Risk and Reward on Everest
Laurie Kelley
April 30, 2017
If you’ve been following my blogs and Facebook postings, you’ll know that we have history in the making: Chris Bombardier is poised to be the first person with hemophilia to attempt to summit Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Risky? Beyond words. I’ve read all the books, about Everest and many other legendary mountain climbs; I’ve read about the history of mountain climbing. I’ve done some mountain climbing and most recently accompanied Chris on the nine-day trek to base camp. Not a Sunday stroll! It’s cold, hostile, and indescribably beautiful.
And risky.
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| Camp 1 |
Even just being at base camp proved fatal for some two years ago on April 25, 2015 when an earthquake struck during the extremely short climbing season, killing over a dozen people in base camp, just over a small hill behind our camp site.
Today we sadly learned that a legendary Swiss climber has died near Everest. Ueli Steck, 40, was attempting to be the first person to climb both Everest and Lhotse in one climb, and is believed to have slipped while acclimatizing.
According to the news wires: “He had been alone, and was last seen on nearby Mount Nuptse around 4.30 am. Steck, whose Everest-Lhotse climb would involve spending a night in the ‘death zone’ …had said before his trip: ‘I think it is possible but that’s the exciting thing, nobody has done that before,’ he said.’”
Immediately I started getting texts from concerned community members, about Chris.
We don’t know all the details of this tragic loss. Steck, called “The Swiss Machine,” was said to be meticulous and exacting. He was a world class mountaineer. I read he was alone, but we don’t know yet the conditions or the circumstances. He was trying to do something no one else had done before.
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| Camp 2 |
Chris is also doing something no one else has done before. But Chris will never be alone, and is also a slow, meticulous and cautious climber. Our main concern is infusing at over 21,000 feet. So far, so good.
Today, April 30, Chris just returned from a climb to Camp 3, which sits at 24,500 feet. He writes: “The team and I have returned from our camp 3 rotation! A great climb today and the team moved really well as a single unit up and down safely!” This was the highest elevation Chris has ever climbed to…with another 4,500 feet still to go to the summit. “After Camp 3 it’s back to Base Camp for some much needed rest and healing,” he writes, “while we wait for weather to attempt our Summit push!”
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| Up to Camp 3! |
Chris does climb at great risk, and his reward is to help those who suffer with hemophilia in countries like Nepal. “While up here at Camp 2, I’d love to get 2 more kids sponsored today! Please check out Save One Life, Inc. and pick someone’s life to save! Ask a friend, a family member, a colleague, a boss even! Inspire others!”
A humanitarian, Chris adds, “As I reflect on my journey with hemophilia tonight I can’t grasp the true struggle these families deal with. I am lucky to be able to try and climb Mt. Everest while those in the same country don’t even have a permanent home to live in. For me, I hope this climb can have a positive impact on the families here in Nepal and I encourage you all to try and donate to http://www.saveonelife.net/everest-2017.php. The money raised here will go directly to those families in need in Nepal and hopefully make having a permanent roof over their heads something they no longer have to worry about.”
Please keep Chris in your thoughts and prayers as he undertakes this monumental, historic climb on a mountain that requires so much risk, offers so much reward, and has taken so many.
As he risks so much, please honor his climb and efforts by contributing to Save One Life, Inc. Go to my Facebook page to see a video of Amos, of Ghana, a young man I sponsor, who walks bent over, suffering from permanent joint damage.
It’s for patients like Amos that Chris climbs, and risks so much.
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