Then, I remember Pemba came to our tent with tea, because I think he saw Martin come. Martin drank a little, and I asked about the situation, but he could not help me with any information, so I asked Pemba, and he told me he had seen some lamps approaching the camp and was sure some people would soon be coming. So after about fifteen minutes of rest after the tea, I tried to go out again, but the wind was strong, rattling the tents, much worse than the night before we left for the summit. But outside, as I searched just beyond the tent, I could find nobody. At a distance I saw someone else looking out for climbers, somebody I think from Rob Hall’s expedition. By now it was very dark, a true blizzard. I switched on my headlamp, but it was of no help, so I stepped back into the tent and discovered that Martin had collapsed into a sleep; he had nothing left.
In the dogpile, hope for a rescue was on the wane. Lene Gammelgaard recalled that she, Klev Schoening, Beidleman, and Madsen began to consider making a dash for Camp IV, but they couldn’t agree on which way to run. Increasingly, she said, she had begun to place her bets on Schoening to get them out of there, because she perceived Beidleman as being totally lost. “I don’t think Neal would have ever gotten back to camp if Klev had not been there… . He would have stayed with the clients because he didn’t have a clue as to where he was.”
Indeed, during a brief break in the storm, it was Schoening who got himself oriented and started insisting that he knew the way to camp. Beidleman remembered, “Klev, I believe, took the initiative and was absolutely positive—he had in his mind, he knew what direction camp was. He had figured it out… . We decided somehow—I don’t recall the process—it was more of a mass-type standing. We tried to get everybody stood up. The Japanese woman was still hanging onto my arm, I recall. It was very hard for me to move or to look around. I tried to pull people up as well as everybody else around. About the only person that I recognized was Sandy because of the distinct color of her jacket. Everybody else was just bodies and voices. When we got up, we all started to move. There was one headlight—I don’t know who had it on—who seemed to be moving in a direction forward. I tried to follow with the Japanese woman and somebody else under or behind my right arm—I don’t know who it was. I kept asking Klev, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure?’ And he was positive. He seemed to be totally aware and understanding of which mountain was which and what direction we needed to go. It was in the opposite one that we had come. It was uphill and it just all of a sudden seemed to make sense to me, too. Somewhere along the way, the movement, the motion of people, split. There were people that could move and there were people that could not move. It was a choice at that time to stay or to make a break for it and hopefully find the camp.”
According to Gammelgaard, Klev Schoening was unlike some of the others who were understandably in a “barely controlled panic.” He was steady and realistic about the situation, she has said; his attitude was, “Okay, no panic, no fear, no disaster. What can we do about the situation?”
As he had in the rescue of Ngawang Topche Sherpa, Schoening had risen to the occasion, and his actions were definitely instrumental in keeping order and calm among everyone in the dogpile.
“We got everybody on their feet,” Schoening remembered, “trying to walk in place, whatever it was, to get things moving. There were several people … that couldn’t get up… . We stood up and tried to exercise everybody’s legs to get them moving. And it was obvious that Charlotte and the Japanese woman, Sandy—were very immobile. They were able to stand, but walking unsupported was impossible. So we took people on our arms. My recollection was I had Charlotte initially and the Japanese woman, and quickly realized that there was no way because I was on my knees most of the time, just trying to get them back up… .
“I recall kind of juggling everybody around to try and see if we could try different combinations that worked. I had to leave the Japanese lady, and I believe at that time Tim then picked up Charlotte.”
As Schoening tried to maneuver Fox and Namba into a position to walk, Beidleman wrestled with Pittman, trying to put an arm around her and get her to her feet, but she kept protesting that she couldn’t walk. Beidleman, frustrated in his attempt to get her up and moving, yelled out, “Well, if you can’t walk, then fucking crawl!”
Pittman recalled a similar scenario. “He [Beidleman] said, ‘We’ve got to bolt for it now. This is our only chance. There’s a break in the [weather], and if you can’t walk, then crawl. Which I did… . I thought that sounded like a good idea, because I could crawl, but I couldn’t walk. The wind was just knocking me down every time.”
Pittman crawled after Beidleman and the others until they crested and went over a small rise and she lost sight of a headlamp that one of the climbers was wearing. She remembered, “I realized that my only hope was staying with somebody else, and so I saw another lamp and I yelled out and said, ‘Hello, hello, hello,’ and it was Tim.”
Madsen, although he was as strong and able as any of the climbers who had decided to make a dash for Camp IV, had selflessly decided to stay with Charlotte Fox. “I had Charlotte on my arm, back, head, wherever, and I couldn’t see where to go. And I also didn’t have the strength to drag or carry her to camp. She refused to walk. So … we sat down for a second, and then I heard a moan about fifteen, twenty yards—about twenty feet behind us, which was the Japanese girl. So I went back and I grabbed her and brought her up to where Charlotte was. Also Mike [Groom] was still tethered to Beck [Weathers]. Beck was having a very hard time walking also. So I told Mike, since I presumed he was still functional, that he has to go to camp also and … get help… . The plan at this point was just to sit still and hope somebody would come back for us. There were five of us in the group once Sandy came back: myself, Sandy, Charlotte, the Japanese lady, and Beck. We tried to do the same thing which the bigger group did earlier, just stay huddled together, stay awake, and try to keep each other warm. The time of night I have no clue.”
*Krakauer, thinking Adams was Andy Harris, a Rob Hall guide, was, according to Adams, “ordering me to render assistance.”
*In the May 15, 1996, “debriefing” tapes (see Authors’ Note), Adams recalled that he’d arrived at Camp IV about 9:00 P.M. In those same tapes Dr. Hunt says she got a radio communication saying Adams had arrived at 8:30 P.M.
CHAPTER 19
THE RESCUE TRANSCRIPT
Gammelgaard remembered that initially she and Schoening led the attempt to find Camp IV. “Klev and I just sort of stick together. Neal is wandering a little bit here, a little bit there, and then he is sticking together eventually, too, and … I don’t know where camp is at this point, but I say, ‘Okay, I can as well trust Klev … it’s as good a possibility as anything.’ Then at a point I see light, and there I sort of take over and say to Klev, ‘This is light from the camp. We have to turn left. It’s there!’ And we go there and it turns out it’s Anatoli’s headlamp.”
Like all the returning climbers, Gammelgaard was teetering on the edge of total exhaustion, keeping upright out of the sheer exhilaration of having survived. Boukreev, she said, “looked at me, but we didn’t have to speak. He just knew it was serious and he bent down to take off my crampons.”
The events from that point, as remembered by Boukreev, were dictated to his coauthor, Weston DeWalt, within days after his arrival in the United States from Nepal. In the interest of maintaining his voice and the immediacy of the events he experienced, his words as spoken in English and without benefit of an interpreter are presented here. They are interrupted only for clarification.
Q: What did you do when you saw them coming in?
A: I saw exactly these lamps come and I saw Lene and Klev come. And I saw them with lots of ice around the face, impossible to see [oxygen] mask because is just ice. I take off crampons of Lene and put outside of tent. I see people was not able to do nothing, just I get crampon, everything, and help for Lene and for Klev go inside by crawl. And I saw what is happening, very serious. People said …
Q:
Did you give them any oxygen?
A: Yes, I gave some oxygen from like what is I have, three bottles—one Martin, one Klev, one Lene. From tent. And I give for people this, and this is situation. I understand I need to be ready. I began take my shoes, but it is not so easy. Also I tried to find the shoes, I found the shoes, take over my shoes, big shoes. It was before I was without the shoes. And then was ready go out.
Boukreev had already given one of the three oxygen canisters he’d received from Pemba to Martin Adams. The other two he had given, one each, to Schoening and Gammelgaard. The shoes for which he searched were his overboots, which he would need to go back out into the storm.
Q: So you put on your climbing boots again?
A: Yes. Probably—I cannot say what time people come. Now it is difficult to say. People talk like …
Q: Twelve to twelve-thirty?
A: I take my shoes and maybe I started go out. It is one o’clock. I think maybe like eleven-thirty people come or eleven o’clock. I was very slow because I was with Klev Schoening, I spoke with people, I gave tea, I gave oxygen, I gave sleeping bag, everything. There’s lots of time, is like probably eleven-thirty the latest time clients come, I think, because now I tried to understand just for myself. I think like eleven to twelve o’clock. But I start go out exactly like around one o’clock.
Q: What did you understand about the condition of the clients?
A: Lene she say—Sandy is dying, maybe Charlotte also dying, and I think, “Okay, these people frozen, you need to hurry, maybe …”
Q: She said Sandy and Charlotte were dying?
A: Very close, like, “Sandy very close. Maybe if you will find, you will find her dead. And you need hurry.” Also Klev understand—you need just make direction, no go up, just go, just cross this big square of South Col, and you will find people on the end, near of Kangshung Face. Not go up. I said, “How long time?” Probably fifteen minutes. I said, “Oh, very close, if people fifteen minutes, for me maybe five minutes or ten minutes.” I ask, “For you or for me?” “Oh, for you it is maybe fifteen minutes.” Okay, for me it is fifteen minutes.
Boukreev attempted to get from Schoening and from Gammelgaard directions on how to reach the climbers who had been left behind. With no landmarks to reference, no sighting point to walk toward, they were trying to guide a blind pilot to the field.
Q: Did you ask for help from Neal?
A: Neal go inside of tent with crampon. I get off his crampon, because I said, “Oh, he will cut this tent.” And I get off his crampon. And he just collapse.
Q: He’s in his tent at this point?
A: Just half of his body probably in tent, half of body outside of tent. And when I spoke with Lene, I said, “How Neal?” And she say, “Maybe some problem with Neal.” Mostly Lene, she was more talkative for this situation. Klev, I don’t know what was situation, but Lene just talked. Maybe Klev have some problem with his head. And I go inside of tent, I tried to speak with Neal Beidleman, but he was very cold, impossible for him—no possible talk with him, and I understand. He began just use oxygen inside of tent.
Boukreev, on going to speak with Beidleman, found him half in, half out of his tent, his crampons still on. Concerned that his crampons could rip the tent fabric and expose him to the cold winds that were at times at hurricane force, Boukreev removed Beidleman’s crampons and helped him into his tent. His condition was such that Beidleman could barely talk.
Q: And then?
A: I go again inside of my tent. Lene and Klev already in sleeping bag, and I check with her again to make sure I don’t need go up. Lene and Klev told me, “You don’t need go up. You need go just cross what is flat place.” Lene told, “You don’t need go up.” Pemba go inside and he said, “Lopsang tell you, you need go up.” Why, where, I need go up or I don’t need go up? And I am responsible about life. I understand this—before, I hoped it is okay, these people have guides, people have Sherpas, people probably have some oxygen, it is okay, just not visibility. Now this situation, people just come, maybe people get frostbitten, and just all news come very quickly for me. I get this very upset very quickly. I get this power from upset.
Q: Adrenaline?
A: Yes, that is word.
Boukreev, in his first exchange with Klev Schoening, had been told that he didn’t need to “go up” the mountain, but “across” the South Col. Given that the directions meant that the stranded climbers were considerably off the course of a normal descent, Boukreev wanted to check again what he’d heard.
As Boukreev was talking to Gammelgaard and Schoening, trying to get the best instructions possible, Pemba came to Boukreev’s tent and said that Lopsang had returned to Camp IV with news that several hours earlier he’d had to leave Scott Fischer just below the Balcony. Out of oxygen, delirious, suffering from what appeared to be cerebral edema, Fischer had been unable to move without the assistance of Lopsang. Despite Lopsang’s heroic efforts he’d not been able to get Fischer down. Desperate to get help for his friend, Lopsang wanted Boukreev to climb up to him, to take oxygen and hot tea to him. Boukreev was thoroughly confused by the conflicting bits and pieces of information that were coming at him through the climbers’ hypoxic haze. Was Fischer with the clients? Were they in the same places? Where on the South Col did he need to go? Up or down or across? He was trying to sort it all out.
Q: Did you speak with Lopsang?
A: Pemba said Lopsang come and he spoke with us, and I jump out of tent and wondering where is Lopsang? I don’t know. I go inside of tent where is Neal. Neal has collapse. And I help little bit him, and then outside of tent I heard some voice of Lopsang. He said, “Anatoli you need go up.”
Q: You don’t see him? He’s yelling at you from his tent?
A: Yes, yes. Just—”Anatoli, you need go up.” And I understand Scott is have difficult situation.
Q: So what do you do then?
A: I go again inside of tent and I said again, “Lene, Klev, I need go up or I need just cross this flat place?” They say, “You need just cross this flat place.” “Scott is there?” I’m asking. “No,” they say, “Scott not.” So, okay, now I am begin understand. Scott is up the mountain. Clients are down, different places.
Q: So, is it after that that you go into the tent, to the Sherpas’ tent, to get some oxygen?
A: I went for Lopsang and say, “Lopsang, you need go together with me, some our clients probably died, we need carry our clients.” And I didn’t see him. He said again, “Anatoli, you need go up, Scott said he wait you, he respect you, he expect you help him like this, and you need carry oxygen and hot drink for him.”
Q: But you don’t see him when you’re having this conversation?
A: Just at vestibule of tent, just I hear his voice. I think he need understand whole situation. “Lopsang, we need carry some clients, maybe fifteen minutes—are you able?” He said me again, “Anatoli, you need go up.”
Q: He doesn’t answer, he just talks?
A: Just talk directly what he have this idea inside of head, he didn’t understand what I talk, he just heard my voice and told me just exactly what—all the same, repeat. And I need helping five people—I am one. I go inside of his tent, Sherpas’ tent. I ask Pemba about oxygen. And I understand from second talk with Lene about Beck Weathers and Yasuko Namba. And I ask, “Okay, Pemba, you need to find for me oxygen. I will go for another tent, for Rob Hall’s tent, maybe somebody will help me.” And I go inside and maybe another camp—for Rob Hall’s expedition, open one door. And I try, “Hey, somebody, can you help me?” No answer. I say, “Yasuko Namba, Beck Weathers, need helping—somebody—are you ready to help me?” No answer. Another tent, same. Another tent, same. And then I go inside—I saw some Sherpas’ tents of Rob Hall. I open and somebody talk with me. And I say, “Yasuko Namba and Beck Weathers need help. Some power from your expedition go together with me help for our clients.” And I say, “Okay, you need to be ready.” And then I go Taiwan tents—nobody. No answer.
; Lopsang had made a promise to Scott Fischer when he had to leave him behind. He’d told him, “Okay, please, you stay here. I … leave you here. You stay here. I send some Sherpa and oxygen and tea.” Groaning in pain, Fischer had told Lopsang, “You go down. You go down.” Leaving Fischer, Lopsang had reassured him, “Please, Scott, you never walk anyway; you stay here. I send some Sherpa and Anatoli. I send up oxygen and tea.”
Like Boukreev, Lopsang could see that the Mountain Madness Sherpas could not or would not go up the mountain. He was counting on Boukreev, but Boukreev had reports of five clients down, three of them with the Mountain Madness expedition. He couldn’t do it all; he needed help, so he made a quick round of the expeditions tented nearby: to the tents of Rob Hall’s clients, to the tents of Hall’s Sherpas, to the tents of the Taiwanese.
Rob Hall’s expedition’s members were either asleep, unable or unwilling to lend support to Boukreev’s effort. One of them, Lou Kasischke, was totally incapacitated, still snowblind, still alone in his tent. His tentmates, Andy Harris, Beck Weathers, and Doug Hansen, as of 1:00 AM., still had not returned to Camp IV.
The failure of Boukreev to get assistance from the Rob Hall expedition members at Camp IV was the second time that evening that a plea for help had gone unheeded. Mike Groom, who had left Beck Weathers and Yasuko Namba behind in the dogpile and returned with the Mountain Madness climbers, Schoening, Gammelgaard, and Beidleman, had about an hour earlier pleaded with various of the Adventure Consultants’ team members to attempt a rescue of their fellow climbers. He’d had no better luck.
Likewise, from the Taiwanese, no assistance was offered. Nobody could or would help.
The Climb Page 19
