Don't Wait for Someone Else to Fix It

CHAPTER SEVENDecide Wisely

Mountaineer Chris Klinke and his two Nepalese Sherpas, Dawa and Temba, had spent the night at Camp 2 on Cho Oyu, at an altitude of 23,000 feet. Chris gazed intently at the imposing summit looming 4,000 feet above them. By the movement of the clouds at the top, Chris could see that high winds were gusting. Cho Oyu is the sixth highest peak in the world, rising 26,795 feet (8,188 meters) above sea level. In the Tibetan language, Cho Oyu means “Turquoise Goddess” and is considered the “easiest” of the 8,000‐meter peaks to climb. It was late in the climbing season of 2005. Only a few days earlier, Chris had reached the northwest peak of Shishapangma—a “false summit” at 8,013 meters—only to abandon the quest to reach the “true summit” 14 meters (46 feet) above because of deadly avalanche conditions. This was Chris's first trip to Nepal, and he was hungry to reach the actual summit of an 8,000‐meter monster. Cho Oyu was his last chance for this season.

Chris and his team had been pushing hard. They had even skipped a day of rest to take advantage of good weather and maximize the time they had left since the window for safe climbing was closing quickly. Earlier that morning, they had decided to summit Cho Oyu from Camp 2 and climbed on for more than four hours. Initially, winds had been blowing from the northeast, which afforded them some protection, but the direction was changing quickly. Now they were battling brutal gusts of 60–70 mph. With air temperatures ...