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Text
from Pat - April 17th
Pat and Clare's attempt to move up onto the mountain to
reach Camp 2 was thwarted today by a serac fall within
the Khumbu Icefall which has blocked the way to Camp 1
and beyond. The team is back at Base Camp Wyeth and a new
way around the collapse will be attempted tomorrow.
Dispatch
23 - April 16th
Good news from Kathmandu, John has been checked out medically
in one of the top high altitude clinics in the country.
They confirm that John will make a full recovery and
should be able to return to Ireland in the next few days.
This, as you can imagine, is a great relief to Clare,
the Sherpas and myself here at Base Camp. He is now being
looked after in Kathmandu by my good friends Ang-Rita
Sherpa and Sumba Sherpa; he couldn't be in better
hands.
Well, the expedition continues here at Base Camp Wyeth as
we prepare to make a further foot hold on Everest in the
next few days. After hearing the good news from Kathmandu,
we have made ready all of the gear we require to establish
Camp 2, Lowe Alpine at 21,500ft tomorrow. We are looking
forward to putting the Irish team higher on the mountain
but do not relish the thought of having to once again to
go through the ice fall.
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Update
from Pat - April 14th and 15th
A sad mood has overcome our little Irish expedition at
Base
Camp Wyeth.
Due to sleep deprivation, exhaustion and mild mountain
sickness, one
of our team members, John Joyce, has been
evacuated. In John's own words "the mountain
has beaten me and I will go knowing I gave it my best shot"
Tears flowed at Base Camp as our fellow climber, John Joyce,
hobbled down the glacier to the nearby village of Lobuche.
He will be picked up there by Helicopter for a return journey
to the lower altitude of Kathmandu. It is unlikely that
he will be returning to complete the expedition.
I would like to pay special thanks to our very good friends
at The Himalayan Rescue association facility at Base Camp
for their help in treating John. To Dr Luanne Freer and
Dr Denise Merritt, on behalf of the Irish Wyeth Everest
Expedition we would like to say thank you for your support
and professionalism in dealing with John.
Now that John has left our team there is a deep sense of
loss. However, as a team we must re-gather our strength
to face the challenge ahead and conquer the fear that sits
in the recess of our minds. We will treat Everest as if
we were asked to eat an elephant and take it out bite by
bite until we finally eat the elephant, hopefully over
the next 40 days.
Its time to be positive, we have to cross the ice fall
6 more times before our final summit assault. We must now
more then ever cast our negative emotions and thoughts
aside. It's at times like this, as in the word of the song "it's
when the going gets tough, the tough get going" We
must
re-group and re-plan our strategies to achieve our
objectives.
Clare, the Sherpas and I will continue upwards in our quest
for the top
of the world and shall not quit until we have
given it our best shot or the mountain/weather beats us.
This is a verse that was given to me by my mother when
I despaired most in my life. I keep it close to me as a
reminder to give everything
my best shot.
'Don't quit' - last verse.
Success is failure turned inside out, with a silver tint
of cloud of doubt. You can never tell how close you are,
it may seem far, but be so near. So stick to the fight
when you're hardest hit. It's when times are tough that
you must not quit.
Onwards and upwards to the top of the world in safety.
John recovering at the Himalayan Rescue Hut at
base camp before being evacuated to Kathmandu with Doctors
Luanne Freer and Denise Merritt
----------------------------------------------------
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John Joyce is forced out of Everest climb
......news from Nepal and the Irish Wyeth Everest Expedition
2004
Dispatch
22 Thursday
April 15. Base Camp Wyeth
Irish
mountaineer, John Joyce has been forced to abandon his attempt
to climb
the world's highest mountain. Joyce from
Tuam, County Galway is suffering from exhaustion, following
sleep deprevation and the effects of high altitude. He has
been evacuated from his team's base camp on Everest to a
medical post lower in Nepal's Khumbu valley from where he
will be helicoptered back to Kathmandu. This morning on leaving
the Irish Expedition's, Base Camp Wyeth, John wished the
remainder of his team well but said "Everest has fairly
beaten him". He will return to Ireland as soon as possible.
A month now since leaving Ireland and some two weeks after
arriving at the base of Mount Everest, the team of mountaineers
led by Pat Falvey have now firmly established themselves
on the slopes of the mountain. Over the past number of days,
the climbers have been involved in the
vital but tedious
acclimatisation to altitude while putting in place a safe
route through the notorious Khumbu Icefall.
In the past week, a team comprising of: Joyce, Clare O'Leary
and Pat Falvey along with Sherpa's Pemba and Tenzing frimly
established the Expedition on the mountain slopes.Several
days of dangerous work
went into securing a safe route through
the notorious Khumbu Icefall
and moving equipment and food
for use higher up on Everest to the team's first camp on
the peak. The task involved proved extremely
taxing as well
as dangerous and an avalanche has already threatened the
site of Camp One.
The enormous workload has however taken it's toll and today,
Joyce's departure suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness
is bringing to an end this climber's dream of reaching the
summit.This has been John Joyce's first attempt on Everest
though he served last year's Irish team under Falvey's leadership,
as Base Camp Manager. He is a sucessful auctioneer in Tuam,
County Galway and this morning's difficult decision was made
after heart-wrenching consultancy with Pat Falvey, Doctor
Clare O'Leary and his wife, Siobhan back in Ireland. Pat
Falvey said."John's decision to withdraw, follows months
of preparation for him and of course over the past week,
he has made a tremendous contribution in establishing the
team on the mountain. We wish him
safe passage home as the
remainder of us now turn our attention towards our goal"
Over the next three weeks or so now, Pat Falvey and Clare
O'Leary
will work at establishing a second and third camp
on their climb before reaching the South Col of Everest and
a high camp at 26000' / 7925m from which a summit bid will
be made. Acclimated bodies to the rarefied atmosphere where
oxygen levels on the summit are just one third of those at
sea-level, are vital in order to attempt reach the highest
point
on Earth.
Last year, O'Leary withdrew from the mountain suffering a
severe stomach bug.This year her experience and intense preparation
under
the advice of the Himalayan veteran, Falvey is a very
promising factor as these two climbers seek to make history
in Irish mountaineering.
No Irish woman has yet succeeded
on reaching the highest point on Earth. In 1995, Falvey summited
Everest from the Tibetan side of the mountain. Success this
year will mean an Irish climber joining the relative few
who have summited twice and from the two countries who's
frontiers meet on the top of Everest.
(Further updates news can be had by calling Con Moriarty
on 087 221 4002)
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Dispatch
21 April
13th - Camp One
We had a restless night at Camp One.
It snowed throughout most of the night, dumping over 10 inches
of snow on the mountain.
At 5:30 am John woke with a terrible stomach-cramp.. While
relieving himself in our make-shift toilet-cubicle (made
from ice blocks), there was a massive explosion that literally
rocked our camp. A great avalanche set off several thousand
feet above us roared down over cliffs towards the valley.
To our horror, itís massive snow-dust cloud seemed
to come in our direction..I grabbed a camera and shot out
the tent-door...only then did I think of John.
Joyce was caught with his trousers down and fearing the worst,
the very worst, he abandoned his post and took flight from
the squat for shelter!
A great wave of icy dust, probably over a hundred feet in
height, rushed us amidst John tearing for cover for his bare
bottom. I prayed in an instant that we would be okay...I
ducked my head inside my tent while the blast past over us.
Seconds later amidst the spindrift, John appeared at the
tent, looking like a snow-man, covered in white spin-drift
and still fixing his pants!
We laughed hard though grateful that we escaped. After the
kind of snowfall we had last night, avalanches around here
can be huge and deadly. We have decided that after tomorrow,
we will not use Camp One, opting instead now to go directly
from Base Camp Wyeth to Camp Two.
Tonight we are back at base happy with our success. We feel
we now have a real foothold on Everest.
Avalanche over Camp One
Our descent to Base Camp Wyeth from Camp One in bad weather.
Clare and Tenzing carefully crossing one of the deep crevasses
in the Khumbu Icefall.
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Dispatch
20 April
12th - Camp One
Today we spent a further day here at Camp 1 to give our
bodies a chance to acclimatize..It is an amazing place
and our little tents are pitched right at the entrance
to the awesome Western Cwm, this com also referred to by
climbers here as; the oven. Ahead lies a long and gentle
rise up the glacier now to the site of Camp Two. We stroll
as far as we can, up a further 1,000 feet or so as part
of the vital but tedious process of acclimatizing. We return
to Camp 1 again to sleep and tomorrow we will return to
Base again to rest for a few days before coming back up
here again and onto Camp Two for a night. This game!
Today, John is feeling exhausted from the labour of his
efforts yesterday. He remains in camp.
Dark clouds bring in afternoon snow and the temperatures
plummets to minus 8 degrees celsius in the oven!
The site of Camp One for the Irish Wyeth Everest Expedition
at an altitude of 20,500 feet in the Western Cwm. The peak
behind is Khumbutse.
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Dispatch 19 April 11th - Camp One
Happy Easter to all our families, friends and loved ones
back home
in Ireland.
Today, Easter Sunday, we were up at 3:30 am for our ascent
to Camp One of our climb. For two weeks now we have worked
hard through the treacherous terrain above us here at our
base camp, fixing and preparing our way through the Khumbu
Icefall. It is a complex of gigantic ice blocks, seracs
and crevasses but our way through this crux is now laid
and the major obstacles surmounted, spanned and fix-roped
so as to allow us safe access to the upper slopes of Everest.
Today we came through the Khumbu Icefall and reached great
Western Cwm (Com) to the site of our Camp One.
It might be hard to believe for those following our progress,
that a month has almost past since we left Ireland and
a forthnight since we reached Base Camp Wyeth. Climbing
Everest is a huge task that involves enormous time and
effort in order to acclimatize to the altitude we seek
to reach and so that we have supplies up there when we
need them..
Presently, we feel like we are finally at the start of
our climb. We are finally established on the mountain as
opposed to being en-route to or at the base of the mountain.
We are now firmly established with Camp One on the slopes
of the world's highest peak and tonight we seek to sleep
here. There is an air of apprehension among the team. Experience
tells us that up here, anything can happen and who knows
what the next few days hold in store as we acclimatize
to over 20,500 feet. This section of the mountain is the
breaking point for many expeditions and we remember last
year when one team lost 10 of it's climbers to altitude
sickness and the physical and mental pressures posed by
the climb through the Khumbu Icefall.
Arriving at Camp One was tough but exhilarating. Our altitude
gain of 3000ft hereabouts has of course taken a huge toll
in the body. We must allow time to adapt now.
Our journey was, as expected, dangerous but very exciting.
We scrambled and climbed around enormous leaning ice
towers and we crossed several crevasses ñ some were absolutely
huge gaping holes in the glacier up to 500 feet deep! We
used ladders to cross the biggest, up to five 10ft standard
aluminum ladders, tied together and planted at either side
of the crevasse, they are anchored in the ice with stakes
and ice screws and a fixed climbing rope provides a form
of handrail and safety. The Icefall always intimidates
and we can never get comfortable here.. It has a strange
feel in it's midst, we tip-toe through itís jaws,
quietly praying, wishing for the other side and to ultimately
be done with it.Our journey took us five hours of exhausting
going but our group; Pemba, Tenzing, Clare, John and
Pat arrived safely at Camp One at 20,500 feet. We're
exhausted
from the increase in height now, some headaches and shortness
of breath. We are drawing on 50% less oxygen up here
than at home. Tomorrow, we hope to aid acclimatisation
further
by walking half way up to Camp 2, before returning to
Camp 1 for another night.
John Joyce making his way through one of the many crevasses
and jumbled serac-fields to Camp One. The journey involves
climbing and scrambling, abseiling, delicate spans with,
and climbing of ladders.
In 2003, John came only to the base of Everest where he
ran the team's Base Camp. The sheer beauty of his
surroundings then and the great allure of Everest drew
him back this year to climb. And the auctioneer from Tuam,
who's father was born in Lios Uachtar in the Inagh
Valley, is doing Galway and Connacht proud with some great
performances to date on the slopes of Everest.
Pemba and Clare climbing 40 foot
overhanging serac en route to Camp One. Clare's experience
of the Icefall from
last year is standing her well.
Pemba and Clare on 7 tier ladders tied together to surmount
barrier to Camp 1.
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Dispatch
18 - April 10th
Birthday/Heli
pad construction
Heavy winds last night have made us Base Camp bound for
today, so we've postponed an attempt to get to Camp 1 for
a further day. We'll try again tomorrow.
It Clare's Birthday today and she's 33 years of age. We
plan a small party for tonight to celebrate her birthday
as well as Easter on Everest. We're all feeling a tinge
of homesickness as we'll be missing the festivities back
in Ireland. Easter is a time of year that I love as the
days
are getting longer, the weather is getting better and it's
a great time for walking.
We've only another 46 days on Everest!
It's also Niall's last day at Base Camp. He will begin
his journey home
tomorrow. He is really looking forward to returning to
Siouxsie, his
partner, and Keelan their son, who will be celebrating
his first birthday
on Niall's return.
Helicopter Pad:
Each team at Base Camp has got together to help build a
Helicopter pad on site in case of emergency. Not an easy
task on a moving glacier. Last year this was a blessing
when George, one of our team mates, had to be evacuated as
a matter of urgency.
We're not sure yet if helicopters will be allowed to fly
to Base Camp after
the crash last year; a Russian aircraft crashed killing
two people and
injured seven others. We hope that the authorities will
consent to allowing a landing in case of a severe emergency.
Building a landing pad at this altitude was tough work.
We are presently cramming our minds with foreign computer
and communication language and knowledge! We're driving
Niall mad with last minute questions and are just hoping
that we'll be able to cope without his magic touch. We'll
miss his company as much his whizz
kid knowledge!
So far,
all equipment is standing up to the rigors of the
mountain. I'd like
to thank all our sponsors for their sound advice; it makes
life on the
mountain so much easier to see everything working.
Clare with birthday greeting.
Niall says goodbye in style
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Dispatch
17 - April 9th
Dangers of the Khumbu ice fall.
Its amazing, no one slept last night; apprehensions prior
to our first
encounter of a place known to us climbers as the chamber
of horrors. This moving river of ice is over five hundred
feet deep and moves at a speed of over three feet per day.
We will have to pass through this ice
fall up to 10 times
as we attempt to reach the summit of Everest.
The glacier
has a mind of its own; there's no chance to relax until
past this section.
The Khumbu Ice Fall: A spectacular but treacherous horror-chamber
of bottomless crevasses, seracs, and ice blocks the size
of three storey houses that stand overhanging, ready to
crumble without warning and quench your life in a heart
beat. This section stretches from base camp at 17,600 feet
to Camp 1 at 21000 feet. We cross this area using fixed
ropes and use ladders to cross the many crevasses and towering
ice walls.
Today's objective was to help acclimatization to 20,000
feet before
returning to base camp. Pemba, Clare, John, Niall and I
had a spectacular day in the ice fall before returning
to base camp and should be ready to try for Camp 1 tomorrow.
We had an early night to rest up
for the push tomorrow.
Lights
out at 8pm and dreams of moaning, crackling moving ice!
Jumble Of Ice Blocks In The Ice-Fall
Team in Icefall - Pat, John, Clare and Pemba
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Dispatch
16 - April 8th
Puja
Today we had our Puja, a religious ceremony asking Chomolungma,
the Goddess of the Mountain, for permission to enter her
inner sanctum and to grant us a safe journey as we attempt
to climb to the summit.
No Sherpa on our team would dare enter the ice fall without
first having
this blessing. Our Sherpas are devout Buddhists and to
climb without first asking the gods for permission would
bring bad luck.
The preparation for this event went on for three days.
Seven sherpas
prepared the stone altar - a construction made up of large
square stones,
they also prepared the food required for the celebration.
Our Base Camp cook and manager, Dawa, is a lama and so
he paid special attention to the preparation of the food
and the specially designed ornaments (particularly the monkey-
this being the year of the monkey) that
are left as offerings to the mountain. Great time and effort
went into the
making of these.
This is a day of merriment and a time to relax before the
hard work of
climbing the mountain begins. A time to have a few drinks
and as we
say in Ireland to let your hair down, a day to put your
brain on the shelf and get away from the pressures and
logistics of climbing for a few hours. The belief is that,
after talking to the goddess and asking
her blessing, we can return to the problems of climbing
the mountain with a refreshed mind.
This day was chosen specially by Lama Mingma from Pangboche.
It is
a very auspicious day in the year of the monkey and should
bring us the best of luck.
It was a beautiful event as we listened to the chanting
of the Lamas,
intended to awaken the attention of the goddess. It was
a magical
feeling of serenity as we sat beneath this mighty mountain
and prayed for a successful and safe journey. After the
blessing, it was time to celebrate the fact that the goddess,
according to the lama, had granted us an audience to climb
the mountain.
We all got drunk, the sherpas, the cooks, the lamas and
ourselves. This was a day for relaxation, sleep and fun
before the onslaught of the climb; the expedition was now
ready to begin in earnest.
Tensions were running high as the following morning would
be our first run through the chamber of horrors, climbing
to 20,000 feet, in the notorious Khumbu ice fall.
Dawa preparing offering for Puja.
Preparing offering for Puja
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