Chapter 5 Chapter 3 Flying Over North India

△Elevation 9144 meters, March 29, 1996 * Suddenly I opened my mouth and told them a fable.I said I was talking about Neptune, just plain Neptune, not Paradise, because I don't know anything about Paradise.So you have to understand that this refers to you and is just you.I said there just happened to be a rocky resort up there, and I have to warn you that people on Neptune are stupid mainly because they're all tied up with ropes.Some of them I would like to mention in particular, these people have long had their own ideas about mountaineering.I say, you may not believe that life or death, useful or useless, these people just made a habit, and now they use up space, time and all energy, up and down the steepest mountain face in the region, chasing the glorious clouds .Everyone was elated when they came back.Likely, I said, even Neptunians mostly know how to work around it, and it's interesting to try to climb the easier walls safely.In any case, climbing has an inspiring effect, as can be seen in their determined expressions and the twinkle of joy in their eyes.As I pointed out just now, this happened on Neptune, not Paradise, and there may be nothing else to do there.

Edwards "Letter from a Man" John Menlove Edwards, Letter from a Man □□□ I took Thai Airways Flight 311 to Kathmandu in Bangkok, and two hours later I left my seat and walked to the back half of the plane.Near the row of restrooms on the starboard side, I squatted down and looked out through the waist-high window, hoping to catch a glimpse of some mountains.I was not disappointed.Here, the jagged incisors of the Himalayas stand there, raking the horizon.I stayed by the window for the rest of the flight, squatting in front of large garbage bags filled with empty soda cans and leftovers, my face pressed against the cold Plexiglas, mesmerized.

I immediately recognized the huge, mountainous Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world at 8,598 meters above sea level.Fifteen minutes later, Makalu (8,481 meters), the fifth highest peak in the world, came into view, and finally saw the unmistakable silhouette of Mount Everest. The pitch-black summit pyramid stands like a vivid relief, overlooking the surrounding peaks.The mountain plunged high into the jet stream, cutting a visible rift in the 120-knot hurricane, sending a strand of ice crystals winding eastward like a long silk scarf.As I looked at this band of clouds in the sky, it occurred to me that the summit of Everest was exactly at the same level as the supercharged jetliner that was flying me across the sky.I thought for a moment that I was trying to climb the height of an Airbus 300 jetliner, and it seemed absurd, if not more than absurd.My palms are cold and wet.

Forty minutes later, I set foot on the ground in Kathmandu.As I passed through customs and entered the airport lobby, a large-boned, clean-shaven young man noticed my two large duffel bags and stepped forward.He looked at the photocopied passport photos of Hall's customers, and asked in a brisk New Zealand accent, are you strong?He shook my hand, introduced himself as Harris, Hall's guide, and picked me up at my hotel. Harris, who was thirty-one, said another client should have arrived on the same plane from Bangkok, a fifty-three-year-old lawyer from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, named Kasisk.As it turned out, it took Kasissk an hour to find his luggage, and while Harris and I waited for him, we recounted our lifelong experiences on several dangerous climbs in western Canada, discussing the pros and cons of skiing and snowboarding in general.Harris' strong desire for mountaineering and pure enthusiasm for mountains reminded me of the time when I regarded mountaineering as a major event in my life, and used the mountains I climbed and the mountains I hope to climb in the future to draw the map of my life.

Kasiske was a tall, athletic, silver-haired man with aristocratic reserve.Just before he emerged from the customs line at the airport, I happened to ask Harris how many times he had climbed Everest.Harris happily admitted that this is actually the first time, just like you.It should be interesting to see how I fare on the mountain. Hall booked the Garuda hotel for us, a friendly and well-decorated hotel in the center of Kathmandu's popular tourist district of Thamel, facing a narrow street full of tricycles and shoppers.The Garuda Hotel has long been loved by the Himalayan expedition team, and the walls are covered with signed photos of famous mountaineers who have stayed there over the years, including Messner, Habeler (Peter Habeler, Kitty Calhoun) , Roskelley (John Roskelley), Lowe (Jeff Lowe) and so on.I went upstairs and entered the guest room, and saw a large colorful poster on the way, called the Himalaya Trilogy, which refers to Everest, K2 and Lhotse, which are the highest, second and fourth highest peaks in the world respectively.Images of these peaks feature a grinning beard in full mountaineering attire.The caption on the poster pointed out that the mountaineer was Hall, and the intention was to solicit business for Hall's guide company, Adventure Consulting, and especially praised his great achievements in climbing these three peaks within two months in 1994.

An hour later, I saw Hall himself.He is 192 to 195 centimeters tall, as thin as a bamboo pole, with a naive expression, but his overall appearance looks more than thirty-five years old, older than his actual age, maybe because of the deep lines around his eyes or the authority he exudes all over his body .He wears a Hawaiian shirt and faded Levi's jeans, with an embroidered yin-yang patch on one knee, matted brown hair twisted across his forehead, and a bushy beard that needs trimming. Extroverted by nature, Hall turned out to be a good storyteller, with a New Zealander's tongue in cheek.He opened his mouth to tell a long story about a French tourist, a Buddhist monk, and a yak, rolled his eyes mischievously, made quick-witted remarks, paused to reinforce the effect, and then threw back his head into a contagious laugh, unable to resist telling his own story complacent.I immediately liked it.

Hall was born to a working-class Catholic family in Christchurch, New Zealand, the youngest of nine children.Although he had a flexible scientific mind, he dropped out of school at the age of fifteen after a conflict with a particularly authoritarian teacher. In 1976, he went to work for the local mountaineering equipment manufacturer Alpine Sporting Goods.Bill Atkmson, a now-famous mountaineer and guide who also worked for the same company at the time, recalls that he started by doing odd jobs, operating sewing machines and all that.However, at the age of sixteen or seventeen, he showed excellent organizational skills, and soon he was in charge of managing the entire production department of the company.

Hall had been active in the mountains for several years, and around the time he was working for Alpine Sports, he also started rock and ice climbing.Atkinson, who became Hall's most frequent climbing partner, said Hall was a quick learner and could learn technique and attitude from anyone. In 1980, in Hall's nineteenth year, he participated in an expedition to climb the north ridge of Ama Dablam, which is 38 kilometers south of Mount Everest, which is extremely beautiful and has an elevation of 6,795 meters.It was Hall's first trip to the Himalayas, and he made a detour to Everest base camp, determined to one day climb the world's highest mountain.In ten years, he tried three times, and finally led an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest in May 1990, including Sir Hillary's son Peter.Hall and Peter radioed the news throughout New Zealand at the summit, and received congratulations from Prime Minister Barmer at an altitude of 8,848 meters.

By this time Hall was a full-time professional mountaineer.Like most of his peers, he managed to secure corporate sponsorship for expensive Himalayan expeditions.As smart as he is, he certainly knows that the more attention he gets from the news media, the easier it is to persuade companies to open their checkbooks.It turns out he's very good at getting his name on the screen and his face on TV.Yes, Hall has always had a knack for publicity, Atkinson admitted. In 1988, Oakland-born guide Garry Ball became Hall's main climbing partner and close friend.Ball climbed Mount Everest with Hall in 1990. Immediately after the two returned to New Zealand, they came up with an idea: follow Beth to climb the highest peaks of the seven continents, but climb the seven mountains within seven months. To increase the difficulty 1.The most difficult Mount Everest has already been climbed, and the two won the support of the power structure of the large motor company, and then set off on the road.On December 12, 1990, a few hours before the expiration of the seven-month time limit, the two climbed the seventh peak, Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica with an elevation of 4,892 meters, causing a sensation all over the world. New Zealand.

Note 1: It took Bass four years to climb the Seven Summits.author note Despite their success, both Hall and Ball worried about the long-term prospects of their professional mountaineering careers.Mountaineers will have to keep upping the ante if they are to continue receiving corporate sponsorships, Atkinson explained.The next time must be more difficult and more breathtaking than the last.The spiral gets tighter and tighter, and you'll eventually be up to the challenge.Hall and Ball knew that sooner or later they would either not be able to perform on the steepest cliffs, or die in an unfortunate accident.

So they decided to change direction and take the mountain guide line.When you are a guide, what you climb is not necessarily the dangerous peak you want to climb the most, but the biggest challenge is to take customers up and down the mountain, which is a different kind of satisfaction.But that career outlasts the constant pursuit of sponsorships.If you can provide good products, the source of customers is unlimited. During the seven-month grand performance period of climbing the seven summits, Hall and Ball drew up a plan to start a business together and take customers to the seven summits of the world.Believing that the world is full of dreamers with lots of cash but inexperience who can't climb great mountains on their own, they created a company called Adventure Consultants to focus on this untapped market. They set a stunning record almost immediately.In May 1992, Hall and Ball took six clients to the summit of Everest.A year later, they led another seven-member team to the summit in the afternoon, bringing a total of forty people to the summit that day.But when they returned from the expedition, they accidentally heard Sir Hillary publicly criticize them, accusing Hall of being responsible for the increasing commercialization of Mount Everest.Hilary yelled angrily that a group of beginners paid to be escorted to the top of the peak, which is disrespectful to the mountains. Hillary is one of New Zealand's most revered figures, and his rugged face is featured on the five-dollar note.Hall was publicly denounced by the mountaineering predecessors who he regarded as a hero since he was a child, and he was worried and embarrassed.Atkinson said Hillary was considered a living national treasure in New Zealand.His words carry weight, and it must be hard to be criticized by him.Robert wanted to speak publicly in his defense, but he knew he had no chance against such a revered figure in the media. Five months after Hillary caused an uproar, Hall suffered a bigger blow: In October 1993, Ball attempted to climb Dhaulagiri, the sixth highest peak in the world with an altitude of 8,169 meters. He died of cerebral edema due to high altitude.The unconscious Pole lay in a small tent high on the mountain, and breathed out his last breath with difficulty in Hall's arms.The next day Hall buried his friend in an ice crevasse. In an interview with a New Zealand TV station after the expedition, Hall calmly described how he slowly lowered Ball's body into the depths of the glacier, pulling their beloved climbing rope.The climbing rope can be said to be designed to tie people together, and you will never let go.I can only let the rope slip out of my hand.He said. Helen, who served as Hall's base camp manager several times in 1993, 1995, and 1996, said Hall was devastated when Ball died.But he endured it silently.That's his style: keep doing stuff.Hall decided to go it alone as an adventure consultant.He continued to improve the company's basic facilities and services in a systematic way, and continued to escort amateur climbers to the summit of distant mountains with brilliant results. Between 1990 and 1995, Hall successfully led 39 climbers to the summit of Notre Dame, three times more than the total number of climbers in the first two decades after Sir Hillary's first summit. indivual.Holden advertised that Adventure Consultants was the world leader in Everest mountaineering, with more summits than any organization, and that was true.The brochure he sent out to potential clients said: □□□ Turns out you have a thirst for adventure!Maybe you dream of visiting the seven continents or standing on top of a mountain.Most of us have never dared to act on our dreams, seldom dare to share them with others, or admit the strong desire inside. Adventure consultants specialize in planning and leading mountaineering adventures.We are proficient in the practice of turning dreams into reality, and will work with you to achieve your goals.We won't drag you up the hill, you have to work hard, but we promise to give your adventure the best chance of safety and success. For those who face their dreams bravely, this special experience will provide indescribable feelings.We invite you to climb your mountain with us. ☆☆ By 1996, Hall was charging $65,000 per client for guiding the world's highest mountain.That's a lot of money by any measure, equal to my mortgage in Seattle, and that doesn't include airfare to Nepal or personal gear.Other companies charge lower fees, and some competitors even only charge one-third, but Hall’s success rate is extremely high. This is his eighth expedition to Mount Everest as a guide, and he recruited all the players without any trouble. .If you decide to climb Mount Everest and can afford it, adventure consultants are the best choice of course. On the morning of March 31, two days after our arrival in Kathmandu, members of the 1996 Adventure Consultants Everest Expedition assembled through Tribhuvan International Airport and boarded the Russian-made Mi︱17 helicopter.The plane was a relic from the war in Afghanistan, about the size of a school bus, seating twenty-six passengers, and so dented that it looked as if it had been tacked up in someone's backyard.The pilot bolted the door and gave us some cotton balls to plug our ears, and then the behemoth of the helicopter let out a headache-ridden roar and took off into the sky with difficulty. Drum bags, backpacks, and cardboard boxes are piled high on the floor, and human bodies are stuffed like cargo on folding chairs around the cabin, facing the cabin with their knees against their chests.The sound of the turbines was so deafening that conversation was impossible.The helicopter ride was uncomfortable, but no one complained. In 1963, Hornbein's expeditionary force set out from Banepa (Banepa), 19 kilometers outside Kathmandu, and trekked to Mount Everest. It took a 31-day mountain journey to reach the base camp.We, like most modern Everest climbers, opted to skip more than half of the steep, muddy stretch.The helicopter was scheduled to drop us off at the village of Lukla at an altitude of 2805 meters in the Himalayas.As long as we don't crash on the way, the flight saves three weeks from the Hornbeen hike. I look around the spacious interior of the helicopter, trying to jot down the names of my teammates.Along with guides Hall and Harris, there was thirty-nine-year-old Helen, a mother of four and third-time camp manager.Caroline is the doctor of the expedition team. She is about twenty-seven or eight years old. She is a skilled mountaineer and medical staff.Like Helen, she only went to the base camp and did not continue to climb.The gentleman lawyer I met at the airport, Kasisik, has climbed six of the seven peaks, as has Yasuko Namba, a forty-seven-year-old woman who works as a human resources officer at the Tokyo branch of FedEx.Withers, a talkative forty-nine-year-old pathologist in Dallas, USA.Thirty-four-year-old Hutchison, a rational, bookish Canadian cardiologist in a cartoon T-shirt, was on leave from research.Tusker, fifty-six, the oldest member of our team, worked as an anesthetist in Brisbane and started climbing after he was discharged from the Australian Army.Fifty-three-year-old Fishbeck is short and lean, a gentle publisher from Hong Kong. He climbed Mount Everest three times with Hall's competitor and failed. .The 46-year-old Hansen is an employee of the US Post Office. He went to Mount Everest with Hall in 1995. Like Fishback, he did not turn around until he reached the South Peak. I don't know much about the clients on the same team.They had nothing in appearance or credentials like the tough mountaineers I usually climbed with, but they seemed friendly and dignified, and there wasn't a single crazy bastard on the team, at least not one that showed such an instinct in the early stages.But aside from Han Sen, I don't have much in common with any of my teammates.Han Sen was skinny and outspoken, with a prematurely weather-beaten face that reminded people of old football.He has been a post office clerk for twenty-seven years.He said he was working night shifts and working construction sites during the day to afford the trip.Since I was a carpenter for eight years before I became a writer, and we were in similar tax brackets, quite different from other clients, I was very comfortable with Hansen that I wasn't with the others.I became more and more uneasy, and I think it was probably because I had never joined such a large climbing group, and the whole group was full of strangers.With the exception of a trip to Alaska twenty-one years ago, I've always traveled with a friend or two I trusted, and otherwise traveled alone. Whether you have confidence in your partner when climbing a mountain is very important.The actions of a single climber can affect the fortunes of the entire team.If a knot is not tied properly, a slip, a rock is moved, or other careless actions, the companion and the errant may suffer the consequences at the same time. No wonder mountaineers are particularly trembling when they cooperate with unknown people. But we all follow the guide to climb mountains as customers, so it doesn't matter whether we believe in our companions or not, we must turn to trust the guide.As the helicopters buzzed toward Lukla, I thought every teammate hoped as fervently as I did that Hall had been careful to weed out guests of dubious ability and had a way of protecting us from everyone else's weaknesses.