Everest - Under the gloss

Climbing Everest is no longer a novelty in the mountaineering world, but it is still a dream for many. Cynics claim it has become a cheque-book trail to the top of the world.
Technology, accessibility and western money has not reduced the height of Everest by one inch though and it is still a major challenge to any adventurer, some would say the most exciting challenge in the world. The summit is still just as cold, just as unpredictable and just as remote a place on this earth as you can get. Perhaps it is the way that people choose to present it that has changed.

Any climber will agree that there are easy ways and hard ways to climb a mountain, and choice of route is the obvious deciding factor. The SE ridge on Everest is the most commonly climbed, and every season it is fixed with ropes that are bound to make any ascent technically 'easier' (although in reality it is doubtful how safe many anchors are, especially on a mixed section like the Geneva Spur).

Some would say that clipping onto a very long rope with a jumar, and having a Sherpa carry your equipment and oxygen all the way to the top is not really mountaineering. And of course those additions do make it more accessible and easier. But this is to simplify a complicated and intense scenario. Climbing Mt Everest may not be especially technically demanding but the accumulation of factors that come into play can be very demanding indeed, not least the temperamental weather, extreme altitude and cold, storms and high wind, response to altitude and general health.

Undeniably there are three main factors that will make a difference to the difficulty and extent of the challenge of Everest, notwithstanding the choice of route of course. The first is not carrying your loads, the second is not using bottled oxygen and the third is climbing without a paid guide to make all the decisions for you.

Sherpas

Sherpas carry loads aswell as guide on Everest, and they are paid anything up to $6000 for the job of ensuring that all the camps on Everest are stocked for the clients, or 'members' as they are known. To carry your own gear up Everest is a major undertaking and instantly requires you to be more lightweight in your approach.
While the members are sitting in Base Camp, often reading and playing cards or drinking beer, it is the Sherpas who are putting everything in place. By the time summit day comes, some of the Sherpas will already have climbed the mountain 5 or 6 times, as far as the South Col. Often their role is overlooked in the rush of western fervour, but without them there is no doubt in the world that far fewer people would ever summit the mountain.

With or without oxygen ...

In fact to compare climbing Everest with or without oxygen is to compare chalk from cheese. Every aspect of the climb becomes harder and more dangerous. Rate of ascent is slower, strength is sapped far more quickly, mental acuity is severely reduced, the body’s immune system and general health breaks down and the prospect of descent in the event of a problem is virtually nil.

All this without even mentioning altitude sicknesses such as pulmonary and cerebral oedemas, which occur when the body is simply unable to cope with the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Getting the acclimatisation absolutely right is essential because without oxygen there is no room for mistakes.

Judgement is absolutely crucial. Perhaps most especially because Everest is the only one of the highest peaks in the world which requires making an overnight camp at 8000m. It is this factor alone which puts her in a different category to the rest, placing the climber in an entirely unique and unusual situation.

Also, some people forget that if you stand on top of Mount Everest with the help of supplementary oxygen then you are not standing at 29.035 feet or 8848 metres. Your equivalent elevation if you are breating oxygen at 2 or 3 litres per minute is about 23,000', which is the same height as Aconcagua in South America. So clearly to stand on top of Everest without the help of bottled oxygen is harder, and this is why statistically only about 5% of summitters have ever done so.

Guided...

On Everest most people buy into commercial guided trips in order to maximise return on investment. Given that most companies charge around $45,000.00 up to a maximum of $70,000.00, it is hardly surprising that money of this amount has an influence on the ethics of mountaineering. At worst it might encourage people with insufficient ability or experience to be short-roped to the summit thanks to the energy of a team of Sherpas. 

When accidents happen blame is pointed at over-competitiveness, summit fever, lack of experience and unrealistic ambitions. To be self-guided on Everest means to make your own decisions, and to live (or die) by them.

Physical challenge camp by camp ...

The challenge is largely in the physical effort required. People need to be fit, motivated and careful. The Khumbu Icefall is a broken mass of ice boulders and seracs tumbling down a 2,000ft frozen waterfall from the lip of the Western Cwm onto the Khumbu Glacier.

The Western Cwm itself is a giant valley, baking hot by day, deadly freezing by night and riven with huge crevasses. From the top end of the Cwm, the Lhotse Face extends 5000’ up a steep face of ice to the South Col itself.

The South Col at 8000 metres is the final camp before attempting the summit where many brave people have perished or become lost on their descent. It is a bleak, windswept and virtually uninhabitable spot on earth, littered with old oxygen bottles, scraps of tents and even some bodies. Every action here becomes an effort of willpower, a case of mind over matter as the body literally begins to shut down in this so-called Death Zone.

Summit Challenge ...

The challenge here is to husband one's strengths with skill, so that there is enough left to get to the top and back down again safely. This also requires luck and timing. Luck that the factors for success dovetail together at that very moment when the south col is reached, because generally a climber only gets one chance for the top. At this point it becomes a game of probabilities, with the odds stacked in favour of the mountain.

To simply stay healthy at high altitude for a long period of time, living on a cold glacier is a challenge. At extreme altitude the most important addition to self-preservation will be bottled oxygen. It gives strength, warmth and life.

Doing it the Right Way ...

The lure of the top of the world draws men and women on, many at their peril, and as always we adapt. Mount Everest, like almost everywhere else that Man has been, has succumbed to the phenomenal ability we have to mould to the environment, and to survive. The only challenge left amongst purist climbers is now more aesthetic; to do more with less.

Of course there is no one single conclusion. It is horses for courses, and personal endeavour comes in all shapes and sizes. One persons climb of Everest is another persons waste of time. People who climb Everest are still imbued with a particular aura of achievement, often much overrated since how many will readily admit to having someone else do all the hard work of carrying oxygen and equipment, and a paid person telling you when to climb and when not ? Many mountaineers resent the glory-seekers, while others are happy to make a living from them.

One thing is for sure though; when Everest flexes her muscles and people are caught unawares, one of two things can happen. People either die, or they reveal the most remarkable traits of character which quickly draw world attention, and in that respect humans have not changed one iota since the golden age of exploration when the world was being mapped and circumnavigated. It still requires great motivation and stamina to make it to summit day, and to the top.

In this sense every single climber who stands on the South Col at 26,000ft and looks up that glassy black bulk of the summit faces the same effort of willpower, the same extreme environment and the same fear that Hillary and Tenzing no doubt felt in 1953.

It is not just the moment of standing on the summit that matters, but the manner in which you get there.