Journey 3

Hi Everyone,

Just to let you know that I will be appearing on Focus at Channel 8 at 10.30pm tonight, followed by Channel News Asia's 360 tomorrow at 9.30pm. I will also be featured on either Saturday or Sunday's Channel 8 news.

Please enjoy the next installment of Journey 3.

Stefen


Journey 3

31th May 2005, Camp 2 to 3 (6500m to 7300m)

The night spent at Camp 3 was pretty decent. Sleeping on oxygen and an uneven snow surface which I had to pile 3 foam mats on it to smooth out the edges, I felt like the delicate princess who felt bruised after sleeping on a pea. Except that the pea felt more like a yak.

I woke up at 5am, and radioed Base Camp to note on Lindley and Ernest’s’ progress. They had set off the previous night, and were up the mountain as we slept through the night. Lulin appeared fresh on the walkie, her voice crackling away as the reception deteriorated since we were higher up the mountain now. She said that Lindley and Ernest went up strong through the night, and both reached the Balcony, one of the checkpoints up the summit route at 3.30am.

That was when the trouble started. The climbers were supposed to bring 2 bottles of oxygen up the summit, one used for the ascent and the other for descent. The change was supposed to take place at the Balcony, the midpoint for the journey. One bottle would be left behind for the descent, while the climber continued up the mountain with the fresh bottle. When Ernest reached the Balcony, his Sherpa tried to change the bottle, but it turned out to be faulty. The main cause was the broken threads on the thread ring, which produced massive leakage when the valve was screwed in. Both of them were at the Balcony for half an hour, each minute getting more frantic as the situation remained dire. Lindley was with him, and fortunately, Lindley’s system went without much of a hiccup. After much trying and realizing that their efforts were futile, Ernest made the painful but inevitable decision to head back down. He handed the university flag which the 2 of them were supposed to stand with at the summit to Lindley, hugged him and told him to ‘climb Everest for him and the team. The dream had come to an abrupt full stop for Ernest.

When I got news of this, Khong Lean, Yen Kai, Robert, Edwin and I were still in half daze at Camp 3. The information wasn’t crystal clear through the walkie talkies, but we realized that Ernest, one of our stronger climbers had turned back due to no fault of his. It was a setback for all of us, and hard to imagine how Ernest was feeling at that moment. There was frankly little we could do, and proceeded to cook breakfast and dress up for the day ahead.

We left Camp 3 at 7.00am, after the sun had risen and warm up the ambient surroundings. The rest of the Lhotse wall looked formidable in front of us, and I could make out tiny specks in the far distance on the Yellow Band and Geneva Spur which I could only conclude were humans. It seemed like an eternal journey ahead of me, and the worse thing was, the specks were moving more like snails then ants. I decided to just look ahead of me and take it one step at a time.

Before I proceed, I have to brief you on the route from Camp 3 to Camp 4. The route becomes more interesting as we get higher, as there are enough landmarks and recognizable iconic features to have a touristy attraction about it. It was like going to Disneyland finally after hearing and reading about it all my life. It was just like going up to Donald Duck and realizing he remained a respectable icon despite dancing around butt naked for the last 80 years. The climb from Camp 3 resumed with the ascent of the near vertical Lhotse wall, which will ascend approximately 200m before it tapered left to traversing at least 500m to reach the famous Yellow Band. The Yellow Band, at a height of 7600m, was the most distinctive feature on the South face of Everest. A big stretch of 70 degree rock around 50m wide acted like a barge between the snow slopes, and one had to climb over the mixed route with crampons which made all kinds of horrible screeching noises when the sharp points of the crampons come in forceful contact with the rock. Eeek.

After the Yellow Band, the snow slope continues for a few more hundred meters before one reaches the Geneva Spur. From afar, the Spur looked like a mountain. Up close, the Spur looked almost like Everest herself. The Spur need to be climbed and the steep slopes acted as a final obstacle to reaching Camp 4, or South Col as they called it, the last staging point for the summit of Everest.

So I was climbing, and every time I looked up, new slopes emerged and smaller specks appeared further away. I decided to stop looking. As I finally climbed past the steepest part of the Lhotse wall to begin the traverse, I saw a familiar figure in a blue down suit descending towards me. It was Ernest, and he was walking rather steadily with his head fixed on the ground. I instinctively took out my camera, took a few shots of him, and as he neared me, he noticed me and continued on. He halted just a step away from me, and slumped down on the slopes and sobbed.

Ernest is a strong man of few words, and in all the 3 years that we have trained and went for expeditions together, I have never seen Ernest in a weak or vulnerable moment. Ernest has one of the strongest minds among us, and this is a tough nut to crack. His reaction totally shocked me, and I hugged him while he wailed louder. I believed that was the first time he let his emotions out since turning back, and I could really feel his pent up frustration and anguish at his fate. His dream was gone, and 3 years of intense preparation hampered by a faulty oxygen bottle. It would be difficult for anyone to comprehend that feeling, but I felt disappointed and hugged him while finding the appropriate words to console him. I could only say that the team and I were proud of him, and to overcome setbacks like this, one has to be a strong person. And he is strong, and he has to get over this. We stayed there on the exposed slopes for almost half an hour, while I waited him to slowly calm down. Eventually, he asked me to carry on as my journey had yet to finish, and he asked me to bring glory for the team. That message was constantly drumming in my head as I struggled up the slopes to the summit on the final day.

I carried on towards the Yellow Band, overcome it and as I looked towards the Geneva Spur, my body felt exhausted but my mind pushed me through, as I slowly saw a different kind of motivation urging me on. The motivation came from the team, and not individual glory, as my body tried to answer a higher calling. I met Lindley as I was on the Geneva Spur, and he had summitted Everest at 8.30am that morning. A large burden was taken off our shoulders, as Lindley achieved what Ernest and many other climbers in the past couldn’t. Our university at home was in celebration, and the success of this whole expedition cemented regardless the results of the second team’s climb. I congratulated Lindley on this remarkable feat, and he seemed to be in great spirits and shape. He was also sure that we could do it, and warned us about the high winds ahead. Seeing one of my team mates summitting certainly increased my confidence factor, and I no longer see it as an impossible task.

As I ascended the Geneva Spur, I looked back behind me and observed small specks progressing up the Yellow Band. The journey that day was exhausting, and I was emotionally drained. I walked down the gentle slope of slabs and boulders, and reached Camp 4 at 2.30pm that day. I stumbled into the tent, and my Sherpa tended to me while I prepared to rest well for the summit push later the same night. I also noticed that the winds at South Col were considerably higher, as the tents roared around me while the tent frame was tested near its limits and was threatening to break apart. There were already small rips in the fabric, and the winds, unlike at lower camps, refused to take a break and howled continuously for the next 24 hours, each hour getting fiercer and more vicious. It was like camping under a few Boeing jets.

Yen Kai and Khong Lean arrived later, the latter reaching our tent at 5pm. Both were exhausted by the hard climb, and the strong winds were not helping matters. We were supposed to set off at 9pm that night if the weather seemed calm, but the winds were definitely higher than we expected. Later on, climbers would discuss and estimated the winds that night to reach a possible 70 knots, which was almost 120km/h. It would be suicidal to even leave camp that night, and we called off the summit bid at the eleventh hour after it seemed that the weather would refuse to let up.

We stayed at the South Col that night, and staying for prolonged periods at this altitude was detrimental and extremely hazardous for health. South Col was almost 8000m, the magical mark where scientists term the altitude and beyond as the ‘Death Zone’. We didn’t feel death knocking at our door that night, but we almost felt like we were dying in some way. The tents thrashed wildly the whole night, and there were times where the frame just bent under the wind to hit our faces. If our tents did break down during the night, we would be forced to make a retreat. We didn’t manage to catch a wink that night.

The next morning, the winds were just as strong, but the temperatures became more bearable as the sun rose. We didn’t feel rested, but we survived the night to die another day. The 3 of us were actually living in luxury compared to Edwin and Robert, who were in the other tent because we were sleeping on supplementary oxygen. Edwin and Robert survived the night without any oxygen, and it was like comparing staying in the Hyatt to sleeping in the middle of the highway while cars continuously zip past your head by mere inches. Every breath taken could be their last.

Robert was feeling horrible the next morning, and we could fully understand his situation. Out of safety, he had decided to descend before the altitude did any more damage to him. Edwin was left as the sole climber and chance for the Singapore Everest with Oxygen team.

Our Sherpas had also discussed with us saying that if the bad weather persist for another night, we would have to descend the next morning and abort the mission due to safety reasons.

Stay tuned

Stefen/Efung
4.20pm
22nd June 2005
Breeks restaurant, Takashimaya, Orchard Road

Back Home!

It is good to be back.

I have finally managed to get some breather since coming back to Singapore on Wednesday, as I was caught up with work since.

Coming back home to a crowd of almost two hundred wasn’t what I had in mind, especially when these people were screaming and waving at you. People I don’t recognize came up to hug me and congratulated me profusely, while I posed for so many photographs with people I felt like a hot star chimpanzee at the zoo.

Seeing my girlfriend among the crowd was perhaps the highlight of the homecoming, and honestly, there was no one else whom I miss as much. Our university’s president was there, along with all the senior professors and officers who followed through this Everest programme for the last 3 years. My Hall master and professor were there (they fulfilled my request and bought me carrot cake!), and even representatives from my faculty were there. Many of you were there as well, and I will promise to deliver the coffee for your kind presence. I frankly felt very touched by the surprisingly warm reception, and I believe I will never walk through the gates of Changi Airport without feeling a tinge of pride in future.

And that was the start of what happened to be quite a hectic week. I went down to my photo developer straight after the reception, and gave them all 99 rolls of slides to be processed. I also rush processed 2 rolls of film which contained the summit shots of me and Yen Kai. Some of you might have seen my summit photo on Straits Times the following day.

The next few days consisted of sorting through the 3000 plus shots, and narrowing it down to 60 shots for a photo exhibition next week. In fact, I had just finished the sorting and captioning hours ago. That is 4 days and 4 nights of continuous hard work.

I must say that I was really satisfied with some shots, and I really hope all of you could see these pictures. The exhibition will be launched at the NUS centennial opening ceremony this coming Saturday in campus at the new university hall, and I understand that the exhibition will be displayed for a week or two.

There are also quite a few plans next week. For those with a goggle box in sunny island Singapore, I will be appearing on the mandarin ‘good morning’ show (zhao an ni hao) this Wednesday. Witness me trip over my own feet as I attempt to explain the mountaineering experience in halting mandarin. Expect lots of ‘uh’s and spoken English. I will also be appearing on Channel News Asia, the show called ‘360’ with Glenda Chong this Friday. I have since recorded a radio interview last week with 93.8 FM, and I understand they have a repeat broadcast at 8.45pm today, Monday evening.

It seemed like since I have gotten back to Singapore at its hot weather spell, everything moved so fast that 24hours a day seemed lacking. All the deadlines were yesterday, and the pace of life far more hectic than Nepal. 3 months is a long time from home, and I have almost forgotten what it was like here.

The good thing is, I believe the pace will slow down somewhat. For the whole of next week, I seem to be free for most lunch times, as I will most probably be running errands in town in the morning. Do call me in the morning if you don’t have a lunch date, and I will gladly swing by for a free meal.

I will also try to finish the rest of the essays that I promised at Base Camp before my memory fades. Stay tuned for them.

As a prelude to the photo exhibition that is coming up, I will release my summit shot for all of you, which also appeared on the third page of Straitstimes on Thursday. Note the slitty eyes that are the hallmark of me, and my willingness to take off my goggles but not the oxygen mask at the top of the world. On hindsight, it seemed I would rather go snow blind than to collapse due to oxygen deprivation. Note the guys on my right, who were not related to me. The top of the world could be hinted by the blur patch of landscape on my left, and you might scoff by saying anyone could take a similar shot in a neoprint photo booth.

I have to differ with that, as no mechanical fan would be able to blow a flag like that. I had to take 3 similar shots to get a decent picture of the NUS flag visible in the wind. It was also a challenge trying to keep my hair looking neat and tidy.

Till then, enjoy the rest of your week.

Efung/Stefen
Singapore, home sweet home
20th June 2005
2.00am

The Journey 2

Journey 2

There is a minor correction in Journey 1. The date was supposed to be 27th May instead of 28th.

The next day, 28th May, morning. Camp 2.

The next morning was fine, as the team recuperated for the day. Spending the whole day at Camp 2 is far more different from Base Camp, as we only brought our essentials up to Camp 2. There were rocks, snow and Everest to look at, but the mountain is always there. Staring at it for more than 15 minutes will make anyone go wild.

The day before, the 27th, saw more than 50 climbers trying for the Lhotse face. Strong winds and spindrift made some of the more experienced guides reconsider their decisions and made the tiring decision of turning back to Camp 2 after 3 hours. All climbers turned back for the day and the whole mountain’s climbers shifted their time table as the season ran near its end. The 28th saw many frustrated climbers lying around in their tents and made small banter among other teams. Being in the second climbing team after Lindley and Ernest, I could only ascend the mountain at least a day after they leave. I was in no rush to leave Camp 2, and finished the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown that afternoon in the lone confines of the tent since Kim Boon left that morning. I could remember the imagined beautiful image of agent Sophia running around chasing ancient artistic clues in my mind as I went up the mountain days later.

That day marked a slight uplift in the mood in the dining tent, as Lulin our Base Camp manager reported improving weather patterns starting the 31st. The winds seemed to have lowered to around 40 knots, and I guess we were willing to brave that winds due to desperation on the timeline. Lindley and Ernest were to set off the next morning with other climbers, and be the team’s first shot at the summit.

The next morning saw the 2 of them leaving for Camp 3, and when the rest of us woke up later in the morning, they were mere black dots on the Lhotse wall along with 40 other black dots. The 2 of them were progressing well, and made it to Camp 3 faster than the last time. The team was finally moving forward after 1 whole month of waiting. The atmosphere was of real joy, as we could finally contemplate seriously coming home the first time in 70 days.

30th May 2005. Camp 2 to Camp 3

The next morning saw the rest of us leaving for Camp 2 early in the morning. Breakfast was indigestible instant noodles, as I force fed myself the gooey stuff and appreciated the fact that this would be the last time I would have someone cook my meals for me until I return down to the mountain. We set off at 6am that morning, and the climb uneventful except that I was climbing along with approximately 20 other climbers, and saw the same 40 dots from the previous day ascending from Camp 3 to Camp 4 inclusive of Lindley and Ernest. It was like witnessing an army of ants marching purposefully on a white wall, except slower. Almost like watching wet paint on the wall dry.

I arrived at Camp 3 in record time that day, 2 hours faster than my last. Khong Lean was in good shape that day, and he ascended the Lhotse wall the same pace as me. I quickly entered my tent and made a cozy home for myself. Drinking hot chocolate at 7300m wasn’t exactly Starbucks experience, but the view outside my tent with the main face of Everest looming on me was hard to beat. I spent the rest of the day breathing in the supplemental oxygen and hearing the progress of the first team, who were making good time over to the South Col.

31st May 2005. Camp 3 to Camp 4. First team making summit bid.

Coming next..................................

Stefen/Efung
2211 hours
12th June 2005
Thamel

Last Night in the Kingdom

Hi everyone,

This will be one of the last mails coming out from the land where the greatest mountain range lie, and also to conclude a big chapter of my life.

Lounging around in Thamel is certainly relaxing for the body and soul, as there is frankly little work and exercise to be done. 800kg of gear have been packed and ready to shipped back to Singapore, shopping gift lists poured over and ticked, beer glasses clinking over meals, stories repeated over and over again; it is certainly time to head down south this time.

I have seen my team mates less and less now, since we are different individuals on and off the mountain. On the mountain, we are a team, with a common vision and the same small dining tent. Over here in the city, we are individuals with different shopping lists and different wallet capacities. We only meet for certain meals of the day, and the rest of the day spent wandering around the shopping streets or basking in the atmosphere of our own favourite cafés.

It makes me wonder when I would be able to climb with this great group of people again, if ever again. I am sure all 10 of us will never on the same mountain on the same time again, but they could be some of my same life and death companions up on some adventure in the near and far future.

I can imagine the saddest and a mixed feeling of happiness and relief to be the moment when we part at the arrival gates of the Singapore airport, reunited with our loved ones and friends. It will be that moment and place where the Everest journey started 3 months ago, and the same place to end.

The Mera expedition in 2003, China ice climbing, Gasherbrum II, Cho Oyu expeditions in 2004, Everest in 2005 were all done with this group of people and 3 days from now, the entire journey ends. 3 years of training in Singapore together, 9 months training overseas, will come to a close. All my team mates who were with me on this journey along the way also contributed to the success and the joy of the experience, and I hope the memories and relationships will never fade.

As I write this, the skies around Thamel started turning dark, and rain is probably coming. As if the heavens could sense my longing for the company of these people, especially since the weather had not rained since we came back. I also think that I might need to return to my hotel to take my rainwear

Oh yeah, the carrot cake is just a joke. I like mine fresh and piping hot….

Efung/Stefen
12th June 2005
Thamel

The Journey 1

Hi Everyone,

Thin air is bad for the brain. Thanks to Graham for pointing this error out. I am coming back on a Wednesday, 15th June.

I have started my recollection of my journey for the summit bid, and due to bad connection and limited operational hours of internet cafes, they will come in chapters instead of novels.

Enjoy.

Stefen


The journey 1

6500m. Camp 2. 28th May 2005

The atmosphere was tense, the winds howling outside as the team gathered in the dining tent. The light had fallen considerably, as the sun slowly set its orange rays into the range illuminating the Lhotse wall ahead of us for the last time.

I had just arrived at Camp 2 that day, exhausted but proud that I did it in a better timing than the last time. The body felt strong after the month long rest, and I was also relieved that the acclimatization that I had accumulated the past month remained with me. Doctors often said that the effects of the acclimatization will die off after 2 weeks.

Robert was in the centre of the tent, as all of us gathered in a tight semi circle around him. I had come up to Camp 2 with him along with Edwin and Yenkai that day, and the rest of the team had arrived as early as 3 days before us to wait for the appropriate summit window. The weather reports became worse as each day drew nearer, prompting the climbers to wait at Camp 2 instead.

Resting at Camp 2 is not exactly recuperation, as 6500m was already higher than most mountains in the rest of the world. Kim Boon, my tent mate and teacher, rested horribly when he came up 2 days before me, feeling nausea and losing almost complete appetite. It was also the same afternoon I arrived that he decided to call the expedition quits. He was returning down to Base Camp and preparing to leave back for Singapore the following day.

Robert was having an informal meeting with all of us, and concerned with the prolonged insufficient rest at Camp 2, he tried to address our concerns and his own. The weather was getting really unpredicatable, he said, as the Singaporean weather forecast predicted the winds to be really different day by day. Intially, the reports predicted the 29 th to be good weather conditions with winds topping at 30 knots. The following day, the reports adjusted to maxing 50 knots. That was the difference between the speed of a Vespa scooter and a family sedan, and 50 knots near the summit was quite dangerous as the climbers cross over exposed ridges on the way up. It was also unusual for a weather report to have such discrepencies in their forecasts, and a possible explanation could be the current weather systems at the Himalayas being highly unusual and volatile.

The last thing I want to do, he continued, was to send you to do something I wouldn’t do and regretting it for the rest of my life. The consequences for a wrong decision at this time would be too big for me and NUS to bear. He said this with sincere conviction, his eyes redden at the prospect that this expedition may be over.

The weather reports for the next few days didn’t look rosy as well, as various reports predicted the weather to be howling at an amazing 80 knots towards the end of the month. That would be certain death for anyone trying for the summit, and as we returned to our tents for that night, the prospect of packing up and leaving the expedition left a sad full stop to a 3 month journey.

Stefen/Efung
2200hours
11th June 2005
Thamel

Reality

Hi Everyone,

This is my third day in Thamel, and I must say that I am a great person when it comes to adapting to changing situations.

By now, I have managed to bargain with taxi drivers with ease, and also suck in truckloads of car pollution without much of a bat of an eyelid. The memories from the mountains are now rapidly fading, as the body adjusts quickly to the saturated humidity and hot temperatures of Kathmandu. I am now walking around in a light cotton tee instead of a down jacket, and will always choose to seek refuge of an air conditioned environment instead of baking in the sweltering heat. I also look less like an escape convict now, since I have made the painful decision of shaving my 3 month old mane off for a mere 2 dollars. I now look like a sun burnt convict without hair.

All the exposure to CNN and MTV over our hotel has also retuned me back to reality, neither in a good or bad way. I noticed that some of you wrote to me wanting me to return to the ‘harsh’ reality in Singapore and settle down, and I wonder to myself what ‘beautiful’ reality I was living in for the last 3 months. It was a beautiful mountain environment, yes, and I didn’t have to work 9-5pm everyday yes, but it was in the mountains where life and death was so close in your face one wonders where the actual reality is.

6 people died this year on Everest, the highest since the greatest disaster happened in 1996. 2005 also saw the worst weather on Everest in 46 years, and climbers set a world record by having the latest first summit in history, on the 31st of May. To date, no one had ever summited beyond the month of May except for this year, for the reason that the monsoon usually arrives in the last week of May and the conditions will become dangerous and unstable for climbers to safely navigate across.

This year also saw the first time Camp 1 was thoroughly destroyed by an avalanche in history, and for the second helicopter in 2 years to crash into the Base Camp while I was preparing for my summit bid in the mountains. More than 80 percent of the climbers who came to Base Camp this year turned back or failed on their summit bid, and to conclude in a nutshell, this is an especially bad year for Everest and the people attempting her.

I am not here to boast that we beat the thin odds to emerge victorious, but to state that we were in an ironic way, lucky to survive one of the worst years in Everest history. Lucky to be able to summit after such a long wait at Base Camp, and lucky to see the harsh reality mountaineering can bring, especially with a mountain like Everest. It was a full experience we didn’t expect, and emerged stronger after all this.

I must say that as we trekked out of the Base Camp, we were really counting our lucky stars how fortunate we were to come out of this unscathed and alive. I did choose this path right from the start, and no one to blame should anything would have happened. However, this is dissimilar to a beach holiday at some beach paradise, as there were no bikini babes to start. The stresses were high, and decisions were often made on the basis of safety and little else.

This is definitely different from a normal working life, but I would dare say that the pressure to perform and balancing safety liken to walking a high tight rope without a safety net. There was absolutely no room for mistakes, and one’s actions were able to determine the support or fall of a fellow teammate. There were potential consequences that we would live with the rest of our lives.

But now it is all over.

The journey complete, I am now definitely ready to go home. To my family, and my loved one, and my chinchillas. The mountain will be missed, but the memories and photographs will be gentle reminders of how cold one can get, and how weak the body can be in the face of nature. And how strong willed my mind can be.

For those who might be free this coming Thursday, a working weekday, these are my arrival details as follows. The coffee offer stands….J

Date: 15th June 2005
Venue: Changi Airport
Time: 2.00pm
Flight number: Tiger airways 103
Things to bring: Carrot cake (the fried one)

More articles coming up.

Stefen/Efung
1644hours
Thamel

Civilization!

Hi everyone,

I have arrived safely in Thamel, Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal this afternoon.

Dusty streets, screaming cars, and sleeping cows in the middle of the streeets brings sweet nostalgia but painful memories of the urban life. Nearly 3 months of mountaineering had cast me away from all forms of pollution and into the embrace of the mother nature, no cars and all.

It is a different Kathmandu this time, with far less tourists now that the season has progressed into its off peak. The recent news of Maoists’ attacks had certainly not brought joy to the tourist dollar, but the common man on the street seemed unperturbed by the fresh violence.

I spent the afternoon wandering around aimlessly in the streets of the shopping, mingling with shopkeepers that I know and fueling the economny with money I found stashed behind my beanie monkey. My limbs were still aching with the punishing trek that we pushed out of Everest Base Camp, completing a 70km journey in 3 days.

I have returned to a world where money speaks and friendships forged over beers.

The past week had been rather dazzling (or simply tiring) for me, as I was out of the base camp in less than 40 hours after I returned from the summit. The last few days were trekking over long hours, drinking obscene amounts of alcohol, and coping with the lack of proper sleep. Each day was full and purposeful, a lot of back slapping and everyone was in a celebratory mood, but everyone was also tired from all the mental and physical stresses for the past 3 months.

It seemed as though I will never recover from this transient state of fatigue, as the level of excitement and activity will continue to rise and persist even after we come home.

I am happy to be back in civilization, and I shouldn’t miss the mountains for some time.

And I should also drink less beer while writing this.

Stefen/Efung
10.30pm
Thamel !!

Last Words at Base Camp

Hi Everyone,

Guess most of you have heard the news by now. I am now officially the world’s first person who is a Malaysian Singapore Permanent Resident who has more facial hair than a yak and below the height of 8 foot tall and by the surname of Chow to reach the world’s tallest mountain, Everest on the 2nd of June 2005, 9.30am Nepali time, or 11.45am China time because that is where the 2 countries meet.

I would like to write a 16 page essay on the entire ordeal and so on, but this morning when I returned from Camp 2 hoping to enjoy some beer and telling tall (pardon the pun) stories, I was faced with a tight deadline to pack up a few tonnes of gear, do a Channel News Asia interview, change my clothes, run around silly around the Base Camp, and feeling tired from this entire summit leg while preparing to pack up and leave for Base Camp in less than 36 hours.

How do I feel at the top of the world? Tired, deprived of oxygen, want to go down, and extremely proud of myself. Proud that this feat is finally done, and I can see for myself what is the view from up there. It is like seeing my whole life flash before me. I must also mention when I was sitting on top of the world, my ass was freezing cold. My fingers were frozen numb, and the wind blowing in my face was definitely not romantic. But it is a memory to remember and cherish for a long long time.

On the 6th of June, early morning, we will depart for Base Camp for Lukla to fly back to Kathmandu. The entire journey will take around 4 to 5 days, and I might be able to take a break at Namche Bazaar to write more extensively about my experiences.

Many thoughts have gone through my mind during this summit leg, some philosophical, some funny, and some personal experiences which I would like to relate to you. Before I break my promise, these are some of the titles that I plan to write. Look for me if these are not delivered within 2 weeks.

The final journey, Part 1 and Part 2
Highs and lows of Everest 05
Statistics
Top 10 ways to kill your partner at South Col
Has life changed?

I just want to say that I feel extremely satisfied writing all these emails, and the greater satisfaction comes from all your thoughtful and touching replies. It always makes my day thinking of topics to write and intrigue you with simple life at the Everest Base Camp.

In case you are all very free on my arrival day, I might be arriving on the 15th of June, 2pm Singapore time via budget airlines Tiger airways. I will confirm the flight details when I return to Kathmandu. I will offer a cup of humble coffee on my tab for your very presence, redeemable within 2 months.

I hope that through my emails and correspondence, you will realize that most mountaineers are nut cracks, and not all mountaineers are hairy.

This is the last word from 5500m, over and out.


Efung/Stefen
1826hours
4th June 2005
Everest Base Camp

Success!

Hi everybody,

Just an update that the NUS team has succeeded in reaching the summit of Everest [Lindley on 31 May at 7.25am, E-Fung on 2 Jun 05 at 9.30am and Yen Kai on 2 Jun 05 at 11.38am. Ernest unfortunately had a faulty vital oxygen bottle, and Khong Lean was hampered by near-frostbite symptoms.] More details on the NUS climb can be found at www.nus.edu.sg/everest (newsflash). E-Fung should be back at Base Camp tomorrow, and will be sending updates soon. Thanks on his behalf for all the well wishes.

Regards,
Hui-Yi
(Email manager)

The Wait and Movie Reviews

To Everybody,


I have emailed you 2 days ago for my departure. Seems like the weather is playing tricks with me again, since I am still here, typing as we speak. At first, the summit weather for 28th and 29th May looks good, and then as we got later weather updates, the later days even look better. Now we are looking at 30th and 31st May as possible summit days, as the winds have dipped to reasonable levels for the first time this month.

Time is running out at Base Camp, and our permit for our last day of departure in Everest is on the 7th June. That means that if we need to extend our permit on this mountain, it would be easily $100,000 into the pockets of the Nepali authorities. The other constraint on our side is the transition of the seasons, as the monsoon is fast coming in. Our weather reports predict the monsoon to arrive in the early first week of June, and with that continuous snow fall and warmer temperatures will arrive. The warmer temperatures will make the icefall very volatile and dangerous to cross, while the snowfall will make the upper routes more challenging to cross.

Another bugbear that we encountered were our air tickets, as we attempted to postponed our flights 10 days later to a possible 17th June arrival due to
Everest’s prolonged bad weather. We were informed that as our tickets had a
3-month validity period, we had exceeded our expiry by 3 days, and they refused to make it an exception for us. We are now examining the possibility of swimming back to Singapore.

Seems like all the signs are pointing us to go home, even if we didn’t want to. Right now, half our team is already at Camp 2 in position to summit when the conditions look right, and the rest of us will follow up to Camp 2 tomorrow. There is now a one shot one kill situation, as we are unlikely to have the time to do a second summit bid if we fail the first one. I guess we have to make the best of the dire situation.

In the midst of waiting over the past couple of days, we managed to catch 2 movies, one fantastic and the other mediocre.

We watched ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ 2 nights ago, about a cowboy flick starring Clint Eastwood and other names that Ihardly remember. Set in the 18th century in the Americas, the movie is about cowboy bravado and cheesy one-liners. Clint Eastwood smoked a twisted cigar in every single scene, and maintained the consistent ‘I-am-so-cool’ look even when he was about to be hung. The classic cowboy tune was also overplayed at almost every scene, so much so that we were singing to it every time the tune came again during the movie. The movie lasted 3 hours, and it felt 3 days, as the final showdown between the villains and the hero lasted for 2 music tracks and 5 full minutes of continuous eye contact. The movie ended with more than half of the Sherpas leaving before the end and left a bitter after taste in our mouths. We spent the whole of yesterday singing the cowboy tune to each other’s irritation during meal times.

The second movie was ‘Troy’, watched last night, an equally long movie but with far more substance than the first. Set in the height of civilization in
Greece, the movie starred hot throbs such as Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom ‘Legolas’ as they showed respective silly weaknesses to women’s charms. In the end, most of the heroes and villains died because of a few beautiful women and reading of too much omens from a few flying crows. The stunts were amazing, as Brad Pitt put in a credible show as Achilles, the ‘greatest warrior there ever was’. His jumping in mid air and slicing with his sword at the same time is liken to ‘his airness’ Michael Jordan in his prime. The interesting thing here is that in the end, all the great warriors and kings (men) died horrible and embarrassing deaths, while all the beautiful women who slept with their enemies and started the big wars survived.

The moral of the story? I can bet you a dollar the script writer is a woman.

It is just as well that we are going up tomorrow, as our good and bad movies are running out. We are also feeling more confident as the summit days do look like good weather days.

Do check up our updates.

I will see you when I see you,

Efung/Stefen
1100 hours
26th May 2005
Everest Base Camp

The Journey

To Everybody,

Tonight is a beautiful night, as the full moon illuminates the entire base camp like a stadium spotlight. This is one of the few nights where one needn’t a headlamp to walk around. The path is brightly lit, and the rocks clearly shimmering in the moonlight. This is also the first time I am writing this update in the comfort of my tent, snuggled in my sleeping bag in the still cold night.

Tonight is also the night that starts the journey for the final summit bid. Tomorrow morning, 2 of my teammates, Lindley and Ernest will set off for Camp 2 for their summit bid on possible days 28th or 29th May. The following day, the rest of us will set off a day later for what could be the only summit window for the entire season this year.

The team is finally moving, after sitting around in base camp for almost a month since our last acclimatization cycle. The weather reports for the upcoming week hadn’t been astounding, but they did list the final days of this month as potential summit days, though not perfectly calm days. We will still be expecting winds up to 80km/h, but the season is clearly running out and warmer weather and less stable conditions will without doubt arrive in the first week of June. By then, the monsoon will arrive and the climbing season definitely over.

On the 21st May, some mountaineers climbing from the North side, or the Tibetan side bagged the first summit of Everest this season. Since then, more than 40 climbers have reached the summit of Everest from the North side, albeit in appalling weather conditions. From the third hand news that we heard, we got word that up to 3 climbers have also perished during this time, as they fell to exhaustion coming down from the summit.

During this period, the climbers on the South side, or the Nepali side (that’s where I am) have either been turned back during their summit bid or decided not to climb on from Camp 4. 28th and 29th May will be exciting days to look out for as up to 200 climbers will be attempting from the South side to bag the summit.

I have since packed my bag, put in the flags and dolls that I plan to display on the summit, prepared 30 rolls of slides for this final summit bid, packed all the necessary gear, and psyched myself mentally by staring at my girlfriend’s photo all afternoon.

The Base Camp has suddenly gone quieter, far more deserted than the atmosphere we had at the bazaar 2 days ago. Some camps are occupied by only women, as all their boyfriends or spouses have left Base Camp for the summit. There were more than 20 people yesterday in our camp, chatting and laughing the night away. 2 days from now, there will be 4 people left, all women who are either our base camp staff or girlfriends and siblings of climbers. The action will no longer be the contention of the next movie to watch, but the constant update of the specific locations of the climbers as they ascend up to higher camps over the next few days.

Our schedule will go something like this.

Day 1. Climb to Camp 2
Day 2. Rest at Camp 2
Day 3. Climb to Camp 3
Day 4. Climb to Camp 4
Day 4 night to Day 5 night. Set off for the summit, and return to either Camp 3 or Camp 2.
Day 6. Return to Base Camp

Lindley and Ernest will proceed as the first team, while me, Khong Lean and Yen Kai will leave Base Camp as the second team a day after them. The reason for this is to spread the risks in case one of the days becomes a bad weather day. There are also provisions for a second summit bid if there is a need. Our directors, Robert, Edwin and Kim Boon will follow the second team.

Exciting? I feel so too.

I can finally write about climbing, rather than just everyday life at Base Camp. The next 10 days will either create history or be a forgotten tale; to defy whatever critics or bring in a flood of questions and criticism; to have wine on the table or water as usual; to have a beautiful fairy tale conclusion or a bad Hollywood ending to this expedition.

My feelings now?

This is one of the crappiest seasons Everest ever had, and I heard the last time weather this bad was back in 1977. I don’t know whether to consider myself lucky or not, because if the summit is reached with little hardship and obstacles, there could be satisfaction but little appreciation of the challenge Everest had to give. We have grown to respect this mountain for its grandeur and its unpredictability of the weather systems, and know that the mother goddess will only let us sneak up when she feels like it. It is not just our choice, but dependent on many natural factors. Everest, or Sargamatha in Nepali, or Chomoulangma in Tibetan is certainly not interested if you claim you need to summit her soon because your air ticket back home is drawing near.

I feel a tinge of apprehension, but more of excitement building up within me. Apprehensive that I might have lost fitness and acclimatization due to the long lull between climbs, or get caught up in freaky conditions up high, and excited because this is finally it, after the years of toil and sweat we had put into this. This could well be the toughest and most enjoyable journey I have ever been in. And to be frank, I have started to miss home.

Many things have happened while I was away. My sister, whom I happily saw getting married a week before I left for Nepal is now in her second month of her first pregnancy; my girlfriend and hopefully wife to be has steadily matured into her career and recently returned from a
business trip in Ireland and England; my pet Chinchilla, Chow Da just gave birth to a healthy boy, her second birth while I am away on an expedition; my friends have gone for overseas trips and back; one of the American climbing guides I know had his girlfriend come to Base Camp with him at the start of the expedition, trekked back out and completed an expedition to the North Pole, returned to her home in Scotland, toured 7 countries and came back to Everest Base Camp again to accompany him; and I have been in Nepal since mid March.

It is time to finish the business here and return home.

Wish me luck and good weather and check out our website (www.nus.edu.sg/everest <http://www.nus.edu.sg/everest>) while I am away. Watch the news and read the papers during this week as well. My scraggy face might appear on the goggle box near you.

I have also uploaded some exclusive photos on the NUS engineering website, where they have kindly hosted my web blogs. They are the first personal photos of me since this expedition started, and you can see for yourself how hairy and caveman-like I have evolved to be. I think they can be found at www.me.nus.edu.sg <http://www.me.nus.edu.sg>

See you… or in Nepali, Feri bei Tau la …………. : )


Efung/Stefen
2220 hours (past my bedtime)
23rd May 2005
Everest Base Camp. In my tent!

Ps: While I am typing this mail, my ears were being pampered by many songs from the charming voice of Sting. Just want to share some beautiful lyrics from his song ‘My funny friend and me’. It is also the most played song in my song list now.

In the quiet time of evening
When the stars assume their patterns
And the day has made his journey
And we wondered just what happened
To the life we knew before the world changed
When not a thing I held was true
But you were kind to me and you reminded me
That the world is not my playground
There are other things that matter
And when a simple needs protecting
My illusions all would shatter
But you stayed in my corner
The only world I know was upside down
And now the world and me, I know you carry me