NOVA Online | Everest Quest | Assault on the Summit (7)

Assault on the Summit
part 7 | back to part 6

The Decision to Continue
Poised to summit on the 13th, David, Ed, Araceli, Sumiyo and Jamling have joined the largest rescue effort ever on Everest. Twenty four people (including an Indian team from the North side) reached the summit on May 10, but as of midnight that night, 20 people had still not returned to Camp 4 on the South Col due to severe weather. Gradually they trickled in overnight, until just 6 people were definitely missing. All rescue attempts were halted, beaten back by extremely high winds. The drama that unfolded can be read about in detail in Audrey Salkeld's Newsflashes, written from Base Camp.

For the MacGillivray Freeman IMAX/IWERKS Everest Science Expedition team, climbing on Everest is mostly about safety. As evidenced by their efforts these past few days, their concern for safety extends far beyond the immediacy of their own expedition to all climbers on the mountain. mountain scenic

Although there is little one can do from a radio several thousand feet below a lone climber left to fight for his life through a cold night, David and Ed's encouragement and soothing words will not be forgotten by those of us who can do so little from afar. Having led a climber down off the Lhotse Face, racing through the night to get him low enough to be flown out by helicopter, the team has done everything possible to bring a climber, previously presumed dead, back to life.

For the support team at Base Camp, it's been a game of waiting by the radios for news from the mountain. Ed's wife, Paula, helps in any way possible to share information she gets from the team with other expeditions at Base Camp. Click here to hear Paula talk about how she copes with the dangers Ed faces on his climbs (RealAudio). With their efforts given to rescuing other climbers on Everest, the team is exhausted, their supplies have been diminished, and so they must return to Base Camp to assess.

NEXT WEEK: Will the team make another bid for the summit? Learn how weather and the jet stream can affect climbing on Everest.

Liesl Clark, NOVA Online's producer and writer, joined the expedition up to Base Camp. Audrey Salkeld of Clevedon, England is one of the world's premier Everest historians and photo researchers. Her photo editing credits include Everest: The Ultimate Book of the Ultimate Mountain and Everest: The Best Writing and Pictures from Seventy Years of Human Endeavour. She is currently with the expedition at Base Camp. Broughton Coburn, author and long time resident of Nepal is an advisor to MacGillivray Freeman Film's IMAX/IWERKS 1570 large format film "Everest." Charlie Houston, authority on pulmonary medicine, a mountaineer, and author, is film advisor to the MacGillivray Freeman Films IMAX/IWERKS Large Format Science Expedition.

Photos: (1-3) courtesy Robert Schauer.

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