Hilaree O'Neill grew up skiing at Steven’s Pass in Washington state. She didn’t begin skiing competitively, however, until moving to Europe in her early twenties. She began with a few European extreme contests and derbies scattered throughout the Alps. She found she had what it took for extreme skiing and the rigors of climbing.
Learn more about Hilaree O'Neill.
Everything has been such a whirlwind for the last week - my apologies for not writing to the blog sooner.
Testing my mask at the South Col.
The whole team has made it safely to Kathmandu, and I am getting ready to head home tomorrow after ten weeks in Nepal. But, I should jump back to where I left off on the last blog.
We climbed more or less according to how we had planned, with only a few extras thrown in. We left Base Camp early on the 21st. It was amazing to me how much the temperatures had warmed over a seven-week period. When we first arrived at Base Camp I was constantly freezing, sleeping at night in all my down layers and even hiking through the icefall in my down jacket. Our final tour up through the icefall was a very different story.
Lighting juniper to bless our climb at base camp.
We left earlier than normal in order to avoid any sun exposure between Camp 1 and Camp 2. I was also nervous that my sore ankle would slow me down. Needless to say, we all made it to Camp 2 without getting heat stroke. The icefall had changed dramatically, almost unrecognizable in the way it was falling apart. Seeing this made us realize it was now or never. The icefall would not hold up much longer and soon the ladders would be removed from the crevasses and the route would disappear.
At Camp 2 we all took a day to rest. No matter how acclimatized one is, it's still a beat down of a day going from Base Camp to Camp 2 - it's some 4000ft in elevation gain at high altitude. We rested the 22nd and then climbed to Camp 3 on the 23rd. At this point, Conrad elected to stay at Camp 2 and climb directly to the South Col the next day with the Sherpas. Camp 2 to Camp 3 is tiring but very doable in three hours or less. It's fairly direct and the elevation gain is only around 2000 ft. From here, Emily, Sam and Mark started using oxygen to sleep on and then to climb with the next day to the South Col. Kris and I had decided to hold off on using O's until the South Col.
Kris and Emily resting at Camp 3.
The next morning, the 24th, Conrad and the Sherpas reached Camp 3 around 6 a.m. and we all started towards the next camp together. This is where I started to get a bit nervous. Despite thinking we would not be summiting on a crowded day, seeing the number of people headed to the South Col told us otherwise. We inserted ourselves in a long line of climbers and started the long walk through the Yellow Band, over the Geneva Spur, and finally to the South Col at nearly 8000m. I was pretty happy with making it in a time of six hours, pretty good for not using oxygen. No doubt, though, I was tired and we only had a few hours of rest before we started our summit push.
Kris climbing above Camp 3.
Conrad, Kris and I shared a tent at the Col. It was during this rest time that Conrad decided to opt out of the summit push. Kris and I donned our o2 masks and tried to rest. Sam, Emily and Mark were all doing fairly well. We decided to start climbing around 9 p.m.
For me, it was a bad night. From the minute I left the tent, I just knew it was going to be one of those nights of climbing that are a constant struggle. I put my crampons on wrong and within minutes of leaving camp, one fell off and then the other. I missed the start of the fixed ropes and ended up scrambling on blue ice trying to find them. I couldn't get my oxygen mask to fit well and it kept fogging up my goggles, which then iced over so I couldn't see. On and on and on.
In the end, I think this series of fumbles was because I was really scared about the climb. The weather was not what it was supposed to be, the wind was blowing a steady 20 mph and when we left the tent, the temperature was already -28 degrees Celsius, way too cold. There was a line of 150 people in front of us and we left way to early as it only took an hour before we were stuck at the end of the line.
This many people meant climbing way too slow and then crushing yourself when you tried to pass people. I also knew there were at least four recently dead climbers on or near the fixed lines that we would have to climb over or around.
All in all, we made it to the summit. Kris and I topped out around 5 a.m. with the others shortly behind.
The crowds of people made the summit a little anti-climactic for me. There were some 60-70 climbers on top of Everest when we arrived. In addition, the temperature was around -50 with wind chill, which made it impossible to linger and left me with frost nip on several fingers.
I was so proud of Sam and Em being able to overcome the difficulties of this trip and the challenging conditions of our summit day. For their age and total lack of high altitude climbing, it was pretty amazing for both of them.
But, alas, now we get to the fun part. All of us had bought permits to climb Lhotse as well, but we were all so knackered it didn't seem possible.
Sam and Emily were both out, in fact she and Mark continued down to Camp 2 on the 25th. Conrad said he still didn't feel up to climbing. That left Kris and I. We rested on oxygen from 10 a.m. to about 10 p.m. on the 25th, not really able to sleep or eat. As we were melting water, we kept telling ourselves that we would just give it a try and if it didn't work we'd descend. Simple. Then Conrad came into our tent and asked if we had any extra water. He was going to try to climb Everest without oxygen. That was when I noticed it. The wind had died. There was absolute stillness at the South Col. The stars were out, the temperature was warmer. It was going to be one of those perfect days, the kind of day I fear even mentioning so as not to jinx it.
Conrad set out for the summit of Everest about 1 a.m. and Kris and I headed the opposite direction towards the Geneva Spur. We needed to wrap around to the Lhotse face and drop a couple hundred meters before starting the climb. We left the trail around 2 a.m. and began our ascent.
Kris was climbing hard and it was difficult for me to keep up. I had several moments of thinking I was too tired and wasn't going to be able to summit. There was one climbing party of four ahead of us. They were 2/3 of the way up the mountain when we started. When we caught them before the summit, I realized I wasn't going slow but that Kris was going absurdly fast.
All in all, it took us about three hours to summit Lhotse, putting Kris and I on the summit of two 8000m peaks in 24 hours. It was amazing and Kris and I were the only people on the summit and I was just thankful for the weather and to have had a good climbing day after the struggle of the previous night.
On top of that, Conrad summited Everest a few hours later without oxygen.
Amazing.
After Lhotse, everything was a whirlwind. We flew down the mountain, moving every day until we reached Kathmandu. Of course, now that I have stopped moving I am so tired I can barely walk. I'm sick and just started antibiotics. I think I just spent so many weeks willing myself to stay healthy that now my body is telling me I need rest.
My ankle survived the journey but it also is swollen and painful and likely just pissed off at me in general for stuffing it in an 8k boot and climbing hard for several days.
Needless to say, we all worked really hard and it will take our bodies some time to recover. Thanks again to everyone for all the supportive comments and I look forward to getting home to see my family and friends.
The day has finally arrived.
View of base camp.
We've received our weather report today and it couldn't look any more promising for a summit attempt on the 25th. Winds are low, a mere 5-10 km per hour at 8500m at midnight. Temperatures are manageable at -20 C and the weather window is solid, in that it lasts for 3-4 days.
Everyone in camp was struggling with letting this first weather window pass us by, but in the end, I think it's the best decision we could have made. Our team is now six people, Kris Erickson, Sam Elias, Emily Harrington, Conrad Anker, Mark Jenkins and myself.
Conrad does an interview with Anjin and Kris- an amazing ice formation in the background.
Phil has decided to step down from making a summit attempt and has taken on the role of base camp manager, something we desperately need.
Sooooo, tomorrow we will get up at 2 a.m., head out around 3 a.m. and climb to Camp 2. We will then have a rest day at Camp 2 and go to Camp 3 on the 23rd. We will leave Camp 3 around 6 a.m. on the morning of the 24th and expect to take about 8 hours to get to the South Col.
Given that everybody feels strong, we will rest for a handful of hours and then start our summit push.
The majority of climbers went for the first summit window so we are hoping the mountain will be considerably less crowded and will, therefore, allow us to move quickly and safely.
Our group has definitely had its challenges the last week or so. First, Phil got pretty sick at Camp 2, on our last rotation, and had to descend on oxygen. Fortunately, he is well but, as I said, won't be trying for the summit. Then I sprained my ankle but, thanks to some sage advice from Greg at IMG, it is back in one piece and I feel very confident climbing on it. I'm pretty sure it's going to hurt like an SOB:) but I'm taking a positive outlook that it will help distract me from the suffering of high altitude.
Greg, by the way, is an Olympic gold medalist volleyball coach so he's seen a few sprained ankles. His advice was to stick my foot in a mostly frozen glacial lake 4-5 times a day, among other things that equally sucked.
Extreme icing to get rid of swelling. Torture.
I thought he was crazy but it worked!
Kris got a sinus infection and had to go on antibiotics. Not great but we've had enough time at Base Camp for him to heal.
Finally, Conrad got food poisoning. Not pretty. I'll spare everyone the details on that. Needless to say, camp got a bit grim but things are looking up and we are all getting our mojo back.
I won't be doing any blogs while on the mountain but we will be doing sat phone updates to the North Face and Nat Geo websites, as well as Facebook.
Many people have thought I was crazy for wanting to ski down from the summit of Everest. My standard response has always been that I am much more coordinated on my skis than on my feet.
For example, when I was pregnant I skied until about 7 months with never a single fall or problem. However, as soon as I would take my skis and boots off, put on tennis shoes and turn around to walk, I would trip over the dog and go sprawling on the pavement.
Well, apparently my inability to walk like a normal person is no different on Everest. A few days ago, as we were finishing our final rotation on the mountain, it became evident that skiing was not going to happen.
Sam, Kris and I decided to bring our gear down and focus just on climbing. Sam and I skied from Camp 2 to Camp 1, across crevasses, ice and changing snow conditions, carrying our skis over ladders spanning gaping holes, all without incident.
But as soon as I get to the "safety" of base camp, I manage to severely sprain my ankle walking back to my tent from another camp.
Seriously?!?!
While I spent the entire night freaking out that I'd ruined my chances to summit Everest, I am thankful that is not the case. It looks like we have about a week at base camp before the weather gives us our summit window.
My ankle seems to be holding steady and with lots of ice, compression socks and rest, I think I'll still be able to pull it off. As Conrad says- Hold fast! Patience, patience, patience. I'm just in awe of my ability to take something very hard and make it a lot harder.
I'm keeping this post short but many things have happened in the past week so I will write again soon. As always thanks for all the support from everyone and keep your fingers crossed that I can get my foot in my boot in six days time!!
Photo by Sam Elias
We've now had 5 full days at basecamp and everyone is starting to get a bit stir-crazy. This morning we had a group meeting to plan out our next rotation up the mountain. The Lhotse face will be getting fixed with ropes on the 26th and, as all the groups have agreed, we cannot climb on it prior to that time, it looks as though we won't ascend until Wed, the 25th.
With that said, we are all falling into our Basecamp routine which mostly consists of eating!!! Today, Emily and I sorted out all the food that we will need for our high camps for both the West Ridge and the South Col routes. Conrad is checking our water for us on a daily basis- a good thing given the warm temps here in camp.
Yesterday, I did a great hike up to Pumori Camp 1 to get a look at the Lhotse face and see if there was any more snow. Not so much, still super icy! We all had an amazing day of ice climbing. Dawa, our sherpani, is a strong climber and it was fun to climb with Sam and Emily, as well as the other Sherpas in our crew. I even did my first ice lead, in ski boots!
All in all, we are healthy and well acclimatized and looking forward to getting back up the mountain...
It's a crazy thing to finally walk a path I've heard about for so many years- the Khumbu ice fall. We headed up on Friday the 13th and, all I can say is, I'm glad I didn't realize the significance of the date until we had safely passed through to Camp 1. Without a doubt, the icefall has an incredibly high level of subjective hazard. So much so, that upon our return, Kris and Cory went to speak with one of the head Sirdahrs of Everest Basecamp to see if, as a group, we could get the icefall doctors to change the route.
On a more positive note, our group has been the first to venture up the mountain. What that means is that we have had the unbelievable pleasure of experiencing camp 1 and camp 2 with no other climbers. On Friday it took us about 5 hours to reach Camp 1. Another hour or so to set up our tents and then the rest of the day to chill and soak up our surroundings. I got my first glimpse of the Lhotse face and was psyched to see how snowy it looked. We spent the night and then had a casual morning and hiked to camp 2. From there, things got a little dicier- weather came in and the wind was cranking. We had to pick axe platforms out of the rock and ice. At 6440 meters, swinging a pick axe and throwing rocks hurts like hell. We spent 3 nights at camp 2 and came down this morning all the way to Basecamp in less than 4 hours.
Camp 2 is beautiful, we were nestled in the cirque of Everest, lhotse and Nuptse. Truly incredible. The mountains here are, obviously, the biggest in the world and, therefore, very powerful. Laying in the tent, we could hear the constant thrum, like a train, of the jet stream as it blew above our heads on the ridge tops. Intimidating to say the least.
At any rate, I am glad to be at Basecamp and looking forward to 5 or 6 days of rest before heading back up. A coke and Pringles for lunch never tasted so good!
Our first foray through the Khumbu icefall.
Emily and Anjin arriving at Camp 1 in good spirits!
A view of Camp 2 from the flank of the west ridge of Everest.
Cory and Conrad looking for their route to the west ridge, Lhotse face in the background.
Sam Elias crossing one of the first ladders in the ice fall.
Mark, Dawa and I have made it to Everest Basecamp- finally. It's a dream come true for me to see all these mountains I've heard about my entire life; Everest, lhotse, Nuptse, Pumo Ri, Loboche, AMA Dablam and so on and so forth. We took our time coming in on the trek and now I feel well acclimatized to our new home at 17000 feet, plus or minus. It also gave me time to get over my cold, never an easy thing to do once you get to high.
Things seem to be plugging along at camp. MSU has been sending lots of dispatches and videos to create content for the education side of this adventure. Cory and his assistant, Andy, are handling photo and video content for Nat Geo. Mark should be starting his Nat Geo blog on the 16th. The rest of us are filling things in for North Face via their blog and instagram.
There has been a virus floating around Basecamp that has put some hurt on part of the group, namely Emily Harrington and Dave Lageson. With that said, we are splitting into two groups for our first foray up the mountain. I will head up tomorrow morning around 5 am with Kris, Andy and Sam. We will move through the icefall to Camp 1 at about 5900m. The next day we will go to camp 2 at around 6400m. We'll spend two nights there and then head back to Basecamp on April 16th- my mom's birthday- Happy Bday mom! The rest of the group will follow a day behind, in hopes that Emily and Dave will be healthier and stronger.
I'm really looking forward to climbing higher. I will update the blog when we get back down. Our technology at camp is pretty amazing. We actually have wi-fi but it is really expensive to use so I will likely only write in seldomly. Thanks to everyone for your comments and all the support!
Our pace towards Basecamp has been fairly steady. Yesterday from Namche was really snowy in the morning and very muddy by the afternoon. The general consensus from the Sherpas and other people we are meeting along the way is that the weather is unseasonably cold and wet. At any rate, a new coat of snow makes everything incredibly beautiful so it’s not so bad!
Today the sun was out but the temperature stayed brisk as the wind has been blowing pretty hard all day. We got our first view of Everest this morning, just the top and a bit of the south face peeking over the summit of Nuptse. It’s still a ways away but the walking has been so enjoyable. We never seem to walk more than a few hours a day and I’m pretty sure I’m spending more time eating than actually hiking.
Mark and I are working on consuming four meals a day. It’s hard work but with all the tea houses around we are getting fairly good at it. I need to put a few pounds on before the climb so the food and long nights of rest are going to help once we reach Basecamp.
Today, we are already in phrenic he for lunch. We will stay here tonight and then on to Lobuche, Gorak Shep, and finally, Everest BC on the 10th of April.
A local at the Hillary school above Namch
Prayer wheels above Namche
Dawa and I on our snowy morning hike from Namche to Pangboche.
Today we are spending the entire day in Namche. Apart from a short hike above town this morning, I have been catching up on some much needed sleep and rest. The weather pattern seems pretty consistent so far, with sun and warm temperatures in the morning, eventually disintegrating to rain and wind and cold by the afternoon.
Knowing this, we headed out early for the village a Khunde, a few hundred meters above Namche. Since I am still waking up at 5 am, early is no problem and well worth it. Ama Dablam was clear as a bell as we topped out in Khunde. It is as incredibly beautiful as all the stories and photos make it out to be.
Mark and I are still planning on another 5-6 days before we reach Everest Basecamp and the rest of our group; Conrad Anker, Cory Richards, Sam Elias, Emily Harrington and Kris Erickson. They all arrived at Basecamp nearly a week ago and have been working to put the whole camp together. Namche seems to be crawling with lots of Everest climbers, seems that Basecamp will be a busy place this year!
I’m still trying to figure out how to blog so, hopefully, whoever is following this will bear with me! The iPad has to use an app to be able to attach photos to go with the blog- thanks to Gabby who’s been sorting me out from home or I’d never have figured this out!
At any rate, I am now in Namche, finally putting a real impression on a place I’ve only heard about for years. It’s taken us two days to walk from Lukla. The biggest excitement was getting to Lukla. With bad weather, flights from Kathmandu were severely backed up and we were afraid it would take several days to make it to Lukla. Mark jumped on the chance to make the trip via helicopter stuffed with a bunch of gear. Alas, Mark, myself and one of our climbing Sherpas, Dawa, flew in on a Bell Ranger heli. Not so bad.
We’re hiking in with Dawa Sherpa who will then become our Sherpa on the south col. If she summits, sounds like she will be the first Nepalese woman to summit in the capacity of a working Sherpa. Really very cool… Especially since she is only 23 years old!
I’ve been fighting a cold this whole trip, hoping I can keep it at bay. My whole family was sick before I left and I brought it with me. The good thing is we have a slow pace with lots of sleep. Lots of food as well- always a good thing.
Anyway, I am hoping this post will work- if so I will follow with more photos!!
I really hope I didn’t leave my house in total chaos. Packing for this trip was more difficult than usual just based on the length of time Igone going to be gone. It also didn’t help that I wouldpack and then Quinn and grayden would find things in my bags that were “fun” and unpack them for me. I found my solar battery pack tied in the curtain strings. My brunt on solar roll was used as stepping stone to see over the railing- I’m going to cross my fingers that that will still work. I wasn’t totally encouraged by the loud cracking noise when Q actually started jumping on the poor thing.. I’m a little worried about thI thing I didn’t find and that are not longer with me, hopefully, nothing too important.
Despite the fact that I left Telluride on Thursday, I am still on my way to Kathmandu. Due to some cancelled flights and long layovers, I will only get to Nepal today. I met up with Nat Geo writer Mark Jenkins in Dallas and was so payched that he got us an upgrade to fly business class on our 15 hr flight to Dubai. Ive never flown Emirates airlines before but they were so great, especially helping us with our absurd number of bags.
Our 24 hour layover in Dubai is coming to an end. This is somewhere I never thought I would visit so it was pretty cool to see some of the sights yesterday. Today, we are on our final leg to kathmandu. One night in kathnmandu and off to Lukla and the start of our trek to Basecamp.
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