There is no question climbing Everest is dangerous but there is a very distorted view from the general public of how dangerous mountaineering is in general and a lot of confusion regarding Everest.
Mountaineering can be a very, very safe sport or a deadly activity and it really depends on who is doing it, what he/she is doing and how he/she is doing it.
I have never had any accidents climbing in more than 20 years of doing mountaineering. This is, I think, because of the type of climbing I do (I don’t really do hard core, world record breaking type of ascents. The first ascents I have to my name in the Andes are relatively easy semi-technical ascents that no one had done because they hadn’t explored the area, not because they were too difficult for world class climbers to do) also because of how safe I like to be when climbing and a bit of luck too.
A lot of the deaths on Everest are due to individuals making a long series of mistakes that culminate invariably in their deaths. Many of the plaques said: “so and so from such place summited Everest and died on the descent”. Many deaths on Everest are due to inexperience, bad judgement and incompetence. It’s a sad but true fact. These deaths are tragic because they could have been avoided had the person been better trained, more experienced, and/or had made better decisions, in many cases turning around and going down, instead of succumbing to summit fever or having that mentality of “failure is not an option” or some other deadly mistaken positive thinking type of attitude like “if you believe it, it will happen”. Or another favorite myth!: it’s 90% mental! Phil, our expedition leader says that but he is wise enough to follow it with the very important disclaimer: “if you have the preparation”. That IF is the part everyone loves to ignore so they can believe they can do anything they want. Everest is a perfect example of the cruel reality. You can believe whatever you want to believe but if you make enough mistakes you can end up in that cemetery, positive thinking and all.
A different type of tragedy is the death of competent climbers like Scott Fischer, who was an expert, strong, and very experienced. In his attempt to save some of his clients’ lives he got caught way too high on the mountain, in a horrible storm and due more to unfortunate circumstances than mistakes ended up dying with his client. Or the death of many world class climbers doing incredible feats by mastering the skills of their sport and dying by an unfortunate event like an avalanche on their descent route. These deaths are a lot sadder, in my opinion, because these alpinists had respect for the mountain, and the sport and were competent and dedicated and their death is more due to bad luck.
I am very aware of the inherit danger of climbing to the highest mountain in the world but I am also aware that I have more experience and better judgement than a lot of people that have died on Everest (at least that is my impression from reading accident accounts and these climbers’ past experience). I have a lot of respect for Everest and I will be approaching this climb very seriously. I will not have any problem coming back home without the summit knowing I made the right decision to turn around if summiting would require me to climb with a lot smaller safety margin that I deem minimum.
I will definitely give it my absolute best based on all my training, fitness, experience and judgement so I can come home satisfied with or without the summit. I know too well that a mountain like Everest can have weather and/or conditions that can kill even the best mountaineers in the world. I am also very aware that I have to have enough health and acclimatization to do this climb safely and that is not dependent on how badly I want that summit.
I will not fail because of mental weakness. There I have confidence in myself after 20 years and more than 300 ascents I have made in my career. There, is where I will give it my all. I will also try to climb this the most intelligently way possible maximizing my chances to summit and minimizing my chances of things getting out of control and spiraling down to a situation where I may end up injured or dead.
Of course I can die on this expedition but I really don’t think climbing Everest for me is as dangerous as the general public perceives Everest to be. The media, with their typical incompetence on subjects they know nothing about has painted a completely distorted picture of what Everest is like. It is not a mountain that is full of trash and bodies and it is not a deadly suicide endeavor to attempt it, especially not for an experienced, intelligent climber using the services of a competent logistics outfitter. This is why I feel comfortable here in Everest and I do accept there is an element of risk I cannot control. I feel that if conditions are good and I have health, I should have a good chance to reach that summit and come back down safely.
