DATE: 23 October 2022
Unfortunately, I had to abandon my expedition without being able to summit Himlung Mountain. I am gutted and disappointed but there was nothing more we could have done under the circumstances.
I attempted the summit twice. Firstly, we were nearly buried alive at Camp 2 for four days by heavy snow, which brought chaos around the Himalayas and many people lost their lives and some suffered life changing injuries. Fortunately, we made the right decision and came safely down to Camp 1, then we were rescued after three days by our team.
On the second attempt, we managed to get up to Camp 3, we had great weather, I felt strong and confident. We were so close to the summit but a key member of our team got sick and we had to rescue him by helicopter, plus we also lost one sherpa from the team due to his other commitments. We tried to manage manpower, but we couldn’t on the mountain. I believe that my team member’s safety and life is paramount, I can risk my life but I will not risk someone’s life for the summit success. Therefore, I had no other option than to abandon my expedition.
I have had many set backs in my life. This is unfortunately one of them. The most important thing is we reevaluate, learn, carry on and Never Give Up.
We achieved all training objectives and learned a lot apart from the summit.
This won’t stop my Everest Expedition next year. We know of potential pitfalls and with other contingencies we will put in place and Everest Basecamp Medical centre we should not have to abandon our challenge in similar or other circumstances.
You cannot plan for everything but both of these situations have helped us be more resilient then before and this is a huge outcome that a climb without challenge would not have afforded