Trip Report: Mount Everest

After a short breakfast we headed toward the icefall passing about 20 people along the way. Things were going well and the team was feeling great. After we rounded a corner I got a glimpse of the first vertical fixed rope. Ten people were standing in line waiting for their turn to ascend. Progress was slow, the person in the front dropped their mitten. Their Sherpa got it for him and proceeded to clip the man's jumar to the rope for him. Then the Sherpa slipped, it was very icy and a precarious place to try and help someone with the most mundane task. But that is the heart of the Sherpa people, they risk their lives to help people achieve their dreams. I then watched in horror as the man ascended the jumar slower than a competent climber could solo the ice step.