer break just before the last big hurdle of the day, the Geneva Spur, a famous and steep rocky section that had to be crossed before reaching South Col. Once above the spur, I was told it was fairly flat and that was motivation to get up that section.
Day 53 – Resting before tackling the Geneva spur
I finally reached camp at about 2pm. Very very late and I could see the look on Mike’s face…”why so late and is Sandhosh going to be a problem tomorrow?” Mike was clear and honest “He said that I was very slow and if I kept the same pace during summit, it could potentially be a problem”. We decided that I should leave early just in case.
I could not understand why I was slow. I crashed in the tent with Louis and Mayk. I tried to find all sorts of excuses and justifications. After about 30mins, I fell really sick. I could not swallow my own saliva as my throat was hurting and I was coughin badly. My lung capacity seemed reduced and I couldn’t take full breaths. I was getting more and more worried, so I took every possible medicine I could and laid down, not wanting to think about the night. I managed to have as much food as I can that wouldn’t hurt my throat. It was mainly hot water and noodles, no chocolates. I got my glove system sorted, checked my Cameras and got everything setup for the last leg of our long journey. I told myself that I should keep going as long as my Oxygen lasted and that I was not going to turn around and give up easily. Fingers crossed, I hoped and prayed. I became more religious than I had been my entire life. I wanted that summit bad.
