Nepal III - Attitude

Waking up at 0300 hrs, Matt, Colton, Swee Chiow, Anthony, and I were going to attempt Kala Patthar at an altitude of 5644m. In the pitch darkness, we hiked up the black rock with only our headlamps lighting up a small path ahead. We passed by a false summit and continued our way up to the steep rocky terrain of the peak. Like every Himalayan peak, we saw the prayer flags strung up on a beam. We knew that was the summit. With a final push, we arrived at a new altitude of 5644m. The feeling was amazing, we were surpassing our limits day by day.

Unfortunately, we received a call from our sherpa, our friend’s blood oxygen was at 40/100 and needed to be evacuated. Swee Chiow made a hasty descent to check on his condition while the rest of us made our way slowly down Kala Patthar. We met up with the team one last time before we bid farewell to the EBC team. This left us with a 5-men team (Swee Chiow, Matt, Kami, Nuang, and I) to summit Lobuche East. We packed our bags and headed straight to Lobuche where we had technical skills training. To summit Lobuche, one needs to be proficient with jumaring and abseiling. That night, we slept early, ready to ascend to high camp the next day.

We stayed in tents at Lobuche High camp and planned to summit at 0200 hrs. Unfortunately, we were hit by a snowstorm. Opening the tent in the morning, I vividly remembered it was a complete whiteout. There was no chance of a summit, the ropes would be buried, and the ice was too dangerous to traverse. We had to forgo the summit.  It's better to stay humble and not challenge the wrath of the mountain. The summit is optional, but getting down safely is paramount.

After the storm, we made our descent down thick snow and ice. The winds picked up and it started snowing again as the winds threw snow everywhere. That night, we were stuck in a lodge as the weather was not favorable for a helicopter to fetch us out of the region. Eventually, we made it the next day and arrived safely at Kathmandu.

An unfinished story, but we weren’t meant to summit that day. It was a very gentle warning from the mountains for us to turn back. It was a hard pill to swallow, but every failure makes us eager to pick ourselves up and try again. We will come back stronger, and one day, this will be a successful expedition. Till next time, Lobuche East.

“Judgement over Ego” – Matt (My Louche climbing partner).