Great Day in the Khumba ICE Fall

April 16, 2010
A great day in the Khumbu Ice Fall. As I went t bed last night I was as nervous as I have ever been in my climbing life. For the first time in my life I was facing something that I could not imagine in my mind what to expect. I had read the books. I had seen pictures but everyone had told me that you will not know what it is until you get there because it is always changing.
Nima Tashi, Martin and I left for the falls around 10 am. By 11:15 we had encountered our first ladder. On the way up we were moving fairly quickly as we moved up down sideways etc. It reminded me of the first time I took my kids to the “Jungle Jim’ in Chattanooga. (You know how you climb stairs, crawl through tubes, slide down into balls, and climb the rope to the lookout point.) Well that was what this was like but I was 20 something then maybe early 30’s and I am 48 years old now and the stakes are considerably higher with crevasses everywhere you looked and the potential that the ice fall could reshape at any minute. Nima told us about half way up our climb that what we see today especially as we get higher will be totally different than what we will see in the next few weeks and I totally believe what he is saying because base camp 2010 is totally different than 2009. It is not even close to the same shape and size. I just hope most of these changes are when I am not in the Ice Fall and surly while I am not on the ladder.
Anyway I wanted to give you something t hat most of you have seen or done with your children or grand children and if you haven’t then look next time you are at one of those places and imagine you are on ice/snow doing it.
Ok back to the story. This ladder was a 10 foot alum ladder standing straight up an ice wall. It really was not too bad but remember I have spikes on my feet , 2 poles in my hands and a assist rope to get down this ladder all the while you are trying to see the steps hold the rope and keep your poles from digging in somewhere where they don’t need to be and hope you don’t fall. Funny huh? Well Go get on you step ladder and try it
Ok on to the next ladder. This was about 15 feet across a crevasse that I never saw the bottom, but bear in mind I was not looking either. So this was (2) 10’ alum ladders tied together with straps so the first 5 foot was a double ladder so this made me feel good since I am not the little Sherpa that I just saw almost run over it weighing about 50 kilos( 100 lbs) and didn’t seem to care much about the bottomless crevasse. Any way it was my time to go and we have about 10 people waiting to come down and up and the pressure was on and I was just bearing sweat. You have 2 ropes to help you balance. Right?? These ropes are lying on the ground when you get to the ladder. They are not stretched tight so you could hold on to so you could then just worry about your steps. We all know that would be too easy and the “Ice Doctors” couldn’t keep them up like that because of the glacier movement so you have to provide your own stability. So you pick up the ropes and lean forward to bring tension on the ropes and then you begin your journey. Again I have spikes on my feet, poles dangling from my wrist and me( big ole Steve leaning forward with these ropes) trying to walk on this alum ladder and not trying to think about falling and worse yet, what if the ropes give way I go face first and take a terrible tumble for a long way. (Now I am tied in to these 2 ropes with my harness around my waist connected by 2 carabineers at the end of a rope so there is an element of safety but it the rope anchors fail then you know the answer. Again if you want to know how this feels just go outside and try it on level ground and I bet it will still give u a little scare. )
Well none of us fell, (Thank Goodness) even as we went over several more ladders of varying degrees ( lengths, heights positions) even to a point of having gaining some confidence in doing this that this might not be so bad after all but remember too that this was in the daylight. The next time I see these ladders on Sunday it will be in the dark. Funny it seems like climbing this damn mountain always has some more to offer than any other one I have climbed but I will continue on for another day.
I hope I gave you a good picture of what we did for 4 hours today. It was one of the scariest moments but also one of the greatest moments of my life especially having my friend Martin here. He was like a kid in a candy store. He loved it! Remember Martin is 62 years “Young” and did it without any hesitation and he gave me the confidence that I needed to overcome this crucial point in my journey. I have to make it through this Ice Fall 4 times if I have the chance to get to the top of this damn mountain so today left me wanting more and I want to see the changes.