Colorado Mountain Climber
In 1924, George Mallory and 22 year old Sandy Irvine walked off in to the clouds of Mt Everest at approx 28,000 ft – never to be seen again. In 1999, an International Mountain Guides expedition led by Eric Simonson and Jochen Hemmleb discovered the frozen remains of George Mallory at approx 27,800 ft.
In 2001, the expedition returned to search for Sandy.
After 30 years of dreaming, training and struggling to get to Everest, I was selected to be on the 2001 team to look for Sandy. He was my hero growing up. I always seemed to have a deep affinity and spiritual connection to Sandy, and to have the opportunity to help find and put him to rest was beyond my wildest dream.
We really believed that given the search zone where George was found in 1999, that is Sandy was still up there, we would find him and give him the respectful burial he deserved.
For me, this expedition was the dream of a lifetime. I knew it would be stocked with the worlds best climbers – all wanting to help find Sandy and solve the great mystery of ‘Did they summit in 1924, 28 years before Sir Edmund Hillary’?
As a member of the 8,000 meter team, my main objectives were simple, 1) come back alive, 2) not get sick or hurt, 3) be a meaningful participant to help the search team, and 4) have fun and climber higher and longer than I ever had.
I felt good about begin there as I had 2 years to train and prepare, and had thought, planned and dreamed of a North side attempt for 30 years. I had paid my dues.
It took 10 days from Boulder, CO to base camp. I’ll never forget that moment I arrived at base camp and Eric Simonson greeted me with a huge smile and handshake – and a hearty “Welcome to Mt Everest, Mr Shiver”. I had climbed and trained on Mt Rainier with Eric and his IMG guides 4 times over the years and had relentlessly lobbied him for a shot on Everest. And now I was there….
I had a sense of peace like never before – like it was destiny for me to be there. It felt right. I wasn’t scared, but I was nervous but I had a detailed plan, I had trained insanely for 2 years, and I had been over 20,000 ft and knew I had several more thousand feet in me easily. But Mt Everest is a long, long way from home.
My role was to ferry loads to high camps for the search and summit team. So I was a glorified yak, and that was fine with me! Each round trip to Camp 3 was 28 miles and min 3 days. We were making our first roundtrip run to Camp 2 and back to warm up, when descending was Jake Norton, Dave Hahn, Tap Richards, Brent Okita and several others.
These were the STUDS!! They guys I had read about and studied so passionately after their discovery of George Mallory in 1999. Now I was nervous – it was getting real. I kept telling myself, ‘just don’t screw up’.
On our 3rd run, (2nd to Camp 3), and after 54 miles so far, we got pinned in at Camp 3 for 3 nights at 21,500 ft. That’s when things got a little hairy. That night I had some breathing problem and started to choke and hyperventilate. I was alone in the dark, my batteries were dead, and the next closest tent was too far away to hear me over the wind. I knew I had hit my limit and it was time to walk away.
After descending and recovering at base camp, I knew it was time to leave and head home. If I stayed, I might go back up again and get in trouble. I spent the next 5 days wandering across Tibet on my way back to Kathmandu, and 3 very fascinating nights in Kathmandu, telling my little story to eager Everest followers.
I felt sad to walk away somewhat unfulfilled as I seriously wanted to get higher. But there was no way I was going to let my ego win the battle and cause a problem up high and jeopardize the search for Sandy.
The greatest memory was of the character and communication of the team, the leadership of Eric, the humility and teamwork of each member – all focused on Sandy and solving the mystery. Unfortunately we did not find Sandy, but we did put 2 on top, and the main summit team saved several lives over 28,000 ft in one of the greatest and highest rescues ever.
I knew that was my final climb. No other climb would be that cool. I was glad to end my climbing career with such a special expedition and experience.
It still seems like a dream, yet so long ago. Onward to other dreams…
Climbing in Colorado Resources:
https://www.colorado.com/articles/learn-rock-climb-colorado
https://www.colorado.com/articles/5-top-places-rock-climb-colorado
https://gearjunkie.com/colorado-best-14er-climbs
https://coloradomountainschool.com/
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/outdoors/2014/06/27/top-beginner-fourteeners/11474973/
https://www.summitpost.org/top-25-classic-colorado-mountains/692302