That spring there were more climbers on the south side of Mount Everest than ever before. There was a Taiwanese team of 13; a South African team of 21; a nine-man assemblage of British, Danish, and Finnish climbers; an American team of six; and a maverick Swede named Göran Kropp, who hoped to make history by bicycling to and from Everest all the way from Sweden and climbing the mountain solo. Rounding out the crowd was our 12-person IMAX expedition and two large teams of guided clients led by my good friends and erstwhile Himalaya climbing partners Scott Fischer and Rob Hall. Scott's Mountain Madness team numbered 23; Rob's Adventure Consultants entourage, 25.

It was great to hang out with Scott and Rob again. I had fond memories of guiding Everest with Rob in '94 and '95 and of our climbs together on Cho Oyu, Lhotse, Makalu, and Gasherbrum II. And Scott and I had forged a lasting bond during our shared epic on K2 in 1992—the closest I've ever come to getting killed in the mountains. It was as though all my best mountaineering buddies had gathered for a reunion.

At the same time, all of us who were working on filmmaker David Breashears's IMAX team were seriously concerned about the mob of Everest aspirants that had gathered at Base Camp. Aesthetically it posed a problem for the making of our film—we didn't want viewers to see footage of dozens of climbers straggling along in the background and wonder, Who the hell are those folks? But it also posed a real safety dilemma. The most exposed and dangerous part of the whole South Col route comes up high, on the final ridge, at tricky spots such as the Hillary Step, only 250 feet (76 meters) below the summit. Too many climbers strung out along that ridge can create a bottleneck, with the slowest moving clients dictating the pace for everybody else.

Rob had fixed May 10 in his mind as the day to go to the summit. That date had been lucky for him in the past. There's a window each spring, a stretch of calm, mostly clear days that occurs as the annual monsoon, moving up from India, dislodges the air ahead of it and pushes the jet stream away from Everest. Some years that window comes in early May, other years not until late May. In Rob's experience May 10 was right around the middle of that window. But in retrospect, maybe he fixed his sights a little too rigidly on an arbitrary calendar date. 

Rob and Scott were friends, but they were also rivals. So once Rob decided on May 10, Scott opted for the same date. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either of them, the Taiwanese team chose to tag along too. This meant that on May 10, there would be a massive throng—40 or more climbers—going for the summit from the South Col. During one meeting of the team leaders at Base Camp, it was agreed that our IMAX team would try to get out a single day ahead of the mob. If all went well, we'd go to the summit on May 9—that day we'd have the upper mountain to ourselves, which would be ideal for David's filming.

By the evening of May 7, we were ensconced in Camp III on the Lhotse Face, at 24,000 feet (7,315 meters). The plan was to go up to Camp IV on the South Col the next day, then to the summit on May 9. The horde of other climbers—mainly Scott's and Rob's teams—would follow us only a day later, so we had no wriggle room in our schedule. While we were at Camp III, they were digging in at Camp II, in the Western Cwm, only 2,800 feet (853 meters) below us. That evening, we were very excited. A year of planning and hard work would be coming to fruition in the next two days. Yet during the previous week I'd been keeping a close eye on the weather. Every afternoon the clouds would roll in up high. And it was far too windy along the summit ridge. That magical window of calm, clear days wasn't yet upon us. 

Continue Part I: 1996: "Turn Around, Guys!": 1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6   Next >>

Part II: 2006: "The Mad Season" >> 

Everest Map: The 2006 Cast of Characters >>

Everest Main Page >>

Photograph by Robert Schauer

More on Ed Viesturs:

Podcast interview with Ed Viesturs: Download it now >>

Best of Adventure 2006: Ed Viesturs was named the magazine's first Adventurer of the Year >>

There+Back: Ed Viesturs became the first American to climb all the world's 8,000-meter (26,248-foot) peaks when he summited Annapurna >>

Q+A: 8,000-Meter Man: Contributing Editor Michael Shnayerson profiles Ed Viesturs >>

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