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Everest fall 2003 - Far better it is to dare mighty things
12:27 p.m. EDT Oct 16, 2003
Maegan is not the only woman who dreams of skiing Everest. MSN reported yesterday on a certain Miss McKinney, a former Miss Wyoming who, back in 1977, became infatuated with a Mormon missionary, Kirk Anderson. He fled to London. She pursued him, kidnapped him, chained him up and, for three long days in a lonely cottage, forced him to have sex with her. The lady in question spoke with a Southern drawl and apparently had few inhibitions. She also knew a good sound bite when she heard it. Like this gem, for example, from her court appearance: “I loved Kirk so much that I would have skied down Mount Everest in the nude with a carnation up my nose.”
The spring season would definitely had been best suited for that. The Wally Berg team is down in the valleys breathing up on oxygen after their acclimatization up to C3 on the mountain. They enjoy the rest and each others company, but late at night, in the darkness and the cold, thoughts of the upcoming summit push sneak up.The expedition is not up for an easy ride. The fall weather has stiffened with increasing winds and avalanches. Everest weather forecasts over the previous years shows that the weather gets worse after around October 10.
So does the Everest summit statistics. Out of 1924 successful summits on Everest, only 279 (18%) has actually occurred in the fall. Out of those 279, only 17(!) happened after October 20. Here's another interesting figure: The majority of the fall summits happened 1953-1993. Those years had 608 summits out of which 232 (38%) were made in autumn!
From 1994 to 2003 however, there has been an explosion of 1320 summits - but a mere 47 (3.6%) in the fall! This clearly illustrates the importance of Everest infrastructure for today's summit successes.
You don't go to Everest in the fall to get an easy ride. You know that it will be only you and the mountain, just like in the old days. Except that these days you don't even have the company of a couple of hundred of sherpas to set the route. Wally's team climb the mountain alone and they fix their own way.
Already there has been a tragedy on the route, the only other expedition sharing BC with Wally is the Korean Lhotse Shar expedition who just lost two climbers to avalanche.
This situation puts the concept of success in a different light. Going in the spring increase your chance, but decrease your challenge and the overall experience of the mountain. Going in the fall seriously decreases the chance of summit, but your experience will be unique. Which is then most important? Your decision is the blueprint of your life.
Wally Bergs team have the odds against them. Only ten women has summited Everest in the fall, none later than October 20. Meagan in addition wants to ski down. It will be a tough one. It's wise to calculate risks. But the trade off are calculated dreams. At some point, you have to skip the math. That's where the expedition is now. The ropes are set, the camps are up - and now there is nothing left to do than focus on the seventeen who actually did make it by this time of the year and hope for a few days of calm between the winds. Wally is a veteran and will keep the climb reasonably safe. But for us who watch, it's important to understand what the expedition is up against.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, even though checquered by failure, than to dwell in that perpetual twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." Teddy Roosevelt's reflection could just as well apply to this falls Everest expedition. Hat's off, guys and God's speed!
Berg Adventures has the only South Side expedition this fall. They have a real challenge ahead of them these upcoming weeks having to fix and prepare Everest entirely by themselves. One of the expedition members, Maegan Carney plans to ski down from the summit.
Image of Maegan by the Puja shrine courtesy of Bergadventures.com.
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