Avalanche on Lhotse
The South Col of Mt. Everest is no place for a woman, or a man, or anything alive. But there Eveline Wessels rested in her tent. Breathing bottled oxygen, the temperature outside was minus 30 degrees Celsius. This was not Eveline's first time high up on Everest. Though oddly enough, Everest wasn't in the Dutch climber's sights. It was Mt. Lhotse, Everest's next door neighbor, that Eveline was after.
Although not a household name like Everest, Mt Lhotse is the fourth tallest mountain in the world and shares the same base camp and climbing route as Everest until you approach the Geneva Spur (a giant rock outcrop) just below South Col. The South Col is one of the most dangerous places on the planet and higher up on Everest or Lhotse becomes even more dangerous, quickly. When mother nature created places on Earth above 8,000 meters she did not have humans in mind.
Eveline had been high up on Everest in 2010. In a small expedition, she had advanced to camp 3 which sits on a huge, steep slab of snow and ice called the Lhotse face. Interestingly, camp 3 was Eveline's intended “summit”. Although not widely known, permits for Everest come in several flavors. Vanilla (base camp) will cost you next to nothing. Triple chocolate (the summit) may be as much as $25,000. But there are many flavors in between chocolate and vanilla that will accommodate just about every palate (and budget). She apparently misjudged the power of Everest's allure and once at camp 3 wanted nothing more than to climb higher. Now even higher up on the route the following year in an attempt to summit Lhotse, Eveline was living her dream.
After a scary flight from Kathmandu to the famous Lukla airstrip at 9,000 feet, tensions for Eveline began to evaporate. The unofficial starting line for most expeditions to Everest and Lhotse, Lukla bares the burden of hosting the stresses and pressures of everyday life that trekkers and climbers alike tend to leave there as they set out on their unforgettable journeys into the Himalaya. Over the next ten days she would navigate the steep hills and intimidating terrain to exotic villages with names like Dengboche and Gorak Shep. Near Everest base camp she summited a black pyramid of rock called Kala Pattar which offered her dramatic views of Everest and Lhotse. “Those mountains always look more beautiful up close.....and more dangerous”, Eveline would note.
The feeling of being above 17,000 feet was heady. The feeling of Everest base camp just a short walk away was intoxicating. Reality for Eveline became a strange mix of hype and humility. What an interesting place to be. Upon arrival on the Khumbu glacier, Eveline's life transformed from that of a trekker to that of a climber. Her first order of business was to prepare the small camp her team would call home for the next month.
Tiring days of rock excavation, cutting ice, and pitching tents would be necessary in order to create a comfortable environment in an otherwise less-than accommodating place. The rest of her team would arrive slowly over the next few days. Then came the preparation and participation of a Puja ceremony. Before venturing up or sleeping on Everest, Lhotse or any notable peak in the Himalaya, a Puja is performed by Sherpa, support staff and climbers of an expedition. The Puja is an offering to Chomolungma or Sargamartha (the Tibetan and Nepalese names for Everest respectively) in exchange for safe passage and fair weather for members of the team. The Puja is thought to help placate the mother goddess of the world. She crossed her fingers in hopes the mother goddess had been listening.
Soon Eveline and her support Sherpa would spend the night at camp 1 at approximately 20,000 feet. By now the Sherpa in Eveline's team recognized her ability to “keep up” with the boys and her reputation for selfless contributions preceded her. With Eveline's name almost impossible for the Sherpa to pronounce, they simply referred to her as Eleven. But her new favorite number quickly melted in to “Avalanche”, which would remain her affectionate nickname for the rest of the expedition.
Above base camp lives the treacherous Khumbu icefall. Tracks of aluminum ladders crisscross bottomless crevasses and the icefall's building-size deep blue seracs constantly threaten their loss of purchase with the sweltering heat. The combination of physical exertion and danger only lent to the breath-stealing beauty that Eveline now wondered about.
From camp 1 she headed up the bottom portion of the Western Cwm (pronounced coom) toward camp 2. This area is littered with crevasses and, ironically, at over 21,000 feet can become extremely hot with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Meanwhile, the well-publicized and somewhat quirky attempt of former Nepalese foreign minister Shallendra Kumar Upadhyaya to summit Everest ended in tragedy as the elderly man entered camp 1. He fell ill to what was most likely Acute Mountain Sickness, suffered heart failure and died. He was attempting to become the oldest man to summit Mt. Everest as he pushed to raise awareness about the capabilities of the elderly. He was 82.
The next morning at camp 2 was beautiful beyond words with freshly fallen snow as the sun began to light up the tips of the Himalaya like candles.
Making it to camp 3 would include an extremely steep climb up Lhotse's icy face. The brief stay at almost 23,500 feet for Eveline was “awesome”. Enduring frigid temperatures just after sunrise, the climb out of camp 3 was steep and very cold. Her breath being whisked away, first by the thinning air, then by the indescribable scene. She wondered if anything else on Earth could be so beautiful.
“One step.....five deep breathes. One more step.....five more breathes. Short steps. The pain is fine. I'm used to that now. Nothing up here anything like sea-level. One more step. The South Col is right up there. Wow! Five more breathes. Just like the climbing books. Very hot! Camp 3 way down there. Unbelievable views. Tears. I should rest. Drink something. One more step. Windy. Geneva Spur, then South Col. Eat snow. One more step. Feeling better. So happy. So happy. So happy.”
After two more hours of short steps, labored breathing, speedy winds, and dull pain Eveline reached camp 4, the South Col.
“As soon as I reached our tent at the South Col I started to cry. I wasn't tired. I hadn't been scared or tense, but was extremely moved.”
How many mountaineering dramas had played out here, especially on the way back down from the summit? Was that a frozen body in the snow over there? Was the mother goddess moody this week? What an interesting place to be.
The rest of Eveline's story can only be told properly in it's entirety. After instrumental contributions to members of her team, including giving away her bottled oxygen, Eveline would have to reluctantly descend. She would turn her back on the summit of her dreams in exchange to help others in need. Selflessness on an often very selfish mountain.
“On the descent I started to realize that I should start enjoying the scenery as long as I was around, rather than keep feeling sad, frustrated and a little angry.....at what I wasn't sure. I suddenly saw all the beautiful crevasses, the fairytale scenes inside these wounds of ice. The impressive walls around me...and Mt. Lhotse was lit up all over. All the weeks before she was covered in clouds from the spot I was in now. I kept looking back. I felt intensely grateful and promised her I'd be back next season.”
Photography Courtesy of Eveline Wessels, Armand Dirkis and Namgyal Sherpa
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