Thanks to Cole at WBIR for his interest.

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/local/knoxville-man-saves-guides-life-climbing-mt-everest/51-565762367

Many thanks to Alan Williams for his interest and coverage.  It was a lot of fun!

http://www.wvlt.tv/video?vid=485031341

On May 23, Knoxville resident John Quillen sat on top of the world. But the climb to the summit of Mount Everest wasn’t typical.

Quillen, a drug and alcohol counselor, arrived in Nepal in early April and hiked for 10 days to reach base camp. From there, Quillen met Neal Kushwaha of Ottawa, Canada, and spent a month participating in acclimatization — climbing between camps one, two and three to get used to the changes in altitude.

On May 18, the pair, along with their Sherpa companions, started their push up the mountain and by May 20 found themselves in good standing between camp one and two, and were taking a rest when the unthinkable happened.

An oxygen bottle fell from a higher point in the mountain and struck at least two people, including the head of a Sherpa. The Sherpas are a Himalayan people whose members often serve as porters on mountain-climbing expeditions.

“The ugliest part about it is that several people walked by this guy and did not help him, in both directions up and down,” Quillen said.

Kushwaha and Quillen knew that they couldn’t be bystanders, so they moved into action.

“That could have been us and we actually said that to each other. Like that could be you, that could be me, that could be one of our Sherpas, that could have been us,” Kushwaha said. “And (also) some people walking right by us but we had to go do something.”

The duo along with their Sherpas moved the man hit in the head to a safer location before Quillen moved to help a different man who was struck on the leg, ripping his body suit.

Meanwhile, Kushwaha and his Sherpa tended to the head of the injured Sherpa, as blood continue to come from his wound.

More: Local author David Brill recounts first-hand experience with Great Smoky Mountains rescue personnel

More: How ‘American Ninja Warrior’ has changed Knoxville native Grant McCartney’s life

“Neal (Kushwaha) and his Sherpa had to get on the radio and beg what they call the HRA (Himalayan Rescue Association) to dispatch somebody to come up because he’s a Sherpa and he doesn’t have any insurance,” Quillen said. “Western climbers have insurance. We really had to beg some people to come up.”

To make a safe area for a helicopter rescue, Kushwaha and his Sherpa moved the man several feet down the mountain, losing a lot of ground that had already been climbed.

Once the injured were secured, Quillen and Kushwaha along with their Sherpas moved quickly to camp three, but were physically and emotionally exhausted.

“That’s where good fortune I think favors our attempts to help him. It put us into camp three probably late at night around 9:30, 10 (p.m.), which is way too late to be going up the most dangerous part of the climb, the Lhotse Face, which pushed our whole summit schedule ahead several hours,” Quillen said.

This advancement in schedule allowed the duo to take their time to camp four, commonly referred to as “The Death Zone.” They arrived late on May 21 to stay their first night in the the Death Zone, where they experienced rough weather but a clearing the next morning.

“Most people barely survive up there and we were cruising around just re-energized, ready for our summit push, and I can only account for that in divine terms,” Quillen said. “You look at any account of Everest and … it’s a survival game and we were definitely thriving right before our summit push.”

At 7 p.m., the team started their summit push and arrived early the next morning to a nearly empty mountain. Quillen spent a total of 45 minutes on the summit and Kushwaha spent 35, when most get about enough time for a picture.

“It was sunny, it was clear, it wasn’t windy and if it was, it was only at the summit, which is normal. Hardly anybody there and when they did come, it wasn’t anything spectacular,” Kushwaha said. “As magical as it gets, we could probably come to Everest ten more years in a row, and never have that experience again. That’s how crazy it is.”

The two spent two more nights in the Death Zone before heading back to camp two on May 25 and base camp on May 26.

“It was a blessing from God in my mind, no doubt about it. And kind of a nod to the time we took to spend on somebody else,” Quillen said. “That’s the only way I can conceivably see it.”

This is the money shot. You will rarely see a summit video without hordes of climbers. This is a result of my slower pace. I arrived at 10 am, May 23, 2018.  Most climbers had cleared by 8 am. Enjoy.

It comes with the territory for me. Everyone knows I had a bit in 2011 following my summit of Muztah Ata. So predisposition to the mountaineers disease is a recurring possibility. As I descended from Everest’s summit last week, my toes on the right foot developed a familiar throbbing. Getting off Sagarmatha was a priority on multiple levels.

Continued

(Sorry for the pic of a pic, I need a new wifi camera}

I’m still floating on air since my 24 hours above 8000 meters to the summit of Mt. Everest four days ago. It seems like yesterday. I realize that it will take a while to assimilate the events. One thing that has not been revealed was our role in the rescue of a seriously injured Sherpa at the beginning of our summit push which altered the entire schedule to our advantage.

On May 21, our full team headed up to camp 3 on our summit push and started up the bergschrund on the base of the Lhotse face. Immediately an oxygen bottle comes tumbling down the 45 degree slopes and careens over our helmeted heads. Sherpa eschew helmet use for one primary reason. It prohibits use of the endemic forehead strap that connects them to occasional 100 lb loads.  This day, it would almost prove fatal for one heavily laden porter.

Subsequent to the oxygen bottle near miss, I, along with my Sherpa, Ang Dawa and Neil Kushwaha along with his Sherpa, Sange paused to re evaluate the safety of the route given the recent spate of projectiles.  Within two minutes a large rock dislodged from ascending teams on what was becoming a typically blistering day in the Western Cwm of Everest.

The dull thud unmistakably suggested that someone had received the business end of this one. A fully suited Sherpa came dragging towards me. Down was leaking from a profuse gash in his suit. Aside from the obvious injury to an expensive down garment, this high altitude dude appeared uninjured.  He pointed at the hockey stick gulley and indicated there was another victim.

Neil, Dawa and Sange rushed to the scene as ascending climbers ignored the splattered blood and crumpled form in a pool at the base of Lhotse. A sizeable rock, which had clipped the first Sherpa nailed this poor porter. Neil and our Sherpa essentially carried this considerably bloodied chap to a safer point off the fixed line.

Blood was everywhere. We immediately found a pair of his socks to apply pressure to his skull. It was the one thing Icould recall from my last first aid class years ago. This Sherpa was in trouble and was in shock. He couldn’t remember his name. We gave him water and immediately got on the radio. It was Neal, Sange and Dawa who reached Kaji, our Sirdar at Basecamp. From there, Kaji was able to get in touch with the HRA who dispatched a helicopter. The helicopter made a high altitude rescue above camp 2 and this Sherpa was airlifted to Kathmandu. My Sherpa and Neil walked many extra feet to ensure this guy would live to climb again.

The resulting delay caused us to depart from the South Col one day late. In my next post, I will explain how this made all the difference. Right now we are on hold in Namche Bazaar as flights from Lukla are on weather hold. Thanks for following, I will post more photos soon.

John

It seems like this trip has been one long waiting game. I don’t have any “news” per se, but Summit Climb posted that John and team were headed up to camp 3 yesterday which puts them right on their anticipated schedule. They should be waking up in about 2 or 3 hours and heading up to camp 4 tonight. If the weather continues to remain fair, we’re looking at a summit push starting tomorrow evening.

So since I can’t give you a very interesting John update, do we have any Sandra Bullock or “Hope Floats” fans? I was visiting a farm in Smithville, TX last week and realized I was 2 miles from “Birdee’s” house. I’m not 100% sure I’ve seen the  movie but I did swing by anyway.

And this is what my house currently looks like. The pup and I leave Florida for good on Thursday and we are so excited to be closer to John so we can be together on weekends. Longstreet can barely contain his excitement.

Thanks for keeping up with John’s progress. I may update again, but most likely I’ll leave it to John when he gets back to basecamp. Hopefully the internet will be good enough for him to give a thorough report.

Laurel

I swore that I wouldn’t fool with internet here but my cellular texts weren’t getting out and I wanted to keep everyone abreast. We flew in from Namche two days ago and have been readying for our push. Today we double checked our oxygen system, repacked necessary climbing gear and solidified our olans. (We have no real leadership here, no one has heard from our expedition leader in weeks. He is apparently at camp 2, where we head directly from base camp tonight) .Fortunately, we are all self sufficient climbers with very competent Sherpa.

I have implored our Sirdar, Kaji, to relay daily updates via the summit climb news website. I do have faith in him because you folks deserve to know that things are progressing as expected.

Your comments are out of this world, thanks to you who have taken time to post, and thanks Myers for the updated weather. Right now, our expected summit day, the 22 isn’t looking great. But that’s a ways off and it will change. Laurel will let you know what she knows.

I leave you with a photo of an avalanche coming off Nuptse this morning. That’s my tent in the foreground, totally safe, of course. They are a frequent occurrence here on Mt. Everest as Spring and Summer collide.

Update- summit is open, we leave tomorrow.

Let me begin by wishing my Mom and all other Moms out there a Happy Mother’s Day. For us here in Namche @ 12000 feet it has been reminiscent of the movie “Groundhog Day”. Each morning brings hope of a return to Basecamp but weather and lack of rope progress keeps us grounded. No teams have reached Everest summit or camp 4 due to unusually high winds and cold. But we are as comfortable as can be expected in this terraced village full of coffee shops, bakeries and local restaurants.

I have frequented so many aforementioned establishments that my phone picks up emails and text alerts simply by remaining in my pocket as we pass through town and all the Wi-Fi hits. It’s like one big repeater system. Similarly, local merchants have gotten to know us by name and have taken time betting on our summit dates in accordance with the hourly changing weather forecast.

For me it has been an exercise in patience and mental calm. A week in the high Himalaya is a boon for any adventurer. Dealing with the vagaries of uncertainty is just a “need to manage” risk in this game. I pretend that this is a vacation within a vacation and events flow quite smoothly when we ignore the impending tasks.

One acquaintance we have made is Sibusiso Vilane from Africa. He is quite famous and also waiting here in Namche. Today I asked him about his audience with the Queen of England. That was quite a story, then we had lunch. I just got word that the ropes are now fixed and the route is open so progress is occurring.

We have a helicopter on retainer so day after tomorrow I suspect we will depart then. When we leave, Laurel will be manning, she will hate the use of that word, the comms. Check here and her personal Twitter feed @theLaureldunn.

IlI drop a line before hand. Thanks for your comments, I read each one. So grateful to hear from long lost friends, friends, colleagues and strangers.

John