Everest–The Reality Show: Ok, Annabelle Bond was a lot more, umm, noticeable, and she wrote some great reports about her Everest climb. But if you want the read one of the best amateur accounts of what it is like to summit, you have to head over to Explorer’s Web and read the brutally honest post-climb report of Royal Air Force Flight Lieutenant and mountaineer Ted Atkins. He got to the top in mid-May–his third attempt–but almost copped it. Atkins captures the chaos of Everest’s upper reaches as dozens and dozens of climbers stagger around in the dark, oxygen runs low, and the Sherpa’s desperately try to keep it all under control. Atkins gets “summit fever” and pushes on to the top even though he knows his oxygen cylinder is going to run out at some point on the descent. As he stands on the summit asking other climbers if they have any spare oxygen, a Sherpa offers Atkins his tank, saying he will cope better without it than Atkins. To his credit, Atkins takes responsibility for his situation and refuses to put the Sherpa in danger. He refuses the generous offer and heads down, sucking on the last dregs of O2 in his tank. Here’s part of his story:

“Hypoxia was already affecting my thoughts. Only five minutes later it was clear to me that the gas had run dry. The level of exhaustion that I felt just minutes later was totally debilitating. Now I was that old man, try and get 10 steps, rest, move, keep moving. My mind started playing games with me, it was split in two parts: good guy keep going, get down, bad guy stop rest, have a little sleep, it will be ok. My body had given up. Mind and body were in collusion give up. I fell. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know if I was clipped into the fixed rope. I remember falling and hitting the rocks at the bottom. There was a part of me that was determined to go on to get down. The combination of exhaustion and the sudden shut down of the oxygen supply was just too much. Only one thing could help me now; I had to find an O2 cylinder…”

I don’t want to give away the rest of the story, because you should read it yourself. If you do, you’ll get an extraordinary account of the emotions and physical extremes that prompt climbers simply to go to sleep on the mountain…and die. You’ll also learn why western climbers have such huge respect and affection for the Sherpas who make a living keeping people alive on Everest, almost always at the risk of their own lives. It’s a great tale, and moving too, I promise…



Atkins On The Summit: “Yay. Now how the f*ck do I get down without any oxygen…?