In the death zone, every step feels like lifting lead. Your heart rate is slower, your brain is sluggish. You are essentially slowly dying due to a lack of oxygen. The wind is picking up, the air whipping your face is -40 C or colder, and even though some climbers never return, you keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Victoria man Chris Dare stood on top of Mount Everest Thursday morning, completing his mission of climbing the seven summits, a task he started in 2009 after climbing Kilimanjaro while on break from active military duty in Afghanistan.
As he stood on top of the tallest peak in the world with his personal Sherpa guide, Nuru, the wind too strong to place the flags he had brought for photos, Dare teared up beneath his goggles.
B次元官网网址淚 didnB次元官网网址檛 tell anybody at the time, but I cried under my mask,B次元官网网址� he told Black Press Media in a phone call from Everest base camp. B次元官网网址淚 had been working towards the seven summits for the last nine years and it finally dawned on me that I had made it. All the hard work had paid off B次元官网网址� all the pain and suffering.B次元官网网址�
And the pain and suffering were severe.
Many climbers in his five-person crew were injured, and one, who Dare identifies as Kevin in a Facebook post, died after returning to Camp 3, the final camp before the summit.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 happy about the accomplishment but obviously it comes with a lot of tragedy and a lot of heartache,B次元官网网址� Dare said. B次元官网网址淎 lot of teams had injuries, frostbite, death B次元官网网址� We lost one, but we could have easily lost more.B次元官网网址�
| A snapshot on the way to the top. One man from Chris Dare's five-person crew will not be returning home, but Dare said there could have been more deaths B次元官网网址� including his own B次元官网网址� if not for the heroics of other climbers. (Facebook/Chris Dare) |
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And DareB次元官网网址檚 own summit placed his own life perilously close to death.
He described the ascent from Camp 3 to the summit as B次元官网网址渢he most dangerous and terrifying movementB次元官网网址� he had ever experienced and said on the day he went up, two other climbers died attempting to cross a terrifying 20-centimetre wide ledge on the route to the top.
One of the biggest battles in summiting Everest is the almost total lack of oxygen B次元官网网址� the B次元官网网址榙eath zoneB次元官网网址� is generally tagged at 8,000 metres (26,000 feet) and essentially means the amount of oxygen is insufficient to sustain human life for an extended period of time.
In total, it would take 11.5 hours for Dare and Nuru to summit B次元官网网址� a journey that typically takes six to nine hours B次元官网网址� the extra hours depleting their oxygen supply.
And after months of training and preparing, Dare could only stand on the summit for 10 minutes.
B次元官网网址淚 forfeited a good summit photo and said B次元官网网址榣ets get out of here,B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淎s I was going down, I was getting more and more exhausted and going slower and slower.
ItB次元官网网址檚 so bad that just putting one foot in front of the other and trying to concentrate on not falling is so mentally draining.B次元官网网址�
The plan was to make it down as far as possible, but Dare was too exhausted to get past Camp 3 B次元官网网址� which, at 8,300 metres, is still in the death zone B次元官网网址� where supplemental oxygen is a necessity. But Dare and his Sherpa had given away their two extra oxygen cylinders. The pair, along with a third climber, spent the night sharing one oxygen tank, slowly freezing with frostbite taking over.
B次元官网网址淎t 8,300 metres, without bottled oxygen, itB次元官网网址檚 like breathing effectively seven per cent oxygen at sea level,B次元官网网址� Dare said in a Facebook post after the summit. B次元官网网址淲ithout oxygen not only are you gasping for breath constantly from the hypoxia, you canB次元官网网址檛 sleep and you start to develop frostbite extremely quickly.B次元官网网址�
But the three made it through the night, mostly thanks to Nuru giving up his oxygen supply for the other two climbers. Eventually, days later, most of the crew had made it back to base camp.
| Along the north route, all climbing above camp 3 is in the 'death zone,' an altitude lacking sufficient oxygen to sustain human life for a long period of time. Despite using oxygen cylinders, climbers have a small window to make it to the top and down before they become sick from oxygen loss. (Facebook/Chris Dare) |
What really sticks out to Dare is the heroics he witnessed during the climb.
One woman named Kam, ran out of oxygen in her descent, and her Sherpa had to make the difficult decision to leave her behind in order to save his own life.
Upon hearing of KamB次元官网网址檚 location, another climber, Rolfe, mounted a one-man rescue from Camp 3. With depleting oxygen, in a race against time, he located Kam, whose hands and fingers were B次元官网网址渃ompletely frozen in curled positions,B次元官网网址� attached her to himself, and rappelled three pitches, dragging her to Camp 3.
B次元官网网址淜am would have surely died if Rolfe didnB次元官网网址檛 find and rescue her. Rolfe is a true hero,B次元官网网址� Dare said.
When asked why he chose to climb seven death-defying peaks, Dare said he simply had to once he had made it his personal goal.
B次元官网网址淚 wrote a Facebook post in 2010 and I said, B次元官网网址業B次元官网网址檓 going to climb the seven summits before the end of my life and nothing is going to stop me,B次元官网网址� he recalled. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e never thought that failure could be an option.B次元官网网址�
And DareB次元官网网址檚 Everest summit wasnB次元官网网址檛 just about making it to the top. He has been fundraising for the B.C. ChildrenB次元官网网址檚 Hospital through Summits of Hope and has so far raised more than $10,000.
All donations go directly to the hospital and are accepted online at
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