I Did It! Finished What I Started
On Friday, May 13, 2022 I summited Everest! I finished what I started back in September 2017 and have climbed the 7 Summits of the World (both versions so really 8 summits)! It was an incredible experience! One that I am sharing with you, here, now that I am home.
First Days of the Journey
I arrived in Kathmandu on April 25. After waiting for the rest of the team to arrive the following day, we headed out the morning of April 27. Quite honestly, it felt good to leave Kathmandu. It was so dirty there and filled with so many people.
It felt a bit like déjà vu heading out, except this time the majority of our team spoke German. Other than me, there were three others that spoke English as our primary language: an American writer, an older British gentleman, and a guy from Israel. The others were supergiant German climbers who looked at me, trying to gauge if I belonged in their expedition. I felt a little self-conscious, but you know what, I knew belonged! I could do exactly what they could, I could climb!
We flew by helicopter, several helicopters actually as we were a big group, and landed in Kote. I didn’t feel the dread of last year. This side of the Khumbu was very different. I knew I could do this.
There was one other female on the team. Her name was Cosima, a doctor from Austria. She and I went for a walk and made our way to a bridge located over raging waters. The remoteness of this village set in a valley surrounded by mountains reminded me of Carstensz. I thought it was an omen, a good luck omen. Thoughts of Emmanuel calling me Jane of the Jungle entered my mind. I couldn’t help but smile. For a moment I wished he was there.
After lunch we went for a small walk and I felt good, not out of breath, not tired. I kept pace, better than some even. This helped my self-confidence. When we returned to the village for tea and cookies and sat inside the warm dining room of The Lama Lodge where we bunked for the night, I smiled. I knew I was part of the team and that regardless, on Summit Day, it would be just me and my Sherpas!
Not sure if you know this, but typically yak poop is used to heat accommodations. At the Lama Lodge however, the room was heated with real wood! So much better! That said, the accommodation itself is as bad as the one on the other side. We waited for dinner, then headed to our cold room, where we crawled into a sleeping bag and hope for sleep.
Day 3
On Day 3, April 28, I was glad to be moving along. Never thought I would say this, but I prefer a tent over the tea houses. Cosima was not feeling well, and said she had some stomach issues she thought might be bacteria. She’s a doctor so I assumed she knew what she was talking about.
The older gentleman, who I had learned was 68 and doing the signature climb with his own guide and 3 sherpas, was also not feeling well. He had altitude affects. His head was hurting a lot. I was feeling pretty good even though I was not taking Diamox this time. Lukas had told me I would have to stop taking it at Basecamp anyways, so instead, I kept an eye on my hands for swelling as we completed our Day 3 trek.
The pace that day was relatively easy, and I wasn’t short of breath. I enjoyed the hike more than I did last year and even took the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery as we went.
After dinner we had a lecture on altitude sickness and what we should and shouldn’t be feeling.
The food was sparse at the tea house. There was no meat, and today there was no bread despite my having requested toast for the morning.
Day 4
We spent Day 4 of our expedition hiking. We made it to Khali, the last village around lunch time. The term village was used loosely since there were only a few buildings including the accommodations for the tourists. This village was considered Basecamp for Mera Peak.
I still felt good and enjoyed pushing myself to keep up with the pace, which was awesome. This year I didn’t find myself tired or struggling.
There were more people here, getting ready to go to the top of Mera Peak. There was a group of Greeks that stimulated thoughts of COVID, causing us some jitters, not to mention it was freaking cold as well.
After lunch we did an acclimatization climb of the moraine. It was high. It had a 500m height increase achieved by walking on a thin path. Every so often out of the corner of my eye I could see how high we were and I panicked a little, but then I talked myself down and continued climbing.
A few climbers did not go up, like Cosima. I don’t understand why, but nevertheless to those of us that went, Lukas said at the top he was really excited how well we all were doing; pace was great and we all seemed to be acclimatizing well.
I did feel good though I continued to be a little nervous that I was not taking my Diamox. I kept monitoring my liquid intake and output and kept looking at my hands for swelling. Although it was only Day 4, I was already tired of Ginger Lemon Tea, so I switched to Mint Tea. Due to my fears of repeating last years’ “shit happens”, I was staying away from coffee.
As the day went on, the guys started talking to me more. They spoke English (with an ascent). One climber in our group plays trombone for the Vienna State Opera House. Believe it or not, he carried it with him and today at our first break, he played for a few minutes!
The rest of the group’s equipment (and we had lots) went to Basecamp with our duffels. There was more than usual because Red Bull was filming a documentary of our climb. In fact, one of the cameramen/producers came with us today. His name was Philip. He spent most of his time with Lukas, taking stock footage on his own.
Day 5
Day 5 was a miserable day. We did an acclimatization hike onto Mera Peak and came back to sleep at the lodge. We went up to 5500 meters, and then came down. This was a substitution of rotations that go over the icefall on Everest so I did not complain. However, we got hit with a lot of snow and got totally wet. We had to put all our clothes and backpacks around the wood stove to dry.
At this point we were without Wi-Fi (which was a morale problem) and every battery had died. My own stat phone battery died as well, but I decided I would only recharge once we reach Everest Basecamp, since they charge $10US to charge each device here.
During our acclimatization hike we were roped in and I felt I did ok. The pace of the guides was ok but man, it was cold when we came down! I became anxious to get this part done and just go to Basecamp and Summit.
It was cold – did I say that already?
We hardly carried anything in our backpacks. We had porters carry our boots and crampons to the crampon point. There was a lot of climbing over rocks, almost 2 hours, and it was slippery coming down as well.
Sadly, the next couple of days promised bad weather. 😫
Day 6
The following day, Day 6 of the expedition, we climb to Camp One of Mera Peak. The camp is at 18,612 feet. The porters once again took our expedition boots and crampons to the crampon point. They will bring our climbing boots back in the morning on Wednesday when we come down.
I didn’t think I was too quick putting the boots on and crampons but seems I was. Once again, I was put on the faster team. The guide for our group was very good, his pace is awesome. It was a big difference from last year, when Jacob hiked so fast that hardly anyone could keep up. I recalled it making several of us feel bad. This was so much better.
Day 7
We made our way to a higher camp the following day. It was tiring but I still kept up.
It was today that I realized these guys have pretty big egos! They don’t seem happy I am with them, even though they can’t deny I have been keeping up with the best of them. Their feelings about me don’t matter, though it does irritate me when they don’t know how to walk on a line as a group and only speak German. I will not let it get to me! I am here to finish what I started!
The next Camp was at 19,643 ft (6,000m). It was a long hot and cold climb where one minute the sun was blaring down on us and the next there was a snowstorm.
After we reached camp, we rested for an hour before going for another acclimatization hike up to 6,200 meters. Life in camp is cold! Our tents are cold, we have to relieve ourselves outside and because there is no kitchen tent, our Sherpas bring our food to our tents.
Day 8
I feel exhausted! It’s so cold that I found it hard to sleep. I miss my girls, I miss home! After 8 days, my tears come easily but they don’t stop me!
Today we all summitted Mera Peak.
It’s not an easy mountain at over 21,000 feet. It’s similar in height to Camp 2 on Everest, and if this climb eliminated the need to go up and down the ice fall, other than for our summit push, it was worth it.
Today was a steep climb with only 3 ropes right at summit. I was happy I still knew how to use a jumar! We jumped over lots of crevasses, with one in particular that had my heart in my throat as I jumped over it. But like other Summits, the view was awesome at the top. The fact that it was sunny with little wind made it even better!
Day 9
I was up at 2:30 am after not sleeping well. Our team was up at 3:00am and ready to head out at 4:00am. I wanted to get to Everest. My tent mate on the other hand was really slow. We had been warned that if we were not ready at 4:00am with crampons on, we would not go down until a Sherpa could take us, so we made sure to be ready.
We reached Everest basecamp by helicopter after arriving returning to the lodge at Mera Peak.
Everest basecamp is nice. It was clearly a step up from last year, but the ice fall is 45 minutes away to crampon point. It looked hard!
Several people were leaving today. Diarmund, a familiar face from last year got sick and is leaving. I am disappointed as he spoke English and was to be a recognizable face on the mountain. The other girl on our team is also leaving. She was sick and apparently couldn’t handle the cold.
Seeing these people leave shook me up. I cried with fear. I was scared. I kept thinking that darn ice fall wants to beat me.
But then something positive came of it all. Diarmund gave me his internet code and password. He had purchased unlimited access for $250 USD and now he was giving it to me. It would provide a much needed means of connection for me, once it works, especially since Lukas told us to remain in our camp and not visit others.
The TV crew was all here. They had been taking footage while we were climbing the other peak. Philip from the crew, who has been climbing with us, is going to summit with us while another cameraman will go part of the way because he hadn’t acclimatized. The crew being here takes my mind off my fear.
Day 10
It feels like an eternity since Day 1. So many things to remember, so many things to keep an eye on.
While we all practiced our ice work in the afternoon, I kept reminding myself to breathe and go slow. I knew how to ice climb, to use my Jumar, but I had to focus to remember the figure 8 sequence we need to use.
At this point my eyes were swelling up a bit. I considered if I needed to take Diamox tomorrow. For now, I paid attention to my pee to see if I was drinking enough. I used the pee bottle to determine my levels and found I was definitely not drinking enough. I worked to change that.
This morning I finally figured out the satellite phone and heard my kid’s voices. That small thing brought me joy!
Day 11
Today was cloudy, which means it was COLD! This didn’t stop us from training. After breakfast we practiced the ropes, using our jumar, climbing on a ladder and of course belaying down with the figure 8.
Upon our return we could finally use the Internet! This thing we take for granted back home was finally available to us. I was so thankful to Diarmund for giving me his access that I sought out his Facebook and saw the post he wrote about having to make the decision to leave. I knew that feeling from last year and my heart went out to him.
In the afternoon, we practiced using our oxygen. The oxygen bottle I have to carry is 3.2kg, with my spares carried by one of my Sherpas, along with a spare regulator and mask for me. Our system is called a continuous flow system and we were encouraged to start using it at Camp two. I am in!!!!
The camera crew taped our oxygen practice session. Lukas made a presentation in English and we all tried our systems. I had the privilege of being filmed and was thankful I had combed my hair before this training session.
While Lukas spoke, he told the story of when all the regulators stopped working on the North Side of Everest in 2018. The company that supplied our oxygen and regulators, Summit Oxygen, was the same company involved in this incident. We were assured the problem was fixed.
We were told we could use as much oxygen as we want, but that we needed to start at a slow flow rate. To put this into perspective, at the summit near the 20 meters of Hilary steps, we could be cranking the flow to 8. At camp when we slept, we adjusted our flow rate to 0.5.
When we finished training for the day, Lukas broke the news that the weather window was early. He said that due to a phenomena scientists say never happened and because of whatever was happening in India at the time, the weather in the Himalayas was expected as high as -17 on the top of Everest, which was the temperature we had at Mera Peak.
This means our summit push will happen in a couple of days! I don’t know what to think or say. I couldn’t tell if I was scared, ready or excited, or just plain scared.
Day 12
On Everest, it is tradition to participate in the Puja Ceremony before leaving Base Camp and beginning the journey to the summit. I had wrestled with worshiping a Buddhist idol last year due to my Christian faith but this year, I paid my respects. I kept myself present during the ceremony and honored the tradition. It was not about worshiping an idol, it was about paying respect to the mountain and offering blessings for safe passage.
I understood the significance and was grateful for Julia’s prayers, Pastor Sam, the rest of the staff at Village and the prayer team for supporting me.
After lunch Lukas made it official, we are leaving at midnight tomorrow night, which technically is Monday, and aiming to Go for the Summit, Friday the 13th. We were all asked not to post it on social media, since we have such a big group plus the TV crew. I believed he didn’t want other groups to know when we were planning to go. The weather window was anticipated to be 10 days long, with Friday temperatures on Everest expected to be only -17.
We met with our Sherpas today in preparation. One of mine had summited Everest 9 times; 4 times from North and 5 from the South. The other was a quiet man that I didn’t get to talk with much. We had to be ready with all our material for our Sherpas after breakfast including the food we would need. I had chosen vegan, lactose free breakfast food to minimize any stomach problems and jellybeans!
As the day wore on, I continued to drink a lot of water (of course). I was nervous but also strangely calm. This was really happening!
Day 13
It was Mother’s Day and I missed the girls. I cried. After breakfast, Lukas gave us letters from our families. I read letters from Nicole, Nicolas and Patricia. I read Julia’s and Ethan’s on WhatsApp. I missed them so much but knew I was so close to doing what I came to do! I also spoke with Emmanuel, and it was nice to hear his advice and encouragement as my friend and also as my favorite mountain guide.
I felt this huge weight realizing I was the only woman in my group going up Everest. Cosima was climbing Lotse. I was nervous. We left the icefall at the end of the day and I prayed.
Sherpa’s came and picked up my stuff to carry up.
The Next Seven Days
This period was a blur. We successfully climbed over the icefall! The ladders weren’t as scary as they once seemed, and I did great.
The crevasses were the scariest thing I had to deal with. My anxiety levels doubled at the site of each one – and there are so many. Both Ngima, my climbing Sherpa and one of the guides help me at each one. Damn my short legs! I was thankful our lead guides don’t disappear as they did last year. What a difference.
Camp 1, then the next day Camp 2. The following day we get to Camp 3 and with full oxygen early morning Thursday, we make our way to the South Col (Camp 4).