Copied from the Cape Times article:
http://www.capetimes.co.za/
index.php?fSectionId=271&fArticleId=2099386
'the bulgarians lost one guy and the koreans lost two'
June 3, 2004
By Melanie Gosling
Capetonian André Bredenkamp helped cover an injured climber with snow near the summit of Mount Everest where he and fellow climbers had to leave the man to die.
Bredenkamp, who arrived back in the city yesterday, said on the same day that he summited, three climbers died in their attempt to scale the world's highest mountain of 8 848m.
"One of them, a Korean, fell and broke his leg. No one was able to move him or do anything. We covered him up with snow and he just went to sleep," he said yesterday.
It was one of Bredenkamp's more harrowing experiences on his successful climb of the north face of Everest from Tibet last month.
"It's difficult to try to help anyone at that altitude because you're just trying to keep yourself alive."He summited in almost a complete white-out of driven snow.
"You're just trying to survive, trying to balance and concentrate on getting to the top. I just wanted to sleep and for 10 or 15 minutes I lay down in the snow and slept until the Sherpa woke me up. It was a very bad season. Nine people died on the north face," Bredenkamp said.
"You get completely disorientated. I had to keep reminding myself I was climbing a mountain. Every step of the way I had to try to motivate myself. At that altitude I took at least 10 to 15 breaths each time I moved one foot."
When he reached the top, he had unfurled the South African flag and the Boy Scout flag, an organisation to which he has belonged since he was a boy.
Fellow Capetonians, Mike Nixon and Chris Drummond, did not reach the summit. Nixon developed a serious lung infection and was forced to turn back at 7 500m - higher than any mountain in the southern hemisphere.
Bredenkamp and Drummond pushed on to the top camp.
"Those three days were hell. You'd wake up with your sleeping bag covered in snow and ice and icicles stuck to your face.
"Then you'd pack up your wet sleeping bag and have tea and porridge and walk all day.
"It took 45 minutes to climb 100m. It was absolutely awful.
"When we arrived at top camp we had to collect ice in a black bag and melt it in a cup on the stove. We spent several hours just melting ice to make soup and tea."
The two set out for the summit at midnight wearing torches on their heads.
Said Drummond: "It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated and we came close to death on more than one
occasion.
"On summit ridge there was a huge gust of wind and I took off backwards like Mary Poppins. I hit a rock.
"I fell about 13m and landed on my backpack, which probably saved my life. By that stage I lost my nerve. It would take another seven hours to do the last 200m and I knew I couldn't make it."
Drummond is still in pain from severe frostbite on his toes.
Nixon, back at advanced base camp, spoke of the harrowing time they had watching the weather closing in over the summit.
Nixon said: "We were surrounded by groups from Bulgaria and Korea. The Bulgarians lost one guy and the Koreans lost two. So when we heard André had made the summit there were huge celebrations."
No comments:
Post a Comment