Our Summit Day story

Hello again!

Finally, we are off the mountain and some of us are back in Kathmandu. Sebastien chose to hitch a ride on an MI-17 Nepalese Military Transport Helicopter along with a few other climbers from separate teams - Sebastien arrived in Kathmandu on May 29. I walked out a bit early to Lukla and flew into Kathmandu on May 30th, while John, Darrel and Erik will arrive tomorrow, June 1st. We're all looking forward to a good party!!

Congratulations to all the Everest climbers who joined Canada West on this adventure, we all achieved an amazing goal - to safely climb high on the slopes of Mt. Everest! Everyone of us reached our personal high points on our summit day, and more importantly, we all came back with great memories, all of our toes and fingers, no losses amongst our team and the satisfaction that comes with having climbed to the best of our abilities while making good decisions (and sticking with them!). It has been a pleasure to have been joined on this journey to Everest by such a positive and truly enjoyable team of climbers!

As for our summit day story...

Our team set out from Camp 4 in the South Col at 8:45 pm on the evening of May 24th. We had been delayed by one day due to an unfortunate event - another team had chosen to steal and eat most of our food before we arrived in Camp 4, which forced us to delay attempting the summit on the evening of May 23rd as planned. Even though we had over-stocked our food in Camp 4 in order to deal with unexpected delays (weather, fatigue, etc), we had not anticipated such behaviour! The only option we had was to spend an extra day at 7,960 meters in Camp 4, and to send a member down 900 meters back to Camp 3 to retrieve our emergency food from that camp (luckily we had over-stocked that camp as well!). Phurba Bhote, one of our stronger Climbing Sherpas chose to do this, but as a result of this he forfeited his chance to summit Everest with us, a real disappointment for all of us.

Added to this bit of drama, we also had a n0n-climbing member go missing on our summit day. Our Camp 2 Cook Helper had carried a load for us to Camp 4 on May 23rd, then descended on the 24th in the morning with a load of empty oxygen bottles. Though not a trained or experienced climbing Sherpa, he had aspirations to being one and was very strong and fit. Unfortunately he did not arrive back to Camp 2 as planned in the afternoon of the 24th, nor did he radio. This caused us much stress and distraction on the afternoon of the 24th - instead of resting and getting psyched for the climb that evening, our climbing Sirdar, Lhakpa Chhiri Sherpa (Sonam), and I worried about the whereabouts and safety of Dhipendra (Jon) our cook helper. When we left for the summit at 8:45 pm, we chose to send Then Dorjee and Phurba down towards Camp 3 (again!) in order to search for any sign of Dhipendra. They gave up this search after an hour as they quickly realized little could be done at that point anyways, and Then Dorjee caught up with us later on the upper mountain.

It turned out that after all this stress, worry and searching, Dhipendra had snuck back to Camp 4 after hiding his load, joined up with his brother who was working for another team. Then, the two had clandestinely climbed to the summit without telling anyone! They were recognized on their descent by Then Dorjee on the morning of the 25th as we went up. So, at least no one was hurt in the process, but certainly a lot of wasted and misdirected energy. As for Dhipendra, well, Sagarmartha sent him a little warning - he spent 2 days in his tent afterwards suffering from snow blindness (he's fully recovered and is fine now, though very sheepish for his poor judgement that affected so many people.)

As for the remainder of our ascent - myself, John Furneaux, Darrel, Erik and Sebastien continued climbing along with Lhakpa Chhiri Sherpa (Sonam), Dawa Bhote, Pasang Ila Sherpa, Chenden Sherpa and (eventually) Then Dorjee Sherpa. The evening was wonderful, with a cloudless sky and after the 1st hour we were treated to a spectacular moonrise over Tibet. Winds were light and the temperature was manageable, though still very cold.

At around 8,250 meters both Darrel and Erik made their individual decisions to turn around, each feeling that this would be their high point on the mountain, and that to continue would potentially jeopardize their safety. I had earlier told everyone on the team that while we were below Camp 4, if anyone was feeling like turning around or stopping, we would actively and strongly encourage them to continue (if safe to do so). Once above Camp 4 though, we all agreed that a climbers decision was final. While encouragement and positive reinforcement to help support each of us in the challenge of climbing this mountain was needed, once someone chose to turn back it would be irresponsible to try and talk them out of that decision at such an altitude.

So, Erik and Darrel descended to Camp 4 along with Sonam, who as Lead Climbing Sherpa chose to go down and spend the remainder of the night with them in Camp 4. Both Erik and Darrel were in fine shape as they descended with Sonam, and we continued to maintain radio contact with them throughout the night.

John, Sebastien and I continued on without event, until Dawa Bhote decided to return to Camp 4 as he was having a hard time keeping his hands and feet warm - we certainly did not want to have any member of our team get frostbite on this climb, so we quickly re-distributed his load and continued on. Dawa returned safely to Camp 4 that evening and on to Camp 2 during the morning of May 25th. He did not suffer any damage at all to his hands or feet, thanks to his early recognition of the potential for injury and his smart decision to let us know. Though only 21, Dawa is already a strong and very capable Climbing Sherpa, just as his father Phurba Bhote is.

This left our team as myself, John, Sebastien, Then Dorjee Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa, Pasang Ila Sherpa and Chenden Sherpa. At 7:15 am we reached the south Summit in beautiful weather, and after negotiating the substantial challenges of the Hillary Step (at least 1.5 hours of travel on very exposed rock at over 8,700 meters, followed by another 30 minutes of snow!) on May 25th at 9:15 am (Nepal time) John Furneaux, Sebastien Sasseville and myself (Brian Jones) together summitted the highest point on earth, Sagarmartha (Mt. Everest). We were honoured to be joined in our ascent by 4 of our Sherpa teammates - Then Dorjee Sherpa of Shomare Village in the Khumbu Valley, this was Then Dorjee's 5th ascent; Mingma Sherpa, also of the Khumbu Region, this was his 4th ascent; Pasang Illa Sherpa on his 2nd ascent; and, Chhenden Sherpa of Pangboche in teh Khumbu Valley celebrating his 1st ascent of Everest along with John, Sebastien and I!


The picture here (above) that I took shows John Furneaux (left) and Sebastien Sasseville on the South Summit of Everest at 7:30 am on May 25th, with the final summit of Everest in the background. The right side of the picture is the notorious Hillary Step, the final, and technical, obstacle to the actual summit of Everest - you can make out about 6-8 people on the Hillary Step in the image. My next post I will load up summit pictures and videos, I do not have access to all these at this point (sorry!).


After a great 30 minutes of celebrating on the top, we started our descent. Fortunately for us, this was very uneventful and we arrived in the South Col at 2:30 pm on May 25th, 4.5 hours after leaving the summit.

What a season this has been - starting with the Chinese closing the North side; followed by threats from Nepal to close the South side; then, Nepal waffling for weeks about how it will manage climbers on the South side; next, we never received our climbing permit until long after we were in Base Camp; Base Camp was "Occupied" by the Nepalese Army, apparently acting on Chinese orders, though they never seemed to know from one day to the next what they wanted to do; a complete blackout on communication within Base Camp for over 1 month; not being able to climb above Camp 1 for weeks; and on, and on......

After all was said and done though, we had a great adventure and are happy to say that Canada West will certainly be going back to Everest soon! This is the 5th expedition to the Himalaya for John Furneaux, and he'll continue to lead the Everest Expeditions for Canada West in the future.
Once again I would like to thank all the friends and family for all the support and for following these updates. I do apologise for any delays and/or errors that may have been published, any responsibility for these rests entirely with me as I have been trying to get these out by satellite phone, email and by leaving voice mails for various people to interpret and turn into a coherent update. Thanks especially to my wife Maureen for putting up with my brief calls and managing to keep the updates happening!

As mentioned, I'll follow up with at least one more post in a day or 2 with links to lots of photos and videos, as well as the final post-party update (and perhaps some pictures from that event as well!!)

Cheers,

Brian Jones
Canada West Everest 2008 Expedition Leader

Cheers From the top of the World

Maureen posted for Brian after conversation on Sunday, May 25th 11am:


Sebastian Sasseville, John Furneaux, Brian Jones, Then Dorje Sherpa, Minga Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa, and Chedden Sherpa summitted Mount Everest at ~9:30am on Sunday May 25th.

They had great weather for their summit, it sounded like everyone was doing well.

They safely made it back down to Camp IV and have been resting and re-hydrating since (it was ~7pm on the 25th when he called). They will spend the night before descending to Camp II starting at 7am tomorrow. Following that on the 27th they will be back down to Base Camp.

Thanks for following our postings. Brian will possibly do an update once back to Base Camp or maybe in one of the villages on the descent.

Ready Set and We are going for the Summit

Maureen Posted for Brian @ 7:20am on the 24th of May:

We are replenished with food, rested and the weather on Everest is great! It is 8pm on May 24th and we are setting off for the summit. Do not expect another posting for ~24hrs.


Thanks for checking in,

Brian Jones Canada West Mountain School - 2008 Everest Expedition

Bandits at Camp IV

Maureen has updated blog after speaking with Brian on May 23rd.

According to Brian, they have had an unexpected setback at Camp IV. They arrived after their Sherpas had set up and stocked Camp IV with their food cache. Apparently, the previous group pillaged through and took a large enough portion of their food to to prevent them from going forward without replenishing. Steps have been taken to have the supply replenished so that they can carry on with the business at hand. Brian thinks he know the guilty party. I didn't get a chance to ask if this was a common concern on the mountain. All who know me well enough, know what I would do once an opportunity provided itself, to those horrible dispicable people.

Otherwise, it did sound like everyone is healthy, at this point with the use of a bit of oxygen.

Update From Camp II

Maureen provided update after discussion with Brian Jones May 20th PST 9:00pm:

Just a short update to let everyone know that we are doing very well. Wayne has departed due to issues with his knees, and we were sorry to see him head down. Eric, Daryl, Sebastian John and myself are fine. The only call of stress came from Daryl who managed to get himself trapped in his sleeping bag and required assistance to untangle himself!

We are having a rest day in Camp II then on the 22nd we will move to Camp III, for a day before moving to Camp IV on the 23 there we plan a short rest before making a bid for the summit on the 24th. The weather forcast for the 24th is better than on the initial planned date of the 22 or 23rd.

There have been a couple of teams who have made it to the summit already so the window of opportunity will hopefully stay open for us.

Thanks for checking in,

Brian Jones Canada West Mountain School - Everest Expedition

Namaste from Base Camp

We have all just come off the mountain yesterday (May 14) and are now resting for a few days before the final summit push. It is hard to believe we're finally getting ready for the last stage of this climb - after 6 weeks in base camp, or above, this last couple of weeks are sure to go by quickly!

Everyone is fine and healthy, we've just had a great 6 nights up in Camp 2, at 6,400 meters. Everyone had at least one day up onto the Lhotse Face to "touch" Camp 3, with a couple of team members spending one night in Camp 3 at 7,100 meters. The final acclimatization process has gone well, we managed to stay strong and healthy up high (many thanks to K.B and John, our cooks in Camp 2 who have done an amazing job of serving up an excellent variety of meals each day!).

Our carries through the Khumbu Icefall (see picture of Erik, Wayne, Sebastien, Darrel and John half way through the Khumbu Icefall with Pumo Ri and Base Camp behind) have all been uneventful, though now it is excruciatingly hot in there as soon as the sun comes up, so we try to restrict our travel to between 3 am and 9 am - any other time and it is like a desert at high noon!
The weather has cooperated throughout, though today it is deteriorating for the first time - good timing for us as the next few days are to be spent low and resting as we recuperate and focus on the final task coming up. If the weather cooperates, we will head out of Base Camp on May 19th up to Camp 1; then Camp 2 on the 20th; Camp 3 on the 21st; Camp 4 in the South Col on May 22nd; and, finally, our summit push on May 23rd. This would have us back in Base Camp on May 25th, though if the weather is not favorable to a summit window at that time we still have many extra days in order to wait for the best weather.

At this point, all the fixed ropes to the South Col (Camp 4) have just been established by a select team of Climbing Sherpas drawn from many of the climbing teams, including Then Dorje Sherpa from our team. Our team of climbing Sherpas have also just completed setting up our final supplies in Camp 4 as well (tents, oxygen and food), so we are ready to go as soon as the weather is good and we are rested. Our Climbing Sherpa team members are all coming down today to rest as well, they have been working very hard for the past week on the upper mountain.

There has been some unfortunate news as well though, almost inevitable after this much time on the mountain.

After spending a couple of days at Camp 2 with us, Nima Thundu Sherpa descended to Base Camp with signs of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). In Base Camp his symptoms had worsened and Base Camp doctors determined he might be suffering from a ruptured (or nearly-ruptured) appendix. He could not walk from the pain and was very sick. The weather and lateness of day prohibited a helicopter evacuation, so a team was quickly pulled together and Nima was carried by stretcher approx. 15 kms down to Pheriche where there is a medical clinic, and to an elevation that a helicopter could land. He was flown to Kathmandu on the morning of May 13 and is recovering fine. The evacuation involved 20 people from many different teams and took over 10 hours during the middle of the night. Many, many thanks to all the people who put the time and effort into ensuring that Nima could get out alive - without the support and commitment from everyone in Base Camp these sort of rescues would not be possible.

The other piece of sad news has been that the father of 2 of our Climbing Sherpa teammates (our Climbing Sirdar, Lhakpa Chhiri (Sonam) Sherpa and his brother Chhenden Sherpa), unexpectedly passed away on May 12th. He lived with his family in the Khumbu village of Pangboche, about 1 day walk below Base Camp. Our condolences to Sonam and Chhenden and their family for this loss.

So, while our reason for being here is to climb Everest, we are always reminded that the mountain is secondary to the people that we are here with.

Everyone is looking forward to this last stage of the climb, keep hoping for good weather and warm conditions. With luck we'll be down on the 25th and heading home soon after!

Best regards from Everest,
Brian Jones
Canada West Everest 2008 Expedition Leader

Happy Mother's Day from Camp II

It has been awhile between updates but here we are at Camp II. Everyone here is healthy and in good spirits, and the Weather is great! The mountain is now free of restrictions now that the Olympic torch relay has completed its trip to the top of the world. We are waiting for many of the groups to go ahead, so that we can approach the top at our comfort (a relative term) and speed.

A happy Mother's Day to all the moms back home. The sat phone coverage hasn't been that great, so if you don't get a call, know that you are in our thoughts.

We will have spent three nights here after tonight, then we will head for Camp III tomorrow where we will spend one night, before descending back to Camp II. On the 13th we will be returning to Camp III for one night then down to camp II on the 14th, dropping down to Base Camp for a three day rest. The plan is to make a bid for the summit starting on the 18th or 19th, hopefully summitting on the 22nd or 23rd.