Sorry for the delay, WIFI at base camp this year has some big issues. I’m sure if you follow other blogs, you’ve seen that comment from many climbers.
 
As mentioned, I went up, came back down and now writing this blog from Home ! yes that’s right, but not exactly the “home” you think. I mean, my actual real home, back in Montreal.  Wait, what ?

Following my last blog, a lot of you asked me so, what happen ?!

here’s the story
As planned, I went to Everest ER in the morning, and got cleared from a medical standpoint to climb the mountain again. So, I guess the stars got aligned for me somewhere.  I spent that day resting, preparing my backpack again to go up for my last rotation before our summit attempt. The goal was to reach camp 3.

As a fourth time in the icefall, it was almost a routine task now. Go to bed early, wake around 3h10am for a quick 3h30am breakfast and be ready to leave by 4am. Walked by the Puja, light up a little fire, pray for a while for safe passage, throw some rice and then start heading towards the icefall.

I felt strong and confident that morning. Moving fast, it was a much different then my previous walk in the icefall. I was already seeing myself enjoying the sun at camp 2 and talking down camp 3. All of sudden, everything changed. Started to be dizzy, my right eye went blurry and felt weird.  Sat down on an ice block. Calmed down and relaxed for a minute. I looked at Jangbu telling him to come see me. When I stood up again, my eye was worst. Even Jangbu said something like “external ok, but internal problem” and made a sign that my eye was not ok.  That was enough for me to call it a day.

Sitting down on that ice block, it felt like the whole world had stopped. I knew exactly what that meant for me. It felt like 10-15minutes (probably only 1 or 2 in reality) The icefall was beautiful, the sun was warm. I started crying and letting my emotions out.  Jangbu hugged me and somehow found the right words in that moment. What a great Sherpa and human being he is. 

We started our way down, slowly, the icefall is technical. Imagine with only 1 eye. At the bottom, near crampoint point, I sat down again in a much sager area then before. I cryed for a while, looked at the icefall, once again hugged Jangbu and promised myself that I would come back. The walk to base camp felt like I was walking in slow motion.  Got to base camp, had a cup of tea with Peter Hamor ( a real badass mountaineer, you should check him out) and then went to Everest ER once again. 

This time, of course, I didn’t get the medical clearance to go back up again. I had to go down to Kathmandu and get my eye checked but I’ve decided to call it a day and come back home. Even if the doctors would have said that my eye was ok, I didn’t feel like risking my eye to climb a mountain. I’m willing to sacrifice a lot to summit Everest, but an eye is not part of the list.

 On that note, I would like to pay a tribute to all the climbers either waiting at EBC or already back home who showed up to make a dream become reality.  Climbing Everest is not easy. Life at base camp is not easy. I had my share of discomfort. I appreciate all the efforts that climbers make every year trying to reach the summit of Everest.  Some people think it’s just a walk up a hill but I’ve seen people suffer, get badly injured and unfortunately not come back home.
 
Special thoughts to Chris Wang, still at the hospital in KTM for over 1 week now, recovering from a pulmonary embolism. I saw Chris suffer on Everest and thankfully he made the right decision. He’s doing much better now. Also, To Sylvain Béliveau, trying to get rid of some Kidney stones to go back,  Hopefully you can make it this year !  And to all the others like me who made sacrifices, showed up and gave or are currently giving their best shot despite being sick, having some sleepless night due to wind or other reasons, being injured, on antibiotics, home sick, throwing up their lunch or all the other discomfort that Everest can bring in your life actually.  Climbing Everest is hard and I salute all the efforts that you are doing to try to make it to the top and come back home safe to celebrate a dream that could become a reality in few days.  

All the best to my friends currently waiting for a weather window. Waiting is a skill at base camp, but it’s also a big part of the discomfort of Everest.

For my part, I had enough discomfort in 2017 and 2018 that I won’t be part of Everest 2019. But who knows, 2020, 2021 ? 😉
​
I would like to thank all the people involved in the last year to get me to Everest. The list is long but special thanks to the folks at P2 Montreal, Julbo, Xact Nutrition, Allez Up, The North Face, Xerox, JF Ménard, Friends and Family and Véronique.  

Despite the discomfort, there was also a lot of smile and good times, I leave you with my daily selfies photos

Spoiler alert : yes, I was ready to go home, but hanging in there. One day at a time.

It’s been already one month that I left home for Nepal. Hard to believe how time flies so fast at the beginning of an Everest trip between Kathmandu, the trek to EBC and simply getting organized and setting up your home before actually climbing. As most of you probably read, my first rotation up was great. 2 nights at camp 1, 2 nights at camp 2. Came back down, enjoyed a shower and a Coca-Cola and then flew to Lukla to recover and get ready for rest.

Climbing Everest is a waiting game. Patience is one of the greatest skill you need to climb any big mountains. From weather days, to sick days, to tent time. One as a lot of time with himself.

As my facebook post suggested, my second rotation didn’t go as plan. Looking back, a mix of things from flying from Lukla to EBC (in altitude change), throwing up my lunch the day before going up, having less appetite for dinner, a really bad night of sleep were all ingredient for a bad recipe.      

After not even halfway trough the icefall in 3h30, which is more then slow, I’ve decided to turnaround. Coughing so much that it would make me throw up. Yes you can get that gag reflex and throw up from coughing. Not so pleasant.  Moving like a snail on the way down, I crawled into my tent, fell asleep with my legs out in my vestibule, still all dressed up. It was a miserable day for me in the mountains. I think I never felt that weak. Clearly a failure.  Always really hard to hit a wall like this.

After slowly getting back to life, I went to Everest ER. Now on levofloxacin and prednisolone for 3 days and have to check back with the docs before going back up or down…

Needless to say, that I had plenty of “tent time” in the last few days. I’m not ready to walk away but I’m ready to let go.

Not so much reflecting back on Everest but more on the run of my last 5 years. Looking back at all the adventures and misadventures I had over the 15 expeditions I went on. travelling on all 7 continents, meeting great people and witness the world from the top of the mountains. It’s all great, but on the other hand, I spent more then 250k$, sacrificed relationships, time with my friends and family, work only to pile some cash to leave again, spent most of my time training or recovering.

Yes the seven summits and mainly Everest were a dream but I guess I realize now that there’s more to life then climbing. Edmund Hillary said “it’s not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves and I guess I’m done conquering myself.  Not sure I exactly found what I was looking but clearly Mountaineering filled a gap in my life that needed some attention. I want to settle down and enjoy city travelling and take real holidays. Mountain life is tough and made me growth as an individual in many ways, specially in not so great moment like spending 5 days in a tent at high camp on Denali waiting for a storm to calm down or getting “lost” on Ixta in Mexico.

Will I make it to the top of Everest. Hopefully! as I said, I’m not ready to walk away from Everest 2018 but I’m ready to let go. If I don’t make it, I will keep Big E in my dreams and it’s totally find like that. I guess some dreams are meant to stay a dream. For sure, this trip will be my last mountain trip for a while.

For now, one more day to wait before going to see the doctors to have the go / no go. Regardless, I am in peace with myself knowing that the last 5 years have given me experiences that many can only dream of.. For all the times I said, one day I will visit you, now that I have many friends around the world, I will take my vacation to visit them rather than visit other mountains.

This morning I woke up to the sound of EBC trekkers anxious to get the first flight to Kathmandu. Not long after, the aerial traffic, starting at 6am got me out of bed pretty fast.  Yes that’s right. I’m now in Lukla. I will stay “in town” until the 28th when we are schedule to flight back to EBC.

Ok, so now I guess you are wondering what is going on ? Lukla ? we ? flight back to EBC ? in few days…

Let’s rewind the story. As most of you know, you have to go up and down Everest to acclimatize properly, the so called rotations.  Everyone as it’s own definition of it but it does look all similar. We’ve decided to do 3 rotations.

1st :  EBC to camp 1, 2 nights at camp1, move to camp2, 2 nights at camp2 and come back to EBC.   
2nd: EBC to camp 2, 2nights at camp2, move to camp 3, 1 night at camp3 (without oxygen),  come back to camp 2,  1 night at camp 2 and come back to EBC
3rd: EBC to camp 2, 2nights at camp2, move to camp 3, 1 night at camp3 (with oxygen) move to camp4, rest at camp4 (still on Oxygen) , go to summit, come back to camp2, 1 night at camp2, come back to EBC and celebrate

So, Chris, pemba, Jangbu and I went up for our first rotation. Climbing wise, it went well overall but it was far for perfect. The move in the icefall was stellar, making great time, enjoying a great sunrise of Pumori (you’ve probably seen the picture on my FB and Instagram) and made it to camp 1 safely.  Thankfully, I learned from last year experienced and I brought a survival blanket to put on the top of our tent to reflect the sun. Camp 1 and Camp 2 get so warm in the day that you can’t really stay in your tent and be comfortable, unless you have a sun reflective blanket. Our 2 nights at camp 1 were sleepless, the wind battling our tent. It was miserable.

Our move to camp 2, tired from 2 nights of wind and less appetite then usual, took way more time then it should. Under the eat of the western cwm, the valley seem endless. You can see camp 2, you tell yourself : another 15min and we are there. And you go from 15min to 15min wondering when will you actually get there. Things always appear closer then they really are in the mountains. Never forget it.

We finally made it to camp 2. Chris and I were disappointed from the organization of our camp 2. Ok, the wind from the previous night destroyed our dinning, but still, we were expecting a much bigger and well-organized camp 2. It was still in the build, due to the size of base camp, it took more time to build base camp but that was not the worse. I mean, you only need a tent and some food anyway. And this is where the problem was for Chris and I. They melt the ice to get water and then cook from that water. Everything had a weird gas taste and that was enough to cut our appetite, specially for Chris.

Both of are nights were surprisingly calm at camp 2 with not even a breath of wind but the first of the 2 nights for me was horrible as I forgot to reapply sunscreen once in camp. Beginner’s mistake. I now have huge sunburns on both sides of my face (the area between my buff and my Julbo’s) it was so intense that I couldn’t sleep – nobody had face cream/ after-sun, and I left mine at base camp (another beginner’s mistake). The 2nd for me was not better, coughing a lot, I simply couldn’t fall asleep.  

After 2 nights, we woke up early to get back down to EBC. 5h am. We got exactly the breakfast we ordered before going to bed : toast with jam/honey/peanut butter.  For Chris, it took exactly 10meters before he threw up, for me, about 30min.  At that point, we were both really weak and still had the dangerous icefall to manage. When we got to the first big ladder, I couldn’t focus on anything except the deepness of the crevasse. It got my heart racing and that was enough, I had to make a step back, regroup, breath, and go again.  After the ladder, I sat down, took 2 Xact nutrition fruit2 bars and moved on. All I could think was to get to my tent, have a shower and put lotion on my face. Thankfully, our camp is not too far from crampon point. Under the heat of the Khumbu, it’s hard to manage to stay hydrated, even with 2.5L of water, in 3h it didn’t work.

Back at EBC, we got welcomed by nothing else than a freezing cold Coca-Cola. That was enough to but back a smile on my face. A quick shower, a good meal and I was already feeling better. I went to Everest ER to get my cough checked, due to last year’s history, but nothing comparable. All good, just need some rest. Chris, swift like my Everest ninja, profited from that moment to get rid of me and take the chopper that was on standby at the Helipad and went down to Lukla. At least, that was the plan, but he got offered a sweat deal to move on to Kathmandu so he was long gone when I returned from Everest ER. The docs recommendation to take some rest for my cough, mixed with Chris gone to KTM and the forecast of cold, bad weather at EBC for 3 days were enough to push me down to Lukla. Nothing is wrong, I could have stayed at base camp but you rest so much more at a lower altitude and we have plan for 5 days of rest in between each rotation anyway.

Again, due to my history, I paid a visit to the Lukla hospital this morning to make sure everything was ok with my lungs. The doc said : nothing more normal then your lungs, with great blood pressure , O2sat of 95 and HR of 65,. All good to go back up. Chris will fly on the 27th to Lukla, and we will fly together with Slavi – A Bulgarian in our team that is also in Lukla, waiting for his girlfriend to come back from the BREATHLESS - THE WORLD'S HIGHEST RACE.   We will spend 1-2nights in base camp before going back up which is exactly on schedule compared to our initial plan. Hopefully Chris will have eaten a lot in KTM and for me, my cough is almost already gone, so 2 more days in Lukla should make it.

Our plan is to go to camp 3, come back to EBC and then fly down again before our summit rotation. So don’t be surprised if after our 2nd rotation you read that I’m still sitting in Lukla. It’s all part of the plan to stay healthy, rest better and not loose too much weight.

It’s been a few days without updates. The wifi is not working properly in our camp so we have to walk 15mins near Everest ER to get better signal but sit on a rock in the cold to post…

Finally, home! We took few days of rest. Unfortunately, Véronique couldn’t get better at EBC so instead of trekking to Gokyo, she got Helicopter evacuated to Lukla and she’s now resting back home in Montreal. She didn’t see Gokyo, but she got a nice heli ride which was also a first for her. I think that by staying few nights, sick, at EBC, she understood how I felt last year. Life is good at EBC as long as you stay healthy.

The day she left, we went to Pumori Camp 1 for the view and the altitude and now getting for our first rotation. Seven summits trek (7ST) has a huge base camp composed of 3 teams ( Indian, Chinese and international) but they operate the 3 like if it was 3 different camps so we have our own dinning tent, toilet, shower,etc. they have around 100 staff just to run EBc. The one really nice thing about 7ST base camp is the Bakery and the pub. Yes that’s right, we have a bakery with fresh pastries, cake and bread every day and a pub but so far it’s more a soft drink area. But within 1 week it should be fully operational. The food is great, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables so nothing really to complain about (except maybe the Everest link wifi)

Last night we, Chris, Pasang Jangbu and I, went up the icefall for the first time. 

Early to bed for a 3am wake up time. I couldn’t really sleep in the cold night. Trying to relax and tell myself that the icefall is just like any other climb (but it’s not…). Stressed about the souvenirs of last year where my first run was a disaster. 00h00, 1am, 2am, 2h15 I finally fall asleep to only wake up 45 minutes later to the sound of the tent zippers and cling of the climbing gear. Getting out of a warm sleeping bag in the darkness of the night is never easy. We Ate a quick breakfast and started our way around 4am towards crampon point. We Stopped by the Puja altar to make a prayer and throw rice for safe passage and off we went guided only by the beam of our headlamps. The night was foggy and silent. EBC was still sleeping. Thankfully 7ST base camp is only about 15minutes away from crampon point.

I was anxious to see the route but was feeling confident after the news that the route was the safest ever and that Phunuru (at IMG) confirmed to me that the route was really nice according to his climbing Sherpas. Breath in, breath out, one step, two steps, jumar, repeat. And try not to look at hanging seracs over your head. I struggled the first 1h30 to get the rhythm and relax but then, we were struck by what is probably the greatest sunrise I’ve ever seen in my life. All of a sudden, everything seemed easier. In fact, it was. Compared to 2017, this year’s route is really nice and “safe”. There’s always few spots where we are exposed to the dangers of the icefall but overall the icefall doctors, the Sherpas fixing the rope from EBC to camp 2, did a phenomenal job this year to find the best route possible. I met few familiar Sherpa faces on the way which is also always nice. Our first trip was uneventful, except maybe some very concerning traffic by unexperienced climbers who really struggled to make their way in the icefall. I always wonder what people think when they show up to climb Everest with no or very little climbing experience jeopardizing their life and the one of the surrounding climbers but it’s a sad reality on Everest. Every year there is unexperienced climbers. Some, with luck, will make it, the majority will abandon and some others will sadly stay forever on Everest. Anyway, except that little traffic, it was great and we even made it back to EBC just in time for the regular breakfast with the rest of the team who didn’t go up.

7ST has big teams but it’s all separate in smaller team as everyone arrive at different dates. Everyday new faces join the team. Started 4 few days ago, we are now 16 so everyone is kind of on their own schedule. For our team (Chris and I), our schedule is to rest today and start our first rotation early morning tomorrow to go up to camp 2 and come back in 5 days. After that first run in the Icefall, I feel really confident for our first rotation.

The real adventure is about to start

March 31st, 2018.  Day of Departure. For months now, I’ve been training my body and my mind to get in Everest shape again after my first attempt in 2017. I learned a lot from last year and so far, I felt like it was paying off. I was calm, not too nervous, and ready to go like if it was just another trip. But last night, I felt like I had an army of butterflies in my stomach. I had a big day on Friday and felt asleep like a rock. When I woke up, I thought it was 7am, only 2hours had past, it was 1am. I tried to go back to sleep but then all the memories from 2017 came knocking on the door, the good and the bad.  It lasted for maybe half an hour until I told myself that 2018 is very different for me. I went back dreaming and woke up again at 4, and then at 6, and finally, at 7h30. I got out of my bed, the last time for while.  I must have spent 30 minutes in my shower. From all the things I miss when climbing, my bathroom is the one thing I wish I could have on the mountain. My duffels were already sitting next to the doorstep ready to go, still, Saturday was a really important day. I said goodbye.  First, I spent about 1h30 cleaning my 125Gallon fish thank (and talking to my fish Poncho and his friends). I did a last round of my house carefully looking at souvenirs from my previous expeditions.  Then, before leaving Montreal, I went to see and thank my Neighbours. Couldn’t ask for a better couple to take care of my fish while I’m gone. Finally, I was ready to make the ride to my parents’ home. Last year, I flew to Florida to visit them as I left earlier, flying out on Veronique’s birthday. I didn’t really see my brothers before leaving and we celebrated Veronique’s birthday with a dinner at a cheap restaurant near the airport before she dropped me off. Not the best way to celebrate.  2018 is very different for me.  Driving to my parents’ place takes about 1h. plenty of time spent with myself to reflect on the last year. For those of you who read my blog, you know how I was in a pretty bad shape in May 2017. Almost a year later now, it’s incredible how all the hard work has paid off. At my parent’s place, I got to spent some time alone with them. I could feel they are supportive but also scared about me climbing Everest. Specially my mom who got really emotional when we had a chat about it. I’m sorry for all the stress I caused and will cause in the next 2 months. No worries, I’ll try to make it home for June 1st to celebrate your birthday. Then both of my brother showed up. We had a brief but really important family reunion for me as we all got together in the kitchen, had fun and smiled. Once again, my mom got emotional and ask to take some pictures. This is great, now we have a full album of family pictures with almost all possible combinations!  4pm. Time to go to the airport. Never leave something unsaid before leaving for an expedition. Never easy to say goodbye. I love you all. Sunday, April 1st Happy Easter – didn’t really realize it was Easter with the Jet lag and flying to China     Monday, April 2nd Kathmandu is a looonnggg way from Montreal. About 20h of flight plus the layovers. This time I flew to Guangzhou and then Kathmandu. For those of you who know me well, you know I’m always concerned about my bags not making it and always smiling when I see them show up at my final destination. Well, this time I got lucky, I saw our bags getting on board in Guangzhou for our final flight. The flight was miserable, but I was still smiling. Our bags?  yes, 2018 it different in many ways and of the biggest difference is that Veronique made the trip with me and she will walk with me to EBC. It’ going to be exciting to have her trek along my side and share the beauty of the Khumbu together.   We made it safe and sound to our final destination. Kathmandu is still exactly like it’s supposed to be. I call it organized chaos. The thick air, the dirt roads, the traffic caused by motorcycles, taxis, people crossing whenever they feel like and the cows blocking the roads. Somehow, it does work. Don’t ask my how, it feels like they are organized but from a north American perspective, it’s hard to understand. Nepal, Kathmandu, the Khumbu, it should be on your bucket list of places to visit. We take one day to visit Kathmandu and then we fly to Lukla on the 4th. It’s time to repack our bags, get some rest and get ready to go to start the adventure. Thanks for following along  

Marie-Hélène Bourbonnais, Nutrition Vincent toit-Racine, force et de conditionnement Paulo Saldanha, physiologiste Dave Albert, entraineur-coordonnateur Jean-François Ménard, psychologue de la performance

 Avec leur aide, j’ai une manière très différente d’approcher ce défi. Pour 2017, c’était plus une approche « entrainement plus fort, le plus souvent possible ». Pour 2018, ce sera une approche beaucoup plus scientifique « d’entrainement intelligent ».  Une approche avec des professionnels pour s’occuper de moi et de mes progrès avec des objectifs mesurables à atteindre au cours des 5 prochains mois pour être au meilleur de ma forme en avril 2018

Quant au qestionnement habituel de pourquoi ? Pourquoi j’y retourne ? Pourquoi l’Everest ? C’est une question vraiment difficile à répondre avec une réponse vraie et profonde à l’intérieur de moi et cela fera l’objet d’une publication complète. Mais sachez pour le moment que la passion et la détermination de vivre mes rêves sont ce qui me motive tous les jours à m’entrainer pour être sur l’Everest en 2018. ​

Yes, that’s right! Really proud to announce that I’m officially going back to Nepal in April 2018 to give another shot at my long time dream of reaching the top of the world.

The minute I left base camp in May 2017, I knew I would be back soon enough as the attractive power of a mountain like Everest is too strong to simply ignore it. Through the 50 something days I was in Nepal this year I learned a lot and even if I thought I had read everything on Everest before getting there, it’s never like living it yourself to truly understand what it’s like to trek to base camp, live at the foothill of the highest peak in the world, go through the icefall and unfortunately get too sick to keep going.

I feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to go back in the Khumbu Valley. One of the hardest thing to reach the top is to have all the stars aligned to get there: Time, money, support, mental and physical health.

I’m really excited about this new opportunity that life is throwing at me to bring the best of myself out and test my limit. 2017 was a year of learning for me and one key lesson is that if you expect a different result, you have to try a different approach.

Thanks to the great support of Premiere Performance / Powerwatts. I now have a complete different approach to my training and I work with some of the best coaches you can find : 

Marie-Hélène Bourbonnais, Nutrition Vincent Roof-Racine, Strength and conditioning Paulo Saldanha, Physiologist Dave Albert, trainer-coordinator Jean-François Ménard, performance psychologist

With their help, I have a very different way of training and looking at this challenge. For 2017, it was more a “train as hard, as much as you can” approach. For 2018, it will be a more “scientific train smart” approach with professionals looking after me and my progress with set milestones to reach in the next 5 months.

As to Why ? Why am I going back ? Why climb Everest ? it’s a really hard question to answer with a true purpose deep inside me and this will be the subject of a full post. But know for now that the passion and determination of living my dreams is what drives me everyday at the gym. ​​

La vie à EBC est difficile, vous n'avez absolument pas tous les luxes de chez vous - comme une douche tous les jours - mais c'est beaucoup mieux que ce que la plupart des gens pensent, car ce n'est pas « comme dans le temps »

EBC Setup - Click to enlarge

​Everest base camp weather can change quickly 

Home ! your personal tent (with a nice view)

Bathroom can be quite comfortable like this one at camp 2

Banging on the pan to call for Lunch

Outside (upper picture) and inside (lower picture) the kitchen tent 

Inside the dining tent, yes there's lights at night

Movie night in the entertainment tent

​While on the expedition and once back home, I got a lot of questions on how does it work, how’s life at base camp, when do you decide to go climb or not, temperature, gear, etc. so this post is dedicated to all of this and more. A fairly long post…
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How does it work to climb Everest ?

First of, this is only based on my Everest experience,my perception of things while travelling with International Mountain Guides. To climb Everest, now that I’ve been there, I can attest that it’s not an « easy way up to the top » so don’t believe what people (and journalists) say about climbing Everest is for anyone that as the money to afford it. You need to be able to afford it but you also need good climbing skills and high altitude experience prior to showing up at EBC. I had some ups and downs but overall, this was my 14th expedition since 2013 and everyone in our team had a great climbing background including climbers with previous 8000m summit experience.  Some company will bring you if you pay them but responsible companies like IMG only bring skilled climbers they know.

I won’t describe all the gear you need to climb 8000m peaks but a quick google search on necessary gear and you will figure out pretty fast that you need a lot of gear. Most climbers bring 50-60kg at EBC. You think you have enough experience and skills? Go on for few more climbs to be 100% sure you have what it takes to climb the highest mountain in the world.

Then you sign up with the expedition company of your choice. Once this is done, usually way ahead of time, you know you are going for sure and you need to be, as Greg Vernovage put it « bulletproof » to be able to climb. Bulletproof means you are as strong as you can physically, mentally and emotionally. When I first heard that, I knew what he meant but on the other side I thought « this cannot be that hard on yourself » . Well, 2 months later, I’m back home, lost 25 lbs, lost 20% of my leg power, it was a roller coaster of emotions from being sick, being away from friends and family, from hearing bad news like the death of Iconic Ueli Steck and yes, there’s some nights, being sick and coughing so much that I cried in my tent asking myself why I was there and why I wanted to climb Everest. And I’m not even talking about how crazy I was going after spending 12 days resting at EBC.

Greg was right: Everest is hard in every way, physically, mentally and emotionally.  

For training, talk to 100 climbers, get 100 answers. Everyone has its own way. General consensus is to climb mountains. You know, training for what you will be doing, just like a race cyclist cycles and a marathon runner runs. It’s easier for some people like my friend Jim Davidson who lives in Colorado with mountains in his backyard. Harder for others like me, living in Montreal at sea level. Endurance and interval training seemed a common denominator on everyone’s training program. In the end, you have to train harder then ever but not forget to have fun doing your routine as you will do it almost everyday the year leading to Everest. For me, PowerWatts was the key for my leg strength. Being sick, I could still put one feet in front of the other and go on even if the rest of my body didn’t want to. 

Special thanks for the huge support I got from Paulo, Frank, James, Scott and all the others at PowerWatts. Could not have gotten there without the PowerWatts team

Before I forget, another huge thanks to Xerox and all the people that made this trip, and all my previous mountain trips possible for me. Asking 8-10 weeks of time off to climb Everest is not an everyday request and very grateful I could keep working and have a shot at climbing the highest mountain in the world.
 
Now you have the skills, you are in the best shape of your life, you manage to get the money, the time off without loosing your job, you’ve booked the trip, have all your gear with you in Kathmandu, you trekked to EBC. Congrats, that was just the warm-up and the “easy” part!

How’s life at Everest base camp ?

People read stories all the time about expeditions back then, how harsh it was just to establish camp and what a tough life it was to live at EBC. Don’t get me wrong, mountain life is still a tough life but it has drastically improved over the years. Nowadays, you get wi-fi in your tent (when it’s sunny), some cell phone reception, an “entertainment tent” where people charge their laptops and ipads, relax, do exercise and watch movies – yes, we had a movie projector hooked up to a laptop and a heating system to warm up the tent at night to watch movies every other night and kill time (to not go to bed at 7pm…)

And Yes, to answer the question: there’s showers at EBC. You don’t get to take one everyday because Sherpas have to carry the water but you can have a shower, no problem and the water is hot. There’s multiple bathroom tent that are fairly comfortable given where you are and yes, you can wash you hands with hot water and soap before each meal ( you still use hand sanitizer as a good habit anyway)

One of the best thing about EBC, is the hot towel with a drop of tiger balm you get before every breakfast and dinner to wash your face. Everyday, people are looking forward to that, specially when it’s not a shower day. The dining tents are comfortable with camping chair, carpet on the floor and even a tablecloth. You have access to hot water for coffee, the, hot chocolate and there's snacks like Costco pub mix all day, everyday. You know it’s time to eat when one of the cooks will bang a pan to let the camp know it’s ready. Usually an 8h00 breakfast, 12h00 lunch and 6h00 dinner on any normal day at EBC.

Food was great given you are at EBC. A Mix between bacon, eggs, pancakes toast and muesli in the morning. Fajitas, sandwiches, burgers at lunch and a wide range for dinner going from veggie sushi to pizza, yak steak and fried chicken. Only 2 things really missing was fresh fruits and vegetables. There’s a few apples and tomatoes here and there but don’t expect a big green salad with vegetables, it won’t happen – at least, not in the IMG camp.

There are, of course, other tents: Sherpas tents, tents for cooking, tents for storage of equipment such as extra tents, oxygen tanks, food, etc. Sherpas have a different diet and they have their own dinning tent. There is also the expedition leader's tent which serves as a communication tent with radios and weather reports as well as a place to meet other expedition leaders and team members in a private area

Finally, you have your house, your home for 2 months, a personal tent is given with a foam mattress to every climber. Big enough for 3 but you are alone so you have enough space to sleep comfortably, have a nice tent setup with all your gear and space simply to rest, read and think about life (especially when you spend so many days waiting at EBC) . It’s really nice to have your own tent and be able to retreat in a private area dedicated to yourself.

Life at EBC is tough, you definitely don’t have all the luxuries from back home – like a shower every day – but it’s much better than what most people think as it’s not like “back in the days” 

Yes, that’s right. My expedition is over. A really tough and emotional decision to take but most likely the wise one. I’m Writing this blog post from the hotel in Kathmandu, still coughing a lot, exhausted, resting and waiting for my flight back home…
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Here’s the whole story.  As you all know, this trip has been very hard for me health wise. Started with a pneumonia and antibiotics before the first rotation. Then, after resting and going up to camp 2, came back down very skinny and tired so I went down to Lukla for few days to recover and come back stronger and then, I went up for my second and last rotation before summit.

I was schedule to be gone for 5 days, sleep at camp 3 and come back to rest and wait just like everyone right now at EBC for a summit window. Well, it didn’t go that way. As I had been sick and weak, the plan for me was to stay at camp 1 instead of going all the way to camp 2 (only about 3h walking distance anyway and a decision that plenty of people make)
The night of the 7th, I slept like a baby at EBC (finally) and woke up early, at 1h30 am, to go another time up the icefall. I felt strong, relaxed and it was one of my best days here in Nepal. The night was beautiful and warm and I made It to camp one in just over 4h30. Which is a great time. I felt so strong that I wanted to go to camp 2 but as the plan was to stay at camp 1, I respected the plan and stayed for a full day of rest at camp 1 (thankfully!)

The 8th, the day was so warm, once again, I had to strip down to only my base layer to lay in the sun and try not to sweat too much until about 4pm. Then, the nightmare started. My cough was back slowly with a little headache but nothing really not manageable. Dinner time came and I had no appetite to a point that I barely finished my MRE. My headache was getting worst and worst. That night was really warm, my tentmate didn’t really have extra layers on, I had everything and when I say everything, it’s everything, including gloves, heavy socks, down booties, 3 jackets and still, I was shivering in my sleeping bag. My headache was just not going away and was probably an 8/10 by midnight and the fever was just getting to me.  At 2 am, my tent-mate advised me to get Greg, our expedition leader, on the radio as I was breathing really fast, didn’t sleep one minute yet and I was making weird breathing and coughing noises

I effectively got out of our tent, still dressed like I was almost going for the summit to reach out the Sherpa’s tent to get Greg on the radio. It was obvious the moment he said “hey Mathieu, what’s going on ?”  that my expedition was over. I had severe altitude sickness symptoms and there was no way I was going up to camp 2 in the morning. My O2 saturation was below 60 overnight and got just over 60 after popping 250mg of Diamox. ( O2 sats measures the percentage of hemoglobin binding sites in the bloodstream occupied by oxygen, and should be near 100% at sea level but in altitude, it drops significantly but with % below 60, it’s in a dangerous zone for HACE. For reference, I was at 80 at camp 2 the first rotation and always around 90 at EBC)  Greg sent 2 Sherpas to get me down in the morning and told me to hang it tight until sunrise to go down the icefall.

The morning of the 9th, “got up” at 5am, after sleeping maybe 10 minutes, feeling dizzy and off balance even just to get to the bathroom. Effectively, the 2 Sherpas showed up at around 5h45 to help me out, they took all my gear, sleeping bag, etc. and off we went towards EBC. The higher icefall walk was full of tears in my eyes, tangling in my fingers (Diamox) and very hard as I knew exactly what was going on, my trip was over… 

Despite feeling the way I was, I tried to enjoy every single minute of the way down. It was a very calm morning with overcast from base camp to camp 1, probably 5-6 inches of snow at camp 1, no one was out in the icefall except maybe 4-5 Sherpas. The kind of day that you stay in bed and whish for someone to bring you breakfast. It felt like the time had just stopped over my dream of the last decade. I tried to capture with my eyes (and my camera) the craziness of the icefall and make memories. I couldn’t believe that after so many efforts and sacrifices that was the way my trip would end. I made one last stop to Everest ER to confirm everything, came back to my tent, exhausted, looked around me, took a deep breath and once again with tears, I went up to Greg’s tent to have “the talk” and set up the plan for me to go back home.

The 10th, it was still overcast weather with a very light, almost magical snow, falling over EBC when I woke up around 6am to start packing. Surely enough, the day cleared out and I was able to get an helicopter ride down to Lukla just after lunch. Just after a final group meal with my team. Once again, I got very emotional, looked at everyone, whishing them the best for their summit bid yet to come and made my way to the Heli-pad. I knew the Heli was not coming for a good 30 minutes but I wanted to sit down on the rocks of the highest point at EBC to watch and enjoy the last views of camp, all the colorful prayer flags, “Sherpa land”, our dining tent, Mt Olympus (Greg’s tent) , my teammates yellow tents and my finally my tent, the home I had pick on April 7th, just over a month ago.

The place I stayed so many hours in, thinking, wondering, crying, praying, sleeping. The place that I knew was to be put down few hours later to leave an empty tent platform, just like the few other homes that were left empty by people like me, going back to their real homes.

I tried to hang it there, one rock at a time, I fought for it many times, but I couldn’t go on as my health was not strong enough and most importantly, I didn’t really mention it, but I’ve already lost just over 15% of my body mass. That’s right, I’m at about 140lbs right now, skinny like never before and loosing my pants just on the weight of my Iphone in my pocket. This is probably the main reason I stopped as I know that I would have gotten simply skinnier and skinnier going to camp 3 and then to south col, to a point that It would have been medically dangerous for me (and the others) to be on the mountain.

I will reflect back on this trip in a different post in the upcoming days, but I did learn a lot over the course of the last 40something days here in Nepal. Met great climbers that are now friends all over the world and the good news is that I’ll be home for Mother’s Day.

I know I said that this would be a once in a lifetime shot but just like any big boxing match, there’s usually a rematch planned and trust me,

the magnet of Everest is very strong… 😉

Ueli and I at IMG base camp, April 15th 2017

camp 1 surrounded by crevasses Camp 2 with the Lhoste wall in back, Everest going on the left - too big to fit the picture

Rotation #1 

For those following the IMG blog, I’m now part of team 3. We’ve started our first rotation in the early morning (night) of the 29th, starting our ascent towards camp 1 around 3h00 am.  After a quick breakfast, always hard to eat at this time of the night, we’ve took off for Crampon point. IMG base camp is actually quite far (45min-1h) from the bottom of the icefall. It seems like a non-sense at first, but when you actually walk the trail to crampon point (yes this is where you put your crampons) you see all the other camps packed on top of each other compared to IMG’s where we have our own spot, a very big camp space and a lot of privacy.  You can’t have it all but I clearly prefer the privacy of our base camp. Anyway, after walking to crampon point, Nuru Sherpa and I started our ascent in the icefall.

I’ve already said it, I’ll say it again: Beautiful yet very scary and dangerous. Our first full passage in the icefall was eventless and I reached camp 1 in about 5h30 which is a decent time considering my ongoing cough. 

Camp 1 is a temporary settlement at the top of the icefall surrounded by crevasses and clearly not the best place to sleep. As we reached camp before lunch, it was considered almost like a full rest day. Who said Everest was cold?  camp 1 is freezing at night but like an oven during the day. Trying my best to stay cool, I shed all my layers, put my sleeping bag and down suit on the top of my tent and still, only rolling my self in the snow seemed like the only good solution but then came the sunset over Pumori and all my layers were back on me in no time. Leaving the total comfort of EBC to stay at camp 1 is brutal: no real cooking then, no dining tent, no food. The only thing available is snow. Nuru was kind enough to boil down some snow for me to fill up my water bottles and have enough to cook the ramens and the MRE I had brought from EBC.

The night, just like about the 6-7 nights before was sleepless for me, coughing, rolling over, coughing again, standing up trying to breath and not cough, sleep for maybe 30 minutes and start over. The lack of sleep as been very hard but thankfully most of the afternoons, I’m able to get an extra 1-2h of sleep to make over. 

Our second day at camp 1 was mark by a very tragic incident. As most of you know by now, Ueli Steck died, falling from Nupste, not too far from camp 1. The day was busy with helicopters flying by and the news came in pretty fast as there’s not many solo climbers, on
Nupste

Over the heat, the food situation, the lack of sleep, this kept me thinking for many hours. Ueli, the swiss machine, was a true inspiration for me and really got me into climbing. Even got me into becoming a big fan of Scarpa boots too (one of Ueli big sponsor) I’ve watched all the videos you can find on him and I was very privileged to meet him on April 15th in our own EBC and then like many, I crossed him in the icefall as he was “stretching” for higher. He was always climbing on the edge. His death was a shock and it’s a sad news for climbing world. 

The next day was our move to camp 2. Poor Nuru... he had to wait for me all day. As Dallas Glass, IMG guide, say it : trying to keep It with a Sherpa is like playing basketball against Micheal Jordan, you are going to loose. The move from camp 1 to camp 2 is probably the easiest day on Everest, in the Western CMW as long as you don’t move in full sun. People will do this part between 1h30-3h00. Poor Nuru, took me 5h to reach camp 2. My lungs didn’t want me to climb and as much as my legs wanted to go, as soon as I would do only one step faster, I would start coughing and come to a complete stop. Slow and Steady. This is not a race. Climb your own Everest. Go at a comfortable paste. I did it all that day. Thankfully, it was cloudy, a bit windy but not too snowy. 5h was long but not dangerous at all. 
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To help me out, that night was, as reported by a lot of people from EBC to camp 2, the coldest night so far this season. The cold, all night high winds and my ongoing cough made a great mix for me to simply be exhausted by the morning. The only good thing is that is was a great practice to sleep In my down suit in my sleeping bag (and still be cold) 

The next day, may 2nd, was a complete rest day for me at camp 2. Compared to EBC, camp 2 is our advance base camp with almost everything you can find at EBC except maybe showers, internet and the carpet on the floor and real metal chair in the dining tent.  Team 1 came in very late. They were expected for breakfast but the reported collapse in the icefall got them delayed for few hours. Some of them, slept at camp 1, some waited that the heat of camp 1 was down to start moving again. The last climber reached camp 2 after dinner. A very big day for a lot of them. Thankfully, the night was calm and warm. 

Our team woke up at 4h30 am, packing all our stuff, have a quick breakfast and head down to EBC before trying to avoid the heat in the icefall. Again, the icefall is not a place to be in during the day as the sun melt the ice and hanging seracs fall all the time. The way down was uneventful except for crossing a team that clearly didn’t belong on Everest. Has I’ve been still coughing a lot, I stopped by the Everest ER tent again before heading to EBC. The verdict ? Coughing from muscle soreness and nothing I can really do about it except rest and try to breath “thicker” air. 

As a few others (3) members had some various health issues preventing them from climbing or resting well at EBC, we all Hop on a helicopter to Lukla. Yes that’s right, you read well. I’m now in Lukla, resting for 4 days before the next rotation. We will head back up in helicopter when team #3 is ready for their second rotation. Hopefully, 4 days of rest at a much lower altitude will help me get rid of the cough and provide me some good nights of sleep. 

Today, I’ll pay a visit to the Lukla hospital to make sure it’s really just sore breathing muscles and nothing else, maybe get a haircut and walk around town. Not much to do but it’s nice just to be sleeping in a bed, have a bathroom and be able to rest away from the EBC rollercoaster of emotions. I think it will be very beneficial physically and mentally to get ready for the next round.

​Only 2 rounds left. 
 

crossing my first ladder - looking down is scary - my legs were a bit shaky on this first one

 I4 days of antibiotics and 1 day of rest. 5 days to have a very simple schedule: nothing except sleeping and drinking plenty of water. Yesterday morning I went back to Everest ER to get the green light to climb again. Aside from a residual irritation on my right lung, everything seems to be back to normal. With this good news in my pocket, I went to bed early on the 24th, for my departure in the night, around 3h00 am, for the icefall, up to 2/3 to familiarise myself with the thing. The night of sleep will have been short, too anxious to return to climb, but also disturb by this first passage in the icefall, it’s scary from EBC.  

Probably the most spectacular place I’ve climbed but also the most dangerous.
Difficult not to want to stop taking pictures but the constant cracking of the ice and the seracs that threaten to let go at any time are a reminder that the icefall is not a place to play the tourist. The blood on the snow left by a Sherpa wounded by an ice block the night before and requiring a helicopter evacuation was also a reminder to keep the focus and move forward as quickly as possible.

About 20 minutes from our destination, Nuru mentioned to me that he preferred by far to spend 7 days at the south col (as in 2016) than to make a passage or to wait in the icefall. Nuru Sherpa and I decided to return to EBC. There had to be 25-30 people in line to climb one (3) vertical ladders attached one to the other. There was no need to wait at least 30-45 minutes under the seracs to simply continue a short distance. We will be back at EBC around 7:00 am with the feeling of having accomplished our mission and especially having put behind me the medical problems of the last days. It feels good to be back on top of my climbing game

I had to start my first rotation on the night of the 26th to the 27th but the winds are rising and it would be imprudent to venture alone with Nuru to Camp 1. In case of emergency, nobody could really help us and I do not really want to spend a miserable night because of the cold and the wind - it will already be quite miserable because of the altitude. I will therefore wait in the night of the 28th to 29th to climb to camp 1 to spend 2 nights and then to the camp for 2 other nights.
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The adventure continues here at EBC! Getting ready for the next round

Climbing a mountain is like a boxing match. After a big uppercut while my guard was down. I got almost KO in round 1 by Big E, but I got so many messages, good vibes and love that it put me back on my feet on the count of 9 and got me ready to fight for round 2. Stayed at EBC for the last 2 days, mostly sleeping, staying hydrated and trying to keep up with the positive side of things.
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But Big E came back stronger in round 2: I just keep getting weaker and weaker despite the rest and last night was another big combination of jabs that put me back down on the ground: Cheyne-stoke breathing, headache, shivering (in a -40 sleeping bag with extra layers), coughing and simply not sleeping. This morning, completely exhausted, I felt something was really going on so I paid another visit to Everest ER. Hard to diagnose as it’s a tent at 5300m, not an hospital but definitely got an infection going on. Have to take antibiotics for the next 4 days and get down at lower altitude to heal faster.

So, 2 days later, I’m still in front of almost the same decision: go down to heal and come back hopefully strong enough to climb or go down to back home.  At least one thing is clear, I can’t go up (for now)

Not many news since my last update, the last few days have been very hard physically and mentally for me…

Back at EBC, I got the Khumbu cough, so after our ladder crossing practice at EBC, I paid a visit to the Himalayan Rescue association (HRA)  Everest ER tent to make sure that all was ok. Although it seemed like just a little cough, it kept me up at night and got me tired.  The next day was our dry run in the Khumbu icefall with a an early morning start (3:00 am)  I decided to skip it and go the next day as I was not in excellent shape to go up the icefall
Yesterday morning, 3:00 am, was my time to go in the icefall. Mingma Tsering left exactly on time and the first part to crampon point was great, then things went wrong for me : felt exhausted, could barely move my feet, couldn’t catch my breath and simply felt like I was not going anywhere. So, I turned around at about 5h30am, made it back to EBC walking like a zombie, stumbling and looking like I just walked for 16h straight.  I got in the dining tent, put my big puffy on and simply felt asleep on the table.

At that point, I had no more desire to climb and only wanted to take the first chopper back to Lukla and then flight back home.  The rest of the day, I simply felt too tired to do anything except sleeping.

After a better night of sleep, I still felt very week this morning, coughing again and still had no desired to climb so I went to the viewpoint near EBC where you can actually see the whole EBC, Khumbu glacier, Lhotse, Everest, the south col and most of the route to get there.  I stared at Everest for at least 1h. The magnet of the mother of all mountains is very powerful and got my mind back on top.

The team is going tonight to camp 1. I’ll see in the next 24-48h which way I go as even if my climbing desire is back, I still feel very weak and coughing a lot as soon as I exercise. I may pay another visit to the Everest ER tent tomorrow morning but the options are very simple: pushing hard to camp 1 and climb on or go down, fly back home and let go my dream of the last decade…  tough decision to be made…

Finally, back to EBC after our Lobuche climb. The day after our Puja, we left to go back down to Lobuche base camp but this time with all our climbing gear – first time after almost 3 weeks that I’m away that I will actually climb something !  the Lobuche climb is very straight forward. From base camp, we left in the afternoon to reach high camp, where we had an early dinner to go to bed and rest for our night start. We started our climb around 4h AM. The night was perfect with a clear sky and a full moon taking care of the needed light. Sunrise over Ama Dablam was incredible. It was as good as it can be weather wise, warm and no wind. Divided in teams of 3, I climbed with Jim Davidson and Mingma Dorgee Sherpa ( 9 Everest and 8 Cho Oyu Summits). Lobuche is classified as a trekking peak but really, it was climbing. Much harder than I expected but still not very difficult. The summit offered us some great views of EBC, Everest, Lhotse, Nupste and Makalu. Our team did the round trip in about 7h. We took a little rest at high camp before going back down to base camp for the night.
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The next morning, just like the previous 20 days, was nice and sunny. We quickly packed before breakfast and I decided to head out with Pega Sherpa as soon as breakfast was over to beat the crowds to get back to EBC.  I could really feel the acclimatization as this time I reached Gorak shep in only 2h30, stayed there for a while to rest (good Ncell reception and wifi) and then head out to reach base camp (only about 45 minutes) Amazing how slow people can be when they are not acclimatized, I felt like I was running compared to all the trekkers visiting base camp.  And just like any other day, the clouds moved in the afternoon and it got cold for dinner. It’s good to be finally home for real and done with the everyday duffel shuffle. The next day few days will be to rest and get prepared for Rotation #1 (of 3)

Today was a big day for us : Puja in the morning and glacier practice in the afternoon. The puja ceremony, in which the Sherpas pay homage to the mountain and pray for a safe season, is the starting point for all Everest expeditions. Our puja, which lasted 2h30 was great. Started by a lot of prayers from the Lama and the Sherpa and then it turned into a Sherpa dancing and singing party with a full barrel of Chang – rice beer.

After lunch, we went near our camp on the glacier to practice some climbing, ascender and rappel technique for out Lobuche climb but also for Everest. Eventually, once we’re back from Lobuche, we will do more training for the icefall (ladder crossing) and most likely a “dry run” in the icefall to about 1/3 of the way to take out the stress, any apprehension or any other feeling towards the icefall ( it is scary from base camp)

IMG base camp seen from both ends. I marked my tent in case you are looking for me ;) 

First night at EBC was strange. Somehow, it felt like home: great food, plenty of space in my tent, all my clothes to stay warm and the great feeling of simply be at EBC. But all night there was some reminder that we are at the foothill of Everest, on a glacier moraine: rock falls, avalanches, cold dry air and the noise of the « locomotive » (the rumble of the high winds on Everest). My cough got worst as I’m trying to get rid of it. I drank about 1L of water overnight – thankfully I had my pee bottle not too far. Life is hard at 5365M.  Thankfully today was a full rest day with nothing on the agenda except Laundry, shower and stay hydrated. Tomorrow is our Puja. 

After a few days at the Lobuche base camp and a good night of sleep, we are ready to go to the EBC. Everyone was anxious and ready to go in the morning. This will be the home for some, the ultimate goal for others. I get up with what appears to be the "khumbu cough" but have to do with it. The Khumbu cough is a very dry cough linked to the cold and the dry air of the valley, difficult to get rid off. Only way really is to drink a lot of fluid, always cover your face with a buff and rest. Our guides announce a day of 6-8h.

I'll go into the first little group, with Pega Sherpa. We will make the journey in only 4 hours, including a stop for tea of course in Gorak Shep ! We will get into EBC first, which is great as we have to pick our personal tent for the next few weeks
 
The first look at EBC is impressive with hundreds of tents on the moraine of the glacier and of course the icefall of the Khumbu. The first camp is  Hymex and Russell Brice, legend of the Himalayas. The 2nd one is ours, IMG.
 
Difficult to describe the size of our camp. Approximately sixty personal tents, three dinning tents (each accommodates about 15 people), an entertainment tent including our electric recharging stations, 2 tents for showers, a laundry station, 2 tents for cooking (as big as the dining tents), a "costco" tent for everything you could dream of: chocolate, candy, pretzel, maple syrup, peanut, pringles, etc. 4 tents for the toilet and the main communication tent in which, Greg, the leader of our expedition is installed to direct the activities on the mountain and radio communications.
 
EBC is a real city with three Heli-pad, it takes about 45 minutes to walk from one end to the other. On the other hand, the thing that strikes the most is the Khumbu icefall. To tell the truth, it's scary. Very scary. Difficult to believe that there will be 6 passages. Much bigger, more inclined and longer than I had imagined. Same reaction for the other members of the expedition. But this is the door to the Everest. I am surprisingly fine view of the altitude, but the cough persists. Will see after a night of sleep. It's good to finally be at home!