Nick Heil - Dark Summit: The True Story of Everests Most Controversial Season

DARK
SUMMIT

THE TRUE STORY OF EVERESTS
MOST CONTROVERSIAL SEASON

NICK HEIL

A Holt Paperback Henry Holt and Company New York

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Copyright 2008 by Nick Heil

All rights reserved.

Distributed in Canada by H. B. Fenn and Company Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Heil, Nick.

Dark summit : the true story of Everests most controversial season / Nick Heil.1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN-13: 978-0-8050-8991-2

ISBN-10: 0-8050-8991-8

1. MountaineeringEverest, Mount (China and Nepal)History21st century. 2. Everest, Mount (China and Nepal)Description and travel. I. Title.

GV199.44.E85H43 2008

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Originally published in hardcover in 2008 by Henry Holt and Company
Published simultaneously in the United Kingdom by Virgin Books

First Holt Paperbacks Edition 2009

Designed by Meryl Sussman Levavi

Maps 2008 by Jeffrey L. Ward

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Mom, Dad, Kayte, Jon, Taylor,
Tannis, Ginny, and Minnie. My family.

A certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Luke 10:3334

Partial List of Teams and Climbers on Everests North Side, 2006

7 Summits

Alex Abramov

Kevin Augello

Michael Dillon

Lincoln Hall

Christopher Harris

Richard Harris

Harry Kikstra

Sergei Kofanov

Ludmila Korobeshko

Vladimir Lande

David Lien

Ronnie Muhl

Igor Plyushkin

Andrey Selivanov

Slate Stern

Thomas Weber

Kirk Wheatley

Mingma Sherpa

Pasang Sherpa

Pemba Sherpa

Lakcha Sherpa

Dawa Tenzing Sherpa

Dorje Sherpa

Project Himalaya

Laurie Bagley

Duncan Chessell

Chris Klinke

Jamie McGuinness

Anne Parmenter

Hans Fredrick Strang

Scott Woolums

Chhiri Sherpa

SummitClimb

Andrew Brash

Phil Crampton

Dan Mazur

Juan Pablo Milana

Myles Osborne

Jangbu Sherpa

Asian Trekking Permit

George Dijmarescu

Lakpha Sherpani

Dave Watson

David Sharp (climbing independently)

Himex

Wayne Cowboy Alexander

Marcel Bach

Gerard Bourrat

Russell Brice

Max Chaya

Bill Crouse

Kurt Hefti

Shaun Hutson

Mark Inglis

Mogens Jensen

Bob Killip

Tim Medvetz

Brett Merrell

Terry OConnor

Ken Sauls

Mark Whetu

Mark Woody Woodward

Tuk Bahadur Sherpa

Lhakpa Sherpa

Dorje Sherpa

Phurba Tashi Sherpa

Tashi Phinjo Sherpa

Sonam Sherpa

DARK
SUMMIT

L ate on the night of May 10, 1996, a twenty-eight-year-old Ladakhi named Tsewang Paljor struggled slowly down Everests Northeast Ridge. The two teammates hed been climbing with, Dorje Morup and Tsewang Smanla, were somewhere behind him, perhaps dead; he had not seen them for hours. Not that he could have helped them anyway. The storm bore down on the mountain with a primordial intensity unlike anything Paljor had ever experienced. The temperature plunged to minus 50, cold enough to freeze exposed flesh straight through in minutes. Gusts approaching eighty miles per hour ripped across the high escarpments, threatening to fling Paljor off the ridge like a bit of straw. Visibility was nil. His world extended just a few feet in front of him, snow swirling madly through the fading yellow beam of his headlamp. Paljor had run out of oxygen hours earlier, and now, fighting to complete each ataxic step, battered by dehydration and fatigue, his only chance was to make it to high camp, still a thousand feet below, where others would be waiting with extra gas and hot tea. If he remained here, above 28,000 feet, in such desperate conditions, he was doomed.

Paljor belonged to a proud expedition, some forty men strong, led by Mohinder Singh, a commander for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and one of Indias most accomplished mountaineers. Singh was vying to put the first Indian on the summit of Everest via the legendary Northeast Ridgethe route where Mallory and Irvine had vanished in 1924, a line of ascent that would thwart attempts for another thirty-six years. The Chinese had been the first to complete the ridge, in 1960, and many teams and individuals had ascended the route since, but it would hardly diminish the accomplishment pending for Singh and his climbers. Theirs had been an auspicious enterprise, almost entirely without setbacks during the two months they had been on Everest. Finally, at around six P.M. on May 10, Singhs radio had crackled to life: Smanla, Paljor, and Morup reported that they were standing on the summit.

The tempest was approaching its crescendo, but Singh and the others gathered at Advanced Base Camp erupted into cheers. This is a magnificent achievement, for our expedition and for our country!, Singh shouted into the handset, the wind roaring, bowing the tent walls. Now, he urged, the climbers must hurry down without delay.

The next morning, Singh received word from high camp, at 27,300 feet, that the trio had not returned. This was devastating news, with an added complication since he had already phoned the Indian prime minister, Narasimha Rao, to inform him of their success; telling Rao that the three men were now lost was not a task Singh relished. But he didnt give up hope. Although there had been no contact since the evening before, it was possible his men had been able to ride out the night.

That day, increasingly desperate to act, Singh approached a cluster of neighboring tents in Advanced Base Camp occupied by a Japanese expedition. The weather had still not relented, but word was circulating that two Japanese climbers, Hiroshi Hanada and Eisuke Shigekawa, and three Sherpas were in position at high camp and planning to depart for a summit attempt that night. Singhs own climbers were of no use. Those back in their tents were exhausted from their aborted efforts on the ridge, and it would take at least two days for anyone from Advanced Base Camp to reach the stranded men. Singh had no option but to implore the Japanese expedition leader, Koji Yada, to assist him; if his men were still alive they most certainly wouldnt be after a second night, and the Japanese summit teamrelatively fresh, strong, and well suppliedmight be their last chance. The conversation took place in three languages, English, Japanese, and Hindi, but Singh came away believing that the Japanese would do their best to provide whatever assistance they could.

The ensuing twenty-four hours were fraught with confusion. Communication on Everest was problematic even in the best conditions, and the storm had reduced radio contact to the most basic and sporadic dialogue. What few reports filtered down the mountain convinced Singh that a rescue was under way, yet he also learned that the Japanese had pushed on to the summit. How could this be? By 5:30 P.M . on May 12, as the last of the Japanese summit group pulled back into high camp, it became clear that none of the Indians were with them. There had been no rescue.