Everest Diaries #16 - Standing On Top Of The World at 29,035 Feet!

Namaste! Tonight is the night I have been waiting for all my life. I arrived at Everest Camp 4 at 8000 meter early on the afternoon of 21st May 20110 after a month on the mountains and I was about to leave for the summit push to the top of the world!

It was 9pm and I was fast asleep in my tent. My Sherpa woke me up and the first thing he asked me was that how was I able to sleep at this altitude with my oxygen mask on? People have a real hard time sleeping up there. But sleep always comes easy to me, be it sea level or at 26,000 feet in the death, I can sleep like a baby!

It was time for us to gear up now and leave for the summit push. But doing anything in this altitude is 10 times more difficult due to lackness of oxygen in the air. Tasks as little as tying the shoes lace would exhaust you. It took us an hour to put our huge down suits on, to wear the boots and harness and to put on crampons. We were all exhausted by the end of this ordeal. It was so amusing to see how tiring and difficult these small tasks were high up here! I started to wonder if just gearing up is so tiring, how tiring it would be to climb this huge pinnacle of Everest that stood about 3500 feet above us. My Sherpa got seriously annoyed with the slow speed I was getting ready with; so he took matters in to his own hands and helped me put on the down suit. I got outside my tent and met with my team. Everyone had geared up and with their oxygen masks on I couldn’t recognize anyone but we were all ready to march.

Just as I took the first few steps, I needed to poop urgently. Timing couldn’t be worse! I told my Sherpa this and I still remember the look he gave me, it was almost as he gave up on me! He murmured something in Nepali which I am sure were some abuses coming out straight from his heart. I removed all my gear which had taken an hour to wear and sat down to do my business. It started to snow, yes! Such a bad time to snow and let me tell you, those 5 minutes were not pleasant! It was incredibly cold and windy. It was like the universe was conspiring to screw with me! I came to my Sherpa and he was sitting on a small rock, biting his nails and looking at the trail of head lamps up on the mountain. I started gearing up as quickly as I could. He looked at me in the middle of this and said ‘No use, they are all very ahead. No use now, you’ll never make it; go to your tent and sleep!’ I looked at him in disbelief and started convincing him till he agreed.

We left Camp 4 at 10:30pm. Everyone in my team had already left and they were much ahead of us. Snow and the winds had also stopped now, skies were very clear and crisp with a billion stars shinning above our heads. I could see head torches of other people up on the slopes that had left ahead of us. It was a perfect night to be going up on this mountain!

It would take us around 8 hours to the summit and 3 to 4 hours to reach back to the Camp if all goes well. The reason why we climb through the night on 8000m expedition is because in Himalayas, the weather gets bad by afternoon and clears up by night time and stays clear till the next afternoon and also the snow conditions are much more stable and better due to the night’s cold. As soon as the sun rises, the snow gets soft making it harder to walk.

Walking in death zone is very difficult and takes a lot of effort. Covering 10 to 15 feet takes a minute! Even with the oxygen masks on, you don’t get enough oxygen to get you moving quickly. The place is just too hostile for humans!

After a point I got so much into my zone, all I could hear was my footsteps and sound of my breathing in the oxygen mask. It was almost as if I acclimatized to the death zone! One, two, three, four, five; my mind were counting steps and after every 5 steps, I used to stop and take five deep breaths. With my head down, my eyes glued to my feet and my Sherpa leading the way, I gained really good momentum. My Sherpa was pleasantly surprised by my speed.

There are fixed ropes up to the summit of Everest and you are attached to it with the help of a device called Jumar, which helps us climb up. One has to clip it out of the rope and in again once every 100 feet as the rope is attached to the slopes and the Jumar won’t pass through. After an hour of grinding, I caught up with my team and the queue of other climbers which were on the slope. There was a lot of traffic that day. My Sherpa unclipped my self-anchor which was attached to the rope and we came to the right side of the queue and started over-taking everyone. It was a bit risky, I must admit it but being stuck behind slow climbers is the worst thing that can happen to you on Everest.

My Sherpa was constantly checking the regulator on my oxygen mask. There are high chances of the oxygen system freezing and it could literally suffocate and kill you in minutes. It was around 3:30am and we were the first ones to reach the section called balcony at 8400 meter (27,500 feet). It is the first flat section on the summit push. This is the place where extra oxygen bottles are stashed. We quickly changed our oxygen bottles and I asked my Sherpa ‘how far is the summit?’’ ‘Very far’ he said! We continued onwards slowly and steadily.

My body had warmed up inside the down suit very well and that was really nice! Towards our right, on the east side I saw the dawn crack, literally. The view was mesmerizing. I still remember that moment very vividly. It gave me such an energy boost. The sunrise was still hours away but we could see the sun light pretty early on as we were very high up in the sky. In no time we were at the South Summit at 28,500 feet. We could see the Hillary step right ahead of us and above it was the summit of Everest, just 535 feet away! But in that altitude, it would easily take us at least two hours to inch towards it.

There is a very sharp ridge which connects Hillary step and the south summit. We clipped our self-anchor in and started walking on it. That ridge is undoubtedly one of the most exposed ridge walks in the world; with a staggering 9000 feet drop on my left into the western cwm in Nepal and 11,000 feet drop towards my right in Tibet. It would be a bad place to fall! Adrenaline started rushing through my system. It was so scary, exciting and beautiful at the same time. This thrill is what we mountaineers live for! Within no time I was at the base of the famous Hillary step. I had heard so much about it. People say it’s so technically difficult and it is one of the most difficult sections on Everest. I literally ran up the Hillary step. From the top of the step I turned around and I could see the last slope leading up to the summit! I was almost there! The top f the world was now in my reach! I took the last few steps towards the summit. Just before arriving at the summit, I looked back at my Sherpa and he waved a thumbs up towards me and I could see his shear proud face and a even bigger smile underneath his oxygen mask. I broke down. I saw the last few steps to the summit of Everest through my tears. Those tears had memories of a lot of hard work, sacrifice, struggle and pain in them.

On the 22nd of May 2010 at 6:18am India time I stepped on the summit of Everest 8848m (29,035 feet) as the youngest person ever to have climbed Mount Everest at the age of 16. I fell on my knees; I closed my eyes and bowed down in front of the small Buddha statue placed on the summit. When I got up and opened my eyes, I realized there is no more land left to climb; I am standing on the highest point of this earth. From the summit I witnessed a sight that completely changed my life forever; the earth was bending round in all directions and the sun was rising from behind it, that too below my eye level. Half of the sky was still dark and I could see the sun rays travel in the sky lighting up the world inch by inch. Only a few peaks which rose above 8000m were rising above the pool of clouds that were way below us. I fall short of words to describe how it feels to stand on the roof of this world.

My Sherpa radioed in at the Base Camp and said the first person from our team has made it to the summit and it is Arjun! Handling the communications at the Base Camp was Dawa Sherpa. He sounded so proud and he called my home right away informing my parents that their son has climbed Mount Everest. It was a proud moment for me.

I spent around 15 to 20 minutes on the summit and I remember each and every second of it clearly. I took a good look at the view around and clicked a few pictures. My Sherpa told me it was time for us to head down as we have very limited oxygen left. I wanted to stay for more time but I knew, even a little longer wouldn’t be enough. So I got up and started walking down. I met the row of climbers coming up. Some of them, who were in a shape to talk, congratulated me. I met Apa Sherpa while coming up. He had always been a hero for me. He patted me on my back and congratulated me. This would be his 20th summit on Everest! If he wanted, he could have gone up and down quicker than any of u but he stayed at the back, helping people in need. He later told me what is my use on this mountain if I don’t put my experience to use for people who need it? That’s the kind of guy he is and these are the traits that makes him a legend.

The descent was pretty quick and simple, though I was very tired. Most deaths happen while descending. All the energy and focus is to reach the top but we often forget that reaching the top is just half the journey done; one must go back safely and live to tell the tale! By now sleep and exhaustion was creeping in real quick and I was finding it harder by the minute to keep focused; one mistake and game over. No second chances.

Walking slowly and steadily, we arrived at Camp 4. It was such a relief; though I didn’t want to spend another night in the death zone. There are so many damages this extreme altitude can do to one’s body and I didn’t want to risk that being 16. I had this fear stuck in my head. My Sherpa agreed. We decided to move down to Camp 2 (6500m) and rest there for a night.

This was probably the worst decision I ever took and what happened next changed my life forever. Stay tuned for the next blog. Cheers!