Skip to Main Content
The Program
book

The Program

by Eric Kapitulik, Jake MacDonald
September 2019
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
304 pages
5h 59m
English
Wiley
Audiobook available
Content preview from The Program

54Mission Accomplished

ERIC AND BARRY reached Camp 1 at 21,000 feet at 9:00 p.m. They had been climbing almost continuously for two days. Pausing only long enough to remove their crampons, they climbed into their tent, laid a sleeping bag over themselves as they huddled together, and immediately fell fast asleep. Eric awoke two hours later with snow falling on their tent. Eric still does not recall what caused him to wake as the snow was not loud and he was already at his emotional, physical, and mental limit. He woke Barry and asked him what he thought they should do: continue to sleep, wait until morning, and then descend from Camp 1, or “suck it up” and depart as quickly as possible. Both were concerned about the new snow falling on the steep climb up to Camp 1 from Advanced Base Camp. One month earlier, Eric had been caught in an avalanche that killed another climber in that exact location. Although physically and mentally exhausted, they decided to dress (put their crampons on), pack the remaining gear that they had cached on their way to the summit, and descend. It was a mentally tough decision that required great physical toughness.

Eric recalls that shortly after they had started their descent, the snowstorm abated, and a full moon came out from behind the clouds. The full moon was so bright and, with no ambient light so deep in the vast Tibetan mountain wilderness that they shut off their head lamps and descended all the way back to the foot of the mountain with only ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

The Leadership Contract, 3rd Edition

The Leadership Contract, 3rd Edition

Vince Molinaro
Fit to Compete

Fit to Compete

Michael Beer

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781119574309Purchase book