A Day to Die For: 1996: Everest's Worst Disaster - One Survivor's Personal Journey to Uncover the Truth (10 page)

The Imax expedition was to be led by 40-year-old American David Breashears from Boston, Massachusetts. David was no stranger to Everest; he’d broadcast the first live television pictures from the summit in 1983. On reaching the top again in 1985, he became the first American to summit the mountain twice. As a young man, he’d first sprung to the attention of the climbing fraternity for his technical free-climbing on some of Colorado’s difficult rock walls. Soon he was combining his love of climbing and adventure with that of cinematography, working in many remote locations around the globe. His undoubted ability soon caught the attention of others, and this led to him working on such feature films as
Cliffhanger
(1993) starring Sylvester Stallone, and the Public Broadcasting Service Frontline documentary
Red Flag Over Tibet
(1994), which received awards for its excellence.

Joining David would be 36-year-old American Ed Viesturs from Seattle, who was highly regarded as one of America’s top altitude climbers. He’d worked as a professional guide for Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants in the spring of 1994 and 1995. On the 1995 expedition, Ed had been amongst those on Rob’s team near the summit whose transmissions we’d overheard. At the time, we’d been relaxing at Base Camp on the Tibetan side of Everest. We had listened to their frustration with the deep snow and precarious-looking cornices they’d encountered, until finally they’d abandoned their attempt.

Ed had originally qualified as a doctor in veterinary medicine from Washington State University in 1987. It was while studying here that he was drawn to the nearby Mount Rainier: a mountain that he’d both climbed and guided more than 150 times before he’d completed his degree. After graduating, he practised for two years in clinics operated by friends. However, he found it progressively difficult to balance the long spells on expedition climbing with the commitment to work. Eventually, a choice had to be made. Ed chose climbing. He reached the top of his first 26,000-ft (8,000m) mountain, Kangchenjunga, in 1989. A few years later, in 1992, he’d climbed K2 with Scott Fischer. Now, having sufficient experience, he became an International Mountain Guide, seeking sponsorship to enable him to pursue mountaineering full-time. By 1996, he was well under way with his goal to be the first American to summit the 14 highest mountains in the world, which tower more than 26,000 feet above sea level. He’d climbed nine out of the fourteen. To add further difficulty, he intended to climb them all without supplementary oxygen. He would go on to fulfil his ambition in the spring of 2005 with the ascent of Annapurna.

Also on the Imax team was 30-year-old Jamling Tenzing Norgay from Darjeeling, the son of Tenzing Norgay, who’d made the first ascent of Everest with Edmund Hillary. Owner of Tenzing Norgay Adventures, a travel company started by his late parents, he was there to follow in his father’s footsteps.

Rob Hall ran a guided expedition to Everest and had done so for several years: a period during which he’d achieved a reputation of running a slick and rather successful operation. In consequence, he had attracted a number of clients from the US. The price of $35,000, initially charged in 1992, had risen somewhat because of these results. Adventure Consultants could now charge up to $65,000 for a place on one of its trips.

This high-dollar guiding on Everest had caught the attention of Scott Fischer, who ran a company called Mountain Madness out of Seattle. Scott had decided he wanted to try to break into this lucrative market; 1996 was going to be his first year. No doubt he considered that if successful he could capture much of the future business as, unlike Rob, he lived in the US, which is where most of their customers appeared to reside. This might give him home advantage.

With this now competitive market, their eyes were firmly set on the future. Both Rob and Scott realised that a favourable press in the US, reporting on their respective operations this current year, could well be the key to securing clients for subsequent expeditions.

Through a twist of fate, both Rob and Scott would end up offering their own separate deals to
Outside
magazine: a publication that was considering sending Jon Krakauer to Everest that spring. He would be there to write a first-hand article about the mushrooming commercialisation of the mountain and the attendant controversies.

Jon had first been asked by
Outside
magazine to report from the Tibetan side, in the spring of 1995. Although initially agreeing, he pulled out at the last minute, as they were only prepared to cover the cost of a trip to Base Camp, not his place on an expedition to climb Everest. They would see what could be arranged for the following year. In 1996, by all accounts Jon had initially been pencilled in to go with Scott’s team, after
Outside
had managed to secure a substantial discount. However, the magazine then struck a late deal with Rob Hall whereby they only had to cover Jon’s part of the permit and his flight to Nepal. For a much-reduced fee of only $10,000 plus a valuable advertising deal, Jon would be included in Rob’s team.

Irrespective of such deals, these two expeditions must have had a total budget in the region of $400,000 each: approximately three times that of Henry’s expedition, which would have more than half its money swallowed up by the permit fee alone.

With round one having been won by Rob, the stakes had been raised. Getting clients successfully to the summit had now taken on a completely new meaning. Rob hadn’t managed to get any of his clients to the summit in 1995. Now, with Scott close on his heels, he needed 1996 to be a good season. This, augmented by a quality advertising campaign in
Outside
magazine, could greatly benefit his business.

Although he had lost out on securing this deal for himself, Scott had on his team Sandy Hill Pittman. She would be filing reports back to NBC Interactive Media during the course of the expedition.

Both teams would be under the scrutiny of the press. This was a self-imposed pressure that could only be detrimental to the clear and rational decisions they would need to make. Every day was destined to bring Rob and Scott new problems. The worries and pressures of dealing with this competitive market they’d helped to create were fuelled by the daily reports sent back to an awaiting, and much coveted, media in the US.

The other dilemma that both Rob and Scott would face was that they were two passionate mountaineers who, over the years, had turned their personal climbing into a business. They were not alone in spotting the opportunity to make a living from the sport they’d dedicated their lives to – a trend that was driven by an international appetite for extreme adventure. The mountaineering ethos of national teams, or teams grouped by invitation only, was rapidly changing to one driven by the supply and demand of the free-market economy. This change brought with it completely different pressures and decisions compared to my own more straightforward approach. Mine was a climb with a personal goal that I wanted to achieve: a much simpler role in so many ways. I had to consider, and get on with, the others on our expedition while conducting myself in a safe and sensible manner. To me, money was a means to an end and not the prime objective. Hopefully I’d be successful, but I was also aware that at the end of the expedition my purse would be empty. Rob and Scott, on the other hand, were looking for a handsome return for all their efforts in striving to bring success to their paying clients: ones who already had their hopes pinned so very high. The risks were increased slightly because a number of those who could afford the sums Rob and Scott charged for a place on their expeditions were often older climbers with more disposable income. This in itself had the potential to put extra demands on Rob, Scott and the guides they employed should the line of command become strained or communications falter.

These three teams that assembled in Nepal that spring would include the following (ages given where known):

By deciding to return to Everest in the spring of 1996, I’d unwittingly signed up as a witness to the events yet to unfold. The radio calls of Rob Hall’s team that we’d listened to back in 1995 were a portent of things to come.