Everest 2006
Bob Killip, Managing Director of Outdoor Insights returned to Mount Everest, to fulfil one his personal goals. You can read Bob's reports on this eventful trip, which mixed triumph with tragedy!
To find out more about Bob's inspiring keynote talk for your
next business meeting, conference or as part of training program, click
here! Also new OH&S Presentation "Safety Lessons from the top of the World!".
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Last report 1/6/06
Back home in Kangaroo Valley
It was so awesome to be reunited with my wife Astrid after 2 month away in the hills especially after running the gauntlet of extreme altitude and the other things Everest threw at me.
My toes are in good hands as Prof Bruce Conolly was willing to take on my case even though he now specialises in hands. The Prof has a wonderful reputation in the climbing community for his work with frostbitten climbers. It is a wait and see game for my toes. Only the two biggest toes on my right foot are in danger but I am quietl confident that they will stay intact or at the most loose only bits off their ends.
The media has been having a field day with their handling of the David Sharp story. Unfortunately a lot of the debate has been fuelled by misinformation, sensationalism and down right fraudulent reporting with the SMH taking the cake for the worst reporting especially with their editorial and very poor taste Moir Cartoon. The Australian and ABC 7.30 report seems to be able to balance their stories so one wonders what the SMH agenda is…it certainly is not to inform the general public with the truth.
Leaving David Sharp where he lay on Everest was done after trying to revive him with oxygen and drugs by the first of our party that discovered he was actually alive on our return from the summit. Our Sirdar (Sherpa leader) also tried again a couple of hours later to revive David. David stayed in a coma, deeply frozen and was no one was able to get any response what so ever from him. I walked past him in that night believing he was the dead Polish man that had been lying there for many years.
Given that our Sherpas and team were flat out supporting two of our own climbers off the hill they were not in a position to help David any further or could not have even if they wanted to. The sad reality is that if you cannot walk then it is near impossible to be rescued off the summit ridge. Lincoln Hall was able to get to his feet and aid his rescuers. If Lincoln was not able to walk then his miraculous rescue would of ended in tragedy just like David.
So it is back to work again with Andy and Zac with them hoping now I am up with our clients again and perhaps sharing some of my story.
I have tried to answer all the emails since returning but if I have missed anyone please accept my sincere thanks for your best wishes and congratulations. Thanks for your support and interest in my climb.
Cheers,
Bob
To access other reports and information from this expedition, click onto www.himex.com
17/05/2006- Base Camp
I took a bit less than 6 hours to get down and was very relieved to sit in the mess tent with my feet in bowls of warm water with a long neck beer beside me. My foot has rebelled and blown up a bit and my big toe looks nothing like its former self and about double it size. I am getting a bit of feeling and pain in the toes which is really good news so I am quietly confident that my toes will stay my friend. Terry the Doc is great and makes me feel that it will be OK. 3 foot baths a day, antibiotics to stop infection with 3 doses of anti inflammatory with meals is my lot at present. Not a lot of pain so all is good.
I am enjoying sitting in base camp and looking up at Everest and seeing her with different eyes. Thanks all for the emails and SMS messages (SMS kind of works at BC!). I look forward to thanks all of you personally when I get home.
Cheers
Bob
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| The view to the top! |
The summit day was surreal as the weather was so cold. I have never experienced such an alien environment. The route was covered in a fair bit of snow which made moving easier in a way but punishing on the toes. We headed from camp 4 at 11 pm to avoid the crowding on the route, though there was not that many other climber it takes very little to jam up the system. We set off up the exit cracks and soon had most of our team in the lead for the day. It was fairly easy up to the ridge as we were moving fast to get ahead of the crowd and had bumped up the oxygen for that section of the climb.
Once on the ridge we felt just how cold the morning really was. I was glad I had put some hand warmers in my gloves and my feet had been good due to electric foot warmers but hitting the ridge they were no longer up to the job. I felt my feet chill and tried to keep them warm by stamping etc but they just stayed that blocky feeling all climb. My whole body started to get the shakes every time we had to wait for the team to move through a bottleneck.
Mark Ingliss from NZ, who has no legs was so strong on summit day he just blew me away with his sheer guts. I stood and shook from the cold and watched him struggle up the very awkward bottom section of the 2nd step. He pulled and pushed just to slip a wee bit back and then lifted up one of his artificial leg to place it on a ledge then put all his power to that leg to move up. This was repeated time and time again al the time in freezing conditions that made me just climb into my shell to just survive and not give in. Mark had truly done something very special and I await his return to ABC.
We each had a Sherpa and my guy Phurba was such a lovely bloke, he followed me along and helped clipped my carabiner to the fixed rope if I even looked like fumbling due to the cold. He was wearing some serious gloves and I had mittens. It is Great to see the Sherpa given a chance to summit, but the down side is they make my efforts look very feeble!
The sun came up just as we hit the 3rd step and we were able to get a bit of relief from the breeze and feel the sun on our backs. From the 3rd step it was a slow beat up the summit snow face then a beautiful traverse and climb up a rock corner to arrive at the summit ridge. To look along the ridge was awesome to see the summit 100 metres or so away and then walk along the ridge gain the goal step by step. I felt a bit removed from the experience as it was so cold that no digital camera worked, but I knew I had to get down quick as I could now feel my feet were far from happy.
The return trip was just a huge struggle against fatigue; dehydration and having to take extra care with blocky feet. I checked my feet at Camp 4 to discover my three biggest right hand toes were solid. A bit of a fright so I put my boots back on and struggled down to ABC. Today in day light and after the doc has looked at them again my feet should be OK, but I am going to loose a bit of skin and nails. My biggest concern is my big toes, which are not looking, that happy but frostbite is a wait and see game and everyone assures me it should all be OK.
Thanks you for all the messages of support I have received, which have really helped..
Bob
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| The view from the Shuttle of Mt Everest! |
Report 9/5/06
We have all been assigned a Sherpa buddy from camp 3 onwards and we have this Sherpa support on summit day, which is great, and my Tibetan Sherpa buddy is called Phubu Tsering and he has summited twice so we should not get lost!
Our Sherpas are just there in case it goes to custard and support any members that start to struggle on the way down.
These Sherpa are so strong, their work on setting up the mountain is just so humbling for me that let it be very clear that I feel I am climbing this mountain virtually on their backs and sheer guts.
I feel pretty good except for a seriously sore throat that knocks me about in the cold air. It is not infected so once I blast it again by panting up to Camp 1 it will just be a managing the pain for 4 days. A good chance to "walk the talk" from our personal development programs I suppose!
Thank you for all the e-mails again, best wishes and sorry I cannot answer them personally till I get home. Lets hope for the wind to stay away and we stay safe.
Cheers
Bob
Report 6/5/06 Advanced Base Camp
Just returned from another and most probably last acclimatisation climb
to the Nth Col. I found it a really hard night again with
weird dreams waking me up often. My tent mate rolling on me does
not help either, but most people find sleeping at 7000 metres
hard work.
The next day I headed up to CampTtwo which was just great as I really felt I was getting somewhere. I slept for four hours after lunch that day then the usual full nights sleep.
Altitude really is taking it toll on my body. I still have a really sore throat which I gained from my first climb to Camp 1 but learning to manage it and it does not seem to stop me climbing and my times are still good and giving me confidence.
Climbing Mt Everest is mostly about waiting around for weather, climbing high then recovering, clapping the Sherpas on the back for their super efforts in fixing camps and taking oxygen up the hill and trying to eat enough to stay strong. I have now all my equipment up at Camp 1 and now it is just a matter of Sherpas placing final camps etc and we should be set up logistical. It would then be climber and weather dependent.
I cannot say when we are off as it is weather dependent and we could end up at Base Camp to rest but as soon as I make a move I will phone and get it posted on the web.
Thanks for emails and support.
Cheers Bob.
Report 1st May
I have been pretty good health wise and slowly
getting stronger as we gain height. I am in the middle to top end
of strength amongst the climbers, which is good, and keeping pretty
healthy except for a killer sore throat at night which is not stopping
me sleeping so not to bad.
I picked it up on the North Col, sleeping with all the climbers in a big communal tent, which was nice to stand up in but 9 people was a bit much!
We have been getting awesome weather, which is really unusual for
April. We are sitting on our fat arses at the moment in the sun
on deck chairs, watching our Sherpas go for the summit to replace the
fixed ropes. They should hit the summit at 1pm and be back in
Advanced Base Camp by 9pm. They are so bloody strong is humbles
me incredibly.
We have our full crew of climbers now as the two Swiss have arrived along with the 62-year-old French guy, who was delayed due to getting a kidney removed. Some people are just tough and do not let things stop their dreams!
We are going to head up to Camp 2 this week via a
couple of nights at the North Col. After this acclimatisation stage and
a rest, it should be all go for a summit attempt. We cannot
really just run (stagger) up the hill because the weather is good we
just have to climb high then rest then wait. For all the time I
am away from home we end up with about 12 climbing days but each ofthose days are full on I am always pushing the altitude bar.
Cheers
Bob
Report 28/4/06
Everyone in our team is now ready to go to the Col
tomorrow as Tim and the Doc tagged Camp 1 yesterday. Yesterday on
the mountain brought home just how fine a line this game is, with an
Indian climber collapsing just below Camp 1 from cerebral edeama, he
had done nothing wrong acclimatisation wise.
Our doctor was up there with a couple of our guides plus film crew and were able to rescue him. He spent the night in our Himex camp under the supervision of our doc Terry and their own Indian doctor. He was very lucky to live and has gone down to Base Camp this morning on the back of a Tibetan and hopefully will recover fully at lower altitude.
I am looking forward to getting to grips with the hill again tomorrow
and spent the morning chilling out in the sun and having a five litre
shower. It is amazing how much skin our bodies loose over a
couple of weeks of dry weather and no shower. All clean and fresh for
the hill now!
Our cameraman is back in camp again and really noticed the difference in living at 5200 m and our present camp at 6400m.
hank you friends for the emails and it is not easy to reply as we share the computer between 30 odd people and temperature allows only 6 hours a day of communication a day, if it is a good warm day. I look forward to sharing how I go as we head up Everest.
Cheers,
Bob
Report 7000 metres 24/4/06
The climb up to the Nth Col was my first major test and was really pleased how well I went. I climbed up in 3hrs 20 mins which is a lot better than 5 hours plus in 2001, this is a great confidence boost for the next few weeks.
The real heroes of the expedition are again the Sherpas. A couple of days ago they climbed from Advanced Base Camp (ABC) to the top camp at 8300 metres fixing rope above camp one. They then retuned to ABC in time for dinner. This just blew most of the team away to witness the Sherpas strength. They all arrived back with huge grins and packs full of old rope and used oxygen bottles so there was no easy trip back.
The climbing team is doing well and every one is OK health wise along with the odd sore throat and mild cold like symptoms. The trip up to the Nth Col was a great milestone for the team and helped keep morale high. The meals have been great with bacon, eggs and beans really hitting the spot this morning!
Hopefully in a few days we will be heading up to Camp One again to sleep over to gain greater acclimitisation.
Cheers
Bob
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| The 'Second Step' on route to the summit of Mount Everest. AAA Expedition 20 |
Report from Everest Base Camp-5150 metres 11/4/06
Arrived at base camp on the 7th April after spending 6 nights at various altitudes to aid our acclimatisation. It was great to arrive with the camp set up and our personal tents all sorted. This expedition is very professionally run with Russ Brice as leader and a fabulous team of about 17 Sherpas. The food is awesome and our climbing team of eight are great blokes and very diverse in personalities. We have 3 guides and one of the climbing team is a doctor, so I feel lucky that I have a fun group of people to climb Everest with.
Our trip from Lhasa was great fun even the long hours in the bus. I got to visit the Potala, forts and monasteries. The highlight was the high pass we crossed on our last days travel. The view of Everest was amazing as the light was perfect but it made the mountain look really steep and I was pleased I knew it was not that bad as I might of just gone home! Seeing the mountain close up really lifted the energy of the team and upon boarding the bus we opened a case of beer and had a pretty fun trip to base camp!
We have been here for 4 nights now and it was great to wake up with my resting heart rate nearing normal a good sign I am acclimitising well. I have been drinking lots of water and taking it really easy which is not hard to do with not having to make camp and help with the logistics.
The expedition formally started for me today as we held our Puja Ceremony, which is run by the Lamas from Rongbuk monastery. This ceremony is important to the Sharps as the Lamas ask for protection and bless the climbers and equipment. I find the ceremony important also, as I find my self tuning into the mountain and asking for the strength I need to climb. It is all very casual but at the same time a ritual that is closely observed. We throw rice at the appropriate times, share the offerings of beer, whiskey and cakes etc and then wish each other luck. The Sherpas joined arms and did a few dances that looked line dancing in a way they certainly enjoyed them selves.
We head up to Advanced Base Camp (ABC) 6400 metres on Saturday via one camp for a night at 6000 metres. I am enjoying not having to rush the acclimatisation and just having to focus in getting myself to the top and back safely. We will spend about a week getting sorted with the new height gain before heading up to the Nth Col at 7000 metres.
I look forward to hearing from any of you and thanks for all the good wishes.
Cheers
Bob
Everest Report 7/4/06
Finally drive to base camp tomorrow after a couple of days bus travel over some new freeway and some seriously rough track. Drove over a 5300 metre Pass yesterday and now at 4300 metres acclimatising. Today we trekked up to 4600 metres to visit an old fort. On top there was so many prayer flags in a 20 metre radius that it was a colour jungle of flags. I could see Everest in the distance and it did not look any smaller with is ice cloud screaming off the summit ridge.
Accommodation and food has been great since leaving Lhasa which make
life really easy before tent city. The team has been buying last minute
rugs for tents and other silly things to make life a bit easier.
I have got over my tummy bug and feeling strong again. Six more hours in the bus then it is all legs for the next 7 weeks!
I shall report in five days or so, on how I find Base Camp
acclimatising. I have really increased my water intact to 4 to
five litres a day and hope this will make It an easier journey than
2001.
Thanks for those best wishes I have been receiving; it is great to have them.
Cheers,
Bob
Everest Report 2/4/06
I have now arrived in Lhasa after some time in Katmandu meeting the
crew I will be climbing with. It is great to actually have
started the expedition as we are at 3600 metres and started the
aclimatisation stage.
We stay here for 3 nights before driving up to base camp
spending another 3 nights on the way. The majority of equipment
is coming overland via Nepal to Tibet and Everest Base camp and will
meet us there.
Flying to Lhasa to acclimatise is so much more comfortable than
coming overland. 3 star hotels in Lhasa are better than the converted
dirt floor at Nylam of previous expeditions! We have a fun and diverse
team of climbers which all seem good blokes. Everyone seems to be
a character and I have really enjoyed getting to know them.
We also are accompanied by 18-film crew from Tigress who are making the Discovery Documentary. They also are fun to be with and they are seriously interesting people from rock stars, world famous wild life photographers to Everest summiteers. We all have been sight seeing today to the Potola, which is just awesome. I was blown away to actually be there after reading the book 'Seven Years in Tibet' 40 odd years ago and wanting to see it ever since.
I am in good health after a patch of the trots from a Katmandu cafe. A couple of days not eating put my weight back to where it should be after an excess of beer and food. A good example of black clouds with silver linings!
I shall report again in a week and tell you about base camp and introduce some of our team.
Cheers
Bob
Report 14/3/06
Hi Folks,
I tested out my fitness yesterday with a 22 kilometres jog through the bush tracks in Kangaroo Valley with terrain that included 800 vertical metres of up and down. I felt pretty good after it and woke this morning with minimal soreness.
Our Expedition is the focus for a TV series by Discovery Channel
with 6 x 1 hour episodes. There are only 9 or so climbers and 13
people in the film crew so it seems a pretty big
production.
My Wife and I had one of the producers come to Australia from the UK and spend 24 hours with us filming me puffing up and down my training hill, being in the office and a bit of family life plus the normal interview type process. We both found it a bit weird having a camera follow us around for the day!
I have now just about finished packing after a dash up to Sydney to collect some equipment from Paddy Pallin. They have kindly replaced some of my worn out kit and I look forward to being warm in their top of the range Western Mountaineering sleeping bag and a full set of body wear.
I had an awesome farewell from the men’s group that I belong to in Kangaroo Valley last night and it really brought home to me how valuable I find being able to share my deepest feelings with likeminded men. If I can form connections with the expedition members even 20% that I do with those blokes then I am in for a great expedition.
My next report will be from Nepal before heading off to Lhasa.
Cheers Bob
If you wish to find our more about climbing Mount Everest, without all the hype! Try checking out http://www.mounteverest.net
Report 3/3/06
Hi Folks,
This is my first report which was prompted by March finally arriving and my departure for Tibet on the 27th.
March seems to be filled with friends invitations to dinner, pre-Everest filming for Discovery Channel, packing and re-packing, visits to Coff’s Harbour for my Dad’s 80th.and then some family time before heading off to Nepal.
Training is going pretty well after a great kick-start in NZ with my daughter Jody and a friend Paul Cooper. We carried 30kg packs up the Matuktuki Valley for 2 days to gain access to the Bonar Glacier, then onto Colin Todd Hut for a rest day. We then had a very long day climbing the NW ridge of Mt Aspiring, which I finally got up after 3 other attempts.
I have been pack carrying up the steep hill behind our home then dropping the pack to run along the fire trail. I vary the run from 10 to 18km depending on how I am feeling. I am getter fitter and my legs look the part but my tummy is not quite reducing as per plan. Running makes me so hungry and invitations out dissolve any self-discipline I have around beer!
I am feeling quietly confident that I will get up and dealing pretty well with deleting all the negative chatter that comes into my brain before heading off on an expedition.
This trip will be so very different for me as I am joining a commercial expedition run by Russell Brice of Himalayan Experience. Russ runs a great expedition and I had the pleasure of spending some enjoyable times on Everest in 2001 enjoying his hospitality (read drinking his beer and whisky).
Being
a client, I will be very interested in how I can modify my behaviour to
fit into this role. I am used to being very vocal with my views on how
we should do things and being a big part in then making it happen. My
last Everest expedition was with minimal Sherpa support and lots of
hard work setting up base, ABC, Camp 1 and 2 and then doing a gut
busting carry to camp 4 with oxygen cylinders. We had a real sense of
team with all the usual hic-ups that 20 odd people working together in
a harsh environment go through. I am assured that I will find it all
very enjoyable not having to set up camps but I will have to wait and
see how it all pans out.
Working in with other climbers I do not know yet will be very interesting and I look forward to seeing if I can apply 16 years of corporate training and have it work for me. The expedition is also being filmed by Discovery Channel so that adds another element to the complexity.
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| Bob at Mt Everest- Advanced Base Camp in 2001 |
This expedition has lots of highly experienced Sherpas; every thing is done logistically for us. My job is to totally focus on the getting to the top of Everest without getting involved in the organisational part of the expedition.
Below is some material from www.himex.com about the expedition. This web site will have about 4 to 5 reports on it over the time the expedition runs. I plan to send a report every week via email to Andy and he will post it on Outdoor Insights’s web.
Cheers,
Bob Killip
Route Description
We
fly to Lhasa from Kathmandu then drive to BC at 5,200m and from there
it is 22 km to ABC at 6,400m with yak support. We put an interim camp
on the glacier about half way between BC and ABC, so this trip takes
two days.
From ABC the route continues up
the East Rongbuk glacier to the neve of the glacier and then up snow
slopes to the North Col at 7,000m where Camp 1 is situated on snow.
There is a long reasonably angled snow slope to 7,500m where we put
Camp 2 on a snow ledge. The route from C2 to C3 is up a series of rock
and shingle steps, again all very easy terrain to walk on.
Camp
3 will be at 7,900m on shingle platforms. From C3 the route traverses
across a series of rock steps and then up medium angled snow slopes,
then again on mixed rock and snow to Camp 4 at 8,300m. This camp is
normally on rock, but some years there is snow cover here. There will
be a fixed rope from the neve to this point. Although you may not need
this to assist with climbing, it provides a useful safety line for when
you are tired and the wind is blowing. This route is traditionally very
windy, especially between C2 and C3.
The
summit day is from C4. The route is up mixed rock and snow steps to the
NE ridge. These steps are quite steep in places and require
considerable care especially as you now have all of your bulky clothing
and oxygen equipment on.
The NE ridge is
quite wide, with small steps and little height gain until the First
Step. The First Step is a short rock buttress, which will have fixed
ropes. Above here the climbing is more exposed but again without much
height gain until the Second Step. The Second Step is across a series
of small ledges, which are sometimes snow covered, then around a large
boulder and up the famous ladder. Again, all of this section will be
fixed with rope. Above this step there is relatively gentle mixed
ground until what is called the Third Step. Although not as serious as
the previous steps, there is fixed rope to the col before the final
summit snow slopes. These can be quite steep often with deep snow, so
again we have fixed rope to the summit rock buttress from where there
is a short section of corniced ridge to the summit.
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