{"id":1263,"date":"2018-06-05T19:28:59","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T19:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/?p=1263"},"modified":"2018-06-05T20:05:38","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T20:05:38","slug":"news-sentinel-article","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/2018\/06\/05\/news-sentinel-article\/","title":{"rendered":"News Sentinel Article"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotH0_Rs\" class=\"story-asset video-asset\">\n<div class=\"ui-video-wrapper \">\n<div class=\"ui-video-controls story-video inline-story-video priority\">\n<h5 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\">Many thanks to reporter Kylie Hubbard for this one!<\/h5>\n<h5 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/entertainment\/outdoors\/2018\/06\/05\/knoxville-resident-climbs-mount-everest-completes-daring-rescue\/663035002\/\">https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/entertainment\/outdoors\/2018\/06\/05\/knoxville-resident-climbs-mount-everest-completes-daring-rescue\/663035002\/<\/a><\/h5>\n<h1 class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\">Knoxville resident climbs Mount Everest, completes daring rescue<\/h1>\n<p class=\"video-desc\">On May 23, Knoxville resident John Quillen sat on top of the world. But the climb to Mount Everest wasn&#8217;t typical.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">John Quillen, Knoxville<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotJ63y0\" class=\"story-asset story-metadata-asset\">\n<div class=\"article-metadata-wrap\">\n<section id=\"module-position-Q7KxocQmoE0\" class=\"storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module story-expandable-photo-module\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo expandable-collapsed\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand-img-horiz\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/f34bc523d544325720e1b8e2f28896950f837dc5\/c=3-0-2046-1536&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637111185445078-Three-waiting-for-summit-push.jpg\" alt=\"Three waiting for climb to start\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637111185445078-Three-waiting-for-summit-push.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/3d5569507733ca056af5edaf0a2a8036c559fb13\/r=500x375\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637111185445078-Three-waiting-for-summit-push.jpg\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"image-credit-wrap\"><span class=\"js-caption-wrapper\"><span class=\"credit\">(Photo: John Quillen)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotIezMQ\" class=\"story-asset inline-share-tools-asset\">\n<div class=\"inline-share-tools asset-inline-share-tools asset-inline-share-tools-top\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-facebook\" data-share-method=\"facebook\" data-uotrack=\"InlineShareFacebookBtn\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-facebook\">CONNECT<\/span><\/span><a class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A\/\/knoxne.ws\/2M0OJN9&amp;text=Knoxville%20resident%20climbs%20Mount%20Everest%2C%20completes%20daring%20rescue&amp;via=knoxnews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-share-method=\"twitter\" data-uotrack=\"InlineShareTwitterLink\" data-popup-width=\"550\" data-popup-height=\"450\" data-popup=\"\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-twitter\">TWEET<\/span><\/a><a class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-linkedin\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=https%3A\/\/knoxne.ws\/2M0OJN9&amp;mini=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-share-method=\"linkedin\" data-popup-width=\"600\" data-popup-height=\"455\" data-uotrack=\"UtilityBarFlyoutLinkedInLink\" data-popup=\"\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-linkedin\">LINKEDIN<\/span><\/a><span class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-comments\" data-share-method=\"comments\" data-uotrack=\"InlineShareCommentsBtn\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-comments\">COMMENT<\/span><\/span><span class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-email\" data-share-method=\"email\" data-uotrack=\"InlineShareEmailBtn\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-email\">EMAIL<\/span><\/span><span class=\"inline-share-btn inline-share-btn-more\" data-share-method=\"facebook\" data-uotrack=\"InlineShareMoreBtn\"><span class=\"inline-share-btn-label inline-share-btn-label-more\">MORE<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">On May 23, Knoxville\u00a0resident John Quillen sat on top of the world. But the climb to the summit of Mount\u00a0Everest wasn&#8217;t typical.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">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\u00a0spent a month participating in acclimatization \u2014 climbing between camps one, two and three to get used to the changes in altitude.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">On May 18, the pair,\u00a0along with their\u00a0Sherpa companions, started their push up the mountain and by May 20 found themselves in good standing between camp one and two, and were\u00a0taking a rest when the unthinkable happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">An oxygen bottle\u00a0fell from a higher point in the mountain and struck at least two\u00a0people, including the head of a Sherpa. The Sherpas are a Himalayan people whose members often serve as porters on mountain-climbing expeditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;The ugliest part about it is that several people walked by this guy and did not help him, in both directions up and down,&#8221; Quillen said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotJVNKQ\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/c74a46920387d88da8ab0fbb34597ff97c632683\/c=0-170-800-772&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637110125478979-Base-camp.jpg\" alt=\"View from base camp as John Quillen and Neal Kushwaha prepare for the start of their Mount Everest climb.\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637110125478979-Base-camp.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/c711c85d58e411988f13438d0dec93db9715f141\/r=400x400\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637110125478979-Base-camp.jpg\" \/>View from base camp as John Quillen and Neal Kushwaha prepare for the start of their Mount Everest climb.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: John Quillen)<\/span><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Kushwaha and Quillen knew that they couldn&#8217;t be bystanders, so they moved into action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThat 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,&#8221; Kushwaha said.\u00a0&#8220;And (also) some people walking right by us but we had to go do something.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The duo along with their Sherpas moved the man hit\u00a0in the head to a safer location before Quillen moved to help a different man who was struck on the leg, ripping his body suit.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-59\" class=\"partner-placement partner-spike\" data-monetization-id=\"native-article_link\" data-monetization-sizes=\"fluid,3,3\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-7103-tn-knoxville-C1262-native-article_link-entertainment-outdoors-61\" class=\"ad-slot\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/tn-knoxville-C1262\/native-article_link\/entertainment\/outdoors_0__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/tn-knoxville-C1262\/native-article_link\/entertainment\/outdoors_0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/tn-knoxville-C1262\/native-article_link\/entertainment\/outdoors_0\" width=\"100%\" height=\"0\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Meanwhile, Kushwaha and his Sherpa\u00a0tended to the head of the injured Sherpa, as blood continue to come from his wound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong>More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/entertainment\/outdoors\/2018\/06\/03\/smoky-mountains-national-park-rescue-tennessee-author-david-brill\/650738002\/\" data-track-label=\"story pages|entertainment|inline|intext|n\/a\">Local author David Brill recounts first-hand experience with Great Smoky Mountains rescue personnel<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong>More:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/entertainment\/2018\/06\/04\/american-ninja-warrior-knoxville-grant-mccartney-life-island-obstacles\/657128002\/\" data-track-label=\"story pages|entertainment|inline|intext|n\/a\">How &#8216;American Ninja Warrior&#8217; has changed Knoxville native Grant McCartney&#8217;s life<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;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\u2019s a Sherpa and he doesn\u2019t have any insurance,&#8221; Quillen said. &#8220;Western climbers have insurance. We really had to beg some people to come up.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"partner-outstream\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Once the injured were secured, Quillen and Kushwaha along with their Sherpas moved quickly to camp three, but were physically and emotionally exhausted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThat\u2019s 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,&#8221; Quillen said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotJqSIs\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/d6e4ed1eacf5dc24e83b70822abf1121fd25ab1e\/c=3-0-2046-1536&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637114713282942-The-view-of-Mt.-Everest-from-camp-four.jpg\" alt=\"View of Mount Everest from camp four.\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637114713282942-The-view-of-Mt.-Everest-from-camp-four.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/3d5569507733ca056af5edaf0a2a8036c559fb13\/r=500x375\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637114713282942-The-view-of-Mt.-Everest-from-camp-four.jpg\" \/>View of Mount Everest from camp four.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Neal Kushwaha)<\/span><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">This advancement in schedule allowed the duo to take their time to camp four, commonly referred to as &#8220;The Death Zone.&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cMost 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,&#8221; Quillen said. &#8220;You look at any account of Everest and \u2026 it\u2019s a survival game and we were definitely thriving right before our summit push.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotIIk8s\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/d6e4ed1eacf5dc24e83b70822abf1121fd25ab1e\/c=3-0-2046-1536&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637113193783868-Road-to-Mt.-Everest.jpg\" alt=\"Neal Kushwaha captures the road to the summit of Mount Everest from the middle of the Northeast Ridge during his descent.\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637113193783868-Road-to-Mt.-Everest.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/3d5569507733ca056af5edaf0a2a8036c559fb13\/r=500x375\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637113193783868-Road-to-Mt.-Everest.jpg\" \/>Neal Kushwaha captures the road to the summit of Mount Everest from the middle of the Northeast Ridge during his descent.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Neal Kushwaha)<\/span><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cIt was sunny, it was clear, it wasn\u2019t windy and if it was, it was only at the summit, which is normal. Hardly anybody there and when they did come, it wasn\u2019t anything spectacular,&#8221; Kushwaha said. &#8220;As magical as it gets, we could probably come to Everest ten more years in a row, and never have that experience again. That\u2019s how crazy it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotOP5Ug\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/3d65474ed2d5497ee1595297d13379d0bc6a1737\/c=0-175-2047-1714&amp;r=x408&amp;c=540x405\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637112571778110-Neal-Kushwaha-at-Summit.jpg\" alt=\"Neal Kushwaha poses at the summit of Mount Everest.\" width=\"540\" height=\"405\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637112571778110-Neal-Kushwaha-at-Summit.jpg\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/50117b4bfe181f32492ec4d414638d7c08e560e6\/r=500x400\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/06\/04\/TennGroup\/Nashville\/636637112571778110-Neal-Kushwaha-at-Summit.jpg\" \/>Neal Kushwaha poses at the summit of Mount Everest.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Neal Kushwaha)<\/span><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p id=\"article-body-p-last\" class=\"p-text p-text-last\">\u201cIt 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,&#8221; Quillen said. &#8220;That\u2019s the only way I can conceivably see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"bx-campaign-730757\" class=\"bxc bx-base bx-custom bx-active-step-1 bx-campaign-730757 bx-brand-2005 bx-width-default bx-type-agilityzone bx-has-close-x-1 bx-fx-blur bx-impress\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"module-position-Q7KxotRlmyg\" class=\"story-asset inline-share-tools-asset\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many thanks to reporter Kylie Hubbard for this one! https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/entertainment\/outdoors\/2018\/06\/05\/knoxville-resident-climbs-mount-everest-completes-daring-rescue\/663035002\/ Knoxville resident climbs Mount Everest, completes daring rescue On May 23, Knoxville resident John Quillen sat on top of the world. But the climb to Mount Everest wasn&#8217;t typical.\u00a0John Quillen, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/2018\/06\/05\/news-sentinel-article\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1265,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1263\/revisions\/1265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}