Everest, West Ridge Attempt. Bad flying weather at Lukla prevented ...

E verest, W est R idge A ttem pt. Bad flying w eather at Lukla prevented our beginning our approach m arch together. Jim B ridw ell, our clim bing leader, w ith A ndy Politz, Randall G randstaff, G reg Sapp, K evin Sw igert and Fletcher W ilson, got out ahead and paved the way to Base Cam p. This was officially established on M arch 15, though B ridw ell and crew had already begun the route-finding up to the Lho La. C am p I was set up on M arch 20 but much hard w ork follow ed before we really got our w inch operation set up. W ith it, we eventually m oved several tons up the Lho La face. The w est shoulder face started with about 800 vertical feet o f blue ice but soon gave w ay to good snow that led us through a wide rock band, across a large snow field and up a gully to C am p II, a snow cave at 22,5 0 0 feet. That cam p was established on M arch 30 and our lead clim bers pushed rather quickly to place C am p III on April 5 at 23,500 feet in a crevasse; conditions there w ere never pleasant. W e soon started to experience our first bout with burn-out. The long hauls from C am p I to II took their toll and the conditions at C am p III were m iserable. The burn-out syndrom e kept us from getting to Cam p IV until April 19. That cam p was in the notch at the upper end o f the w est ridge at 25,000 feet. The route above Cam p IV went directly up a snow ram p, led left up a steep gully that turned into a chim ney and then angled across a steep snow field to the site o f Cam p V at 27,000 feet. On M ay 5 this cam p was occupied by Robert A nderson and Pete A thens, supported by L hakpa Sherpa and Ang D anu. They w oke late, found that the oxygen bottles they were to use had been dum ped below cam p and so had to descend to retrieve them . By the tim e they had clim bed back through C am p V and pushed into the Y ellow B and, they knew they w o u ld n ’t have enough daylight to clim b safely to the sum m it and back and so they returned. B efore descending, they cached two oxygen bottles high in the Y ellow Band for the next attem pt. On M ay 9 A n ­ derson and Jay Sm ith, supported by Andy Politz, Fenzo Sherpa and Ang D anu, clim bed to Cam p V. They slept a few hours and started to get ready at 11:30 P .M . At tw o A .M . on the 10th they started for the sum m it using headlam ps and the oxygen bottles they had used during the night. Upon reaching the cached bottles, they discovered that the pressure in one bottle was too low and the second bottle w ould not accept either clim b er's regulator. U sing the rem aining good bottles, they clim bed out above the Y ellow Band at 28,2 0 0 feet and looked up at the rem aining 800 vertical feet. The ground ahead looked difficult but negotiable. At 8:10 A .M . they decided that discretion was the better part of valor and began their descent. The other m em bers o f the expedition were Dan L arson, Heidi B enson, Kim C arpenter, Scott L ankford, Ed W ebster, John P ei­ ner, G eorge M cC loed (B ritish), Jim M cM illian, Brian O ’M alley, John M eyer, Rodney K orich and I as leader. D

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