B.C. man’s story of survival on Mt. Everest

NEPAL (NEWS 1130) – A Victoria man is sharing stories of survival and heroism after being caught in frigid weather on Mount Everest last week.

Hundreds of climbers congested the 29,035 foot peak, all trying to get to the top in a limited window of good weather. Only a few windows of passable weather each May allow climbers to even attempt to reach the summit. About half a dozen climbers died on the mountain last week alone, most while descending.

Everest claims multiple victims each year, often in the “death zone” above 8,000 metres, where the air is too thin to sustain human life.

Chris Dare says his climb to the top should have taken him 12 hours. Instead, it took closer to 17 because of the long lineups of climbers and the cold weather made it even worse. As he was descending, the small window of good weather was clearly staring to close.

“People that were still summitting or coming down started getting hit by 60 km winds, negative 50 degree temperatures, and just suffering,” he says. “I actually felt that I was in dire straits and I could possibly die up there.”

Dare was exhausted when he finally made it back to base camp, and was so out of it that a member of his team had to physically pull him into the tent.

“I was just sitting there hunched outside my tent, he was inside, he actually yelled at me, grabbed me and threw me inside the tent.”

Dare was one of three people in the tent who were sharing one last oxygen tank, but one of them refused to have any.

“Meanwhile he was shivering in the corner,” Dare says. “And I could see it, he was sacrificing himself for us.”

One member of Dare’s group, Kam Kaur, was left for dead by her climbing partner and used a headlamp belonging to another dying climber to signal for help.

Dare says she wouldn’t have made it if a member of their team hadn’t gone to find her.

“He attached her to himself on his harness and rappelled down three pitches, with pretty much a body attached to his front, and then dragged her into base camp to safety,” he says.

But not everyone in Dare’s group was as lucky. Kevin, an Irishman, died in his tent while sleeping. Dare says Kevin had attempted the summit but returned to camp when he realized he wouldn’t make it.

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“This guy, incredible mountaineer, he is not an amateur. We just don’t know why [he died] right now.”

Dare has minor frostbite, but says Kaur’s is likely much more severe. He believes they’re all lucky to have survived the ordeal.

“All of us are super happy to be able to be safe and to try to move forward from all this.”

The majority of those who died are believed to have suffered from altitude sickness, which is caused by low amounts of oxygen at high elevation and can cause headaches, vomiting, shortness of breath and mental confusion.

The Nepalese Tourism Department issued a record 371 permits this year to people planning to scale the mountain. The increased number of climbers this year is likely because many people were unable to climb in 2014 and 2015, when deadly avalanches disrupted the climbing seasons.

With files from the Associated Press and the Canadian Press.