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Re: Climbing Everest

Well done on what you did achieve which is more than a lot of people. I hope the frostbite isn't too bad if that makes sense.

Re: Climbing Everest

Do you think you'll have another go or is once enough?

Re: Climbing Everest

orpheus said:

I've just returned from an attempt on Everest: got beyond the South Summit (8750m) but had to turn around soon after due to frostbite and tiredness. I can sympatise with Sir Ran Fiennes (whom I met and had a long chat with during the walk-in), though the difference is that Everest was probably not his most difficult expedition, but it certainly was mine.

To those who claim that climbing Everest is easy (does that include you, GT?), I'd say just try it.  Yes, technically it's not difficult but it took much more out of me than anything else I'd ever done (e.g. several marathons including the Everest marathon, adventure races and other long climbs) in terms of sheer physical and mental stamina. Even each trip through the ever-shifting Icefall was a gamble (quite apart from the wobbly ladders bridging the gaping crevasses), and the long steep Lhotse Face required several abseils on iced-up ropes (braver souls than me, i.e. Sherpas often just clip on the ropes) to descend. But it was the thin air that really took its toll: by the end, I'd lost a lot of muscle mass (& 1 stone - 10% of my original weight), as well as acquiring a few black fingertips and toes. A Swiss climber died on the South Col after summiting on the day I got up there, and I also passed a body (which had been there some time) on my way to The Balcony.

But apart from all that, Everest was great (is that a Monty Python quote?)....the sight of Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu and all the clouds below me at dawn, the fantastic & very exposed summit ridge...

Well done fella!! Thats one of my goals, to do Everest....One day.....Soon I hope.

Re: Climbing Everest

NIce one. I thought you said you were going up a different Himalayan mountain this year? Was that to throw us off the scent?

Any photos yet?

Re: Climbing Everest

Excellent job mate - well done.

I'm hoping to go to the Alps next summer - Mont Blanc maybe. Never really considered Everest an option, cost/experience etc ......

Good to hear it's possible though.

Nice one

Re: Climbing Everest

Hey orpheus,...You've transcended an article in TRIAL by a country mile!!!!,........Congats and an "I ain't worthy"..from me. Awesome stuff,....Hope evrything gets better!!

........YOU THE MAAAN!!!!!

Re: Climbing Everest

Nice one orpheus.

8750 meters, what an achievment, meeting sir ran, Did you speak with mr cool?. Hope your bits and bobs get better,

I thought you were going up Cho Oyu, did you get there after all the chineese malarky?

Glad your home safe.

ATB

Re: Climbing Everest

Well done on the climb Orpheus - to make a last minute change of peak you're attempting must have still been a little tough to call.  I know you say that Everest is not that technical, but that extra height it has on Cho Oyu means having to dig a hell of a lot deeper both mentally and physically.

My OH got a bit of frost nip to the fingers on a very cold and windy day on Aconcagua about 18 months ago - it took about 3 months for the tingly sensation to disappear fully, but she's OK now, so hopefully your fingers will be fine in a few months.

As for unpretentious and really likeable people, I spent a few nights with Erik Weihenmayer back in January in Nepal.  If you don't know who he is, he's the blind guy who climbed Everest.  As you say it's quite an undertaking to get to the summit, but to do it when blind is something else.  And to put the record straight, he wasn't led up there at all - he is a serious nutcase and a very accomplised rockclimber as well.  We were there doing a winter ascent of Island Peak, but he was over there climbing the Losar waterfall which was a 700m vertical iceclimb that you can see opposite Namche, so it put our climb into perspective !!!!  check out his website 'www.touchthetop.com' where he has some of his photos and other climbing achievements.

any plans to return to Cho Oyu?

Re: Climbing Everest

orpheus said:

.... By the way LostMe, the Jagged Globe team was there in force - most of them were Irish, with one lone Scottish lady. We swapped DVDs with them at Base Camp (yes, we staved off the long boring hours in BC by watching DVDs).

Yeah I know, I was kinda ***ked over I feel. Still got my cash back and have some different lunacy planned.

Re: Climbing Everest

Can we see some piccies.......sounds amazing...in a pain filled kinda way.Great achievement.

Re: Climbing Everest

Congratulations Orpheus, look forward to seeing the pics

Hope you heal back to your former self!

Re: Climbing Everest

Thanks everyone who posted messages of sympathy, congratulations and support here...I'm feeling a bit guilty now that I know I'll make a full recovery whereas at least one person on Everest this season never made it back to Base Camp, and several others suffered far more severe injuries than me.

Seeing the photos I took at the South Col, one of which showed the body of the Swiss climber wrapped up in a tent just a few metres from mine made me relive the whole experience and remember how thin the dividing line is between life and death in the Death Zone.

But since returning to sea level, I've already put back on a few kilos, and feeling stronger from visiting the gym (can only do swimming and weights as it's still painful to walk any distance!), and made me realise that even the relatively low altitude of Base Camp (5350m ) was too high to allow the body to recover properly.