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by Liesl Clark April 29, 1999 Stirred awake by restless, moody winds, I unzipped my tent at 12:30 AM to see a near-full moon gliding toward the ridge to the east. Silence filled the night, until another unrestrained blast of wind could be heard down the narrow walls of the valley. I listened, intently, to its inevitable approach. Someone once told me that Tibetans believe it is the wind that brought life to Earth. And, at that moment, it seemed plausible that the wind was blowing life into the silhouetted rock spires that stand like people on the ridges above our camp, waiting for the wind to turn them from stone to flesh. The elements here are raw and primal: earth, water, sky, and fire are all we have. There is no interruption of green trees, or violet flowers, just the gray and brown of the glacial debris, the white ice of frozen water, the deep azure of the sky, and the roar of our kerosene stoves in the early morning light. It would be only a few hours before our Sherpas would leave the North Col for another carry of oxygen and camp supplies to Camp V. Now there is little holding our climbers back from going higher—little but the wind. Today the team moves up from Advance Base Camp to the North Col. "Knock on wood, we'll find a couple of good days here to start our search out of Camp V," said Eric Simonson from Advance Base Camp on the noon radio call. He and Dave Hahn were about to l eave camp on the heels of our five other climbers: Conrad Anker, Andy Politz, Tap Richards, Jake Norton, and Thom Pollard.
"Very strong winds!" were the only words we could hear over the radio from Sherpa Dawa Nuru up on the North Col. They had already returned from Camp V and would continue down to Advance Base Camp for rest. Simonson proudly congratulated the Sherpas for a good effort this morning, knowing they had pushed up the ridge to Camp V while being battered by the oncoming wind. Words from Mallory and Irvine's expedition in 1924 immediately came to mind. Climber E.F. Norton described their struggle up to Camp V in vivid terms: ".....that was a bad moment, its memory is still fresh. The wind, even at this early hour, took our breath away like a plunge into the icy waters of a mountain lake, and in a minute or two our well-protected hands lost all sensation as they grasped the frozen rocks to steady us."At Base Camp, we continue our filming, in preparation for the search attempt, which we will film with long lenses from our vantage point. Today Jochen Hemmleb found a boulder in the shadow of Everest that has the same profile as the mountain, with three humps for the three famous "Steps" on Everest and a distinctive pyramidal summit. For the documentary, Hemmleb was able to show us in graphic terms—using the boulder as a stand-in for Everest—the route up the mountain to Camp V, the search area for the body near the Chinese Camp VI, the location of where the ice axe was found in 1933, and the route past the First, Second, and Third Steps to the summit.
Meanwhile everyone on our team is feeling strong and ready to move up and occupy Camp V. "This is our sixth time up here to the North Col," Pollard reminds us, "so we're feeling pretty good." Unanswered Questions (May 25, 1999) Forty-Eight Yaks (May 21, 1999) On Top of the World (May 17, 1999) Summit Team Moves Higher (May 16, 1999) Still at Camp V (May 15, 1999) Snow Bound (May 14, 1999) Outsmarting the Weather (May 13, 1999) Last Trip Up (May 12, 1999) Up to ABC/The Rescue (May 11, 1999) The Image of Mallory (May 8, 1999) In Extremis (May 7, 1999) Pieces of the Puzzle (May 6, 1999) Dearest George (May 5, 1999) Mallory's Discoverers Return (May 4, 1999) Mallory Reported Found (May 3, 1999) Waiting in Silence (May 1, 1999) Up to the Search Site (April 30, 1999) To the North Col (April 29, 1999) Waiting out the Wind (April 28, 1999) Search About to Begin (April 25, 1999) Pitching a 1933 Tent (April 23, 1999) Early Camp Found at 21,750 Feet on Everest (April 20, 1999) Up to Base Camp (April 23, 1999) Photos: (1,4) Liesl Clark; (2) Kodak; (3) Peace River Studios. Lost on Everest | High Exposure | Climb | History & Culture | Earth, Wind, & Ice E-mail | Previous Expeditions | Resources | Site Map | Everest Home Editor's Picks | Previous Sites | Join Us/E-mail | TV/Web Schedule About NOVA | Teachers | Site Map | Shop | Jobs | Search | To print PBS Online | NOVA Online | WGBH © | Updated November 2000 |
A full moon rises as the winds howl on Mount Everest.
Today's Kodak digital camera (L) with the Kodak Vestpocket camera of the 1920s (R).
Jochen Hemmleb points to the "steps" of Everest on a make-shift model.