Bill Tyler: back from NC and first 2007 summits on Everest (brief variant)
The trek up to ABC sucked as usual, and I was glad that my times improved dramatically. SO I felt that maybe there is something to training before a trip. We spent 3 days at ABC, 1 due to weather. I felt fine the whole time, with little headaches and short of breath to really make life interesting. It took a few days for mr to sleep longer than 3 hours. We got snow and wind, but I was fine. Warm as heck to say the least.
The north col is quite steep. Talking with the sherpas and other who have been there last year indicate that it is much steeper than previous years. Nice thing is that is makes it a short distance to go. But it is steep! up to 95degrees in several places. I got on the lines and it took me about 5.5 hours. It was a struggle. Basically you pull yourself up a step, then rest, the do it again, all the while dealing with the wind, snow, and other climbers. There are a lot this year. It just seemed to go on forever.
I was really glad to finally make the top and see tents. The whole of the tent site is on top of a serac, which someday is going to come crashing down. Lets pray not this year! Again I had no issues with altitude, just a dehydration headache…
So after the first time at the Col, we spent 2 days resting in ABC. Played a lot of chess and tried to sleep as much as I could!
So I left off after the first time up the north Col. Just as a point of reference, The north col is a bridge between the main mass of Everest, and the North summit of the mountain, called Changste (I will make sure that is the right name for that part of the mountain). This "bridge" allows the climbers to set up a camp to continue to climb. The flank of Everest has no place to camp really, although it has been climbed before.
After the night at the north col, we dropped down the 400m face by rappelling and walking using the ropes fixed in place. It took 30 mins to go down the face that took 5.5hrs the day before. Sleeping at 7000m really means that you try to find a comfortable spot and then relax enough to let the min drift. There is no deep sleeping. Maybe for some, but no one I know! Sherpas maybe.
The next three days we spent just resting at ABC. I mean resting. Lay in the tent, look at the roof, roll over and stare at the walls. Eat as much as you can, although there really is no appetite at this altitude either (6400m). If you move and forget that you are this high, You spent a few minutes gasping to regain control. I got pretty good at moving slowly. Ever time I got out of my tent though, I would gasp away.
So generally the days pass pretty fast, even though we did no do much at all. But I sure could not wait until the next trip up the ropes. I am really glad that the team decided to get all of the acclimatization done at once, instead of retuning to BC and then going back to the north col over that long approach. I hate that!
So after the three days, up to the north col we went again. I must admit the second time was easier. Maybe because of the mind games, but it was not so bad. I beat my time a little and felt pretty good. But, I got the cough!!! Nothing like last year, where I was coughing up lung chunks, but nonetheless I got the high altitude cough. That night, we mashed down the floor to give us a smoother surface, which helped. One of the reasons that I slept so bad the previous time was because the floor was so bad the three of us ended up with sore backs and spooning on top of each other the whole night. No one could move or turn without disrupting the other two.
Again I did not sleep a wink. The coughing and thin air just make the night one long trial or endurance.
Up in the morning to head up the long snow ramp to 7500m. at this point, one is actually on the mountain. I felt strong, but a real problem cropped up.
We started out in our down suits, and the heat was so bad I felt like I was in a hot sauna. No wind, which is very unusual. The down suits are to help us with the wind, but there has got to be some wind!!! I was sweating my brains out, which is exactly what I do not want. I prefer to move as cold as I can stand it, to keep fluids from sweating out.
The problem that I have is my feet were frozen. I have the best boots money can buy for this sort of thing, but my feet were like lumps of ice. I stopped after about an hour to tell the guides about it and I felt I should go down. I felt strong and had no altitude issues, but I did not want to lose anything. I waited for about 45 mins for Alex to come by. We talked about it and actually called a doctor (we have a new doctor now) and discussed it by radio. At first he thought it was due to a bad heart, but after the talk decided it was due to cold boots. So Alex got me up and moving higher.
I moved to 7250m and felt really good. I knew that I could have caught up with the team struggling ahead of me. I actually was only one rope length away from the last team members I was moving so fast. But my feet were lumps of ice. I stopped and noticed that one of the team was on his way down. So I waited and Curt came down due to stomach problems. At this point, I told Alex I was going down. I had no issue with it because it was to prevent any damage to my feet. I felt good about going further because I was physically feeling strong, but I needed to figure out what was going on with my feet.
So we two headed down to the north col, taking out time. Once we got there, we then packed up and headed down to ABC. The ropes were no problem, and we got down to ABC in 1.5hrs. So we were doing well. My feet started to warm up once we got to crampon point, about 6500m. So I am wondering if maybe there is an altitude issue with my feet.
My personal no oxygen high point is 7250m, I think it is ok. Next time I am even near there, I will be on ox and it wont matter.
