To get to the summit of Lobuche peak I needed to backpack close to 50 miles and ascend 13,000 feet. IT started with a helicopter ride into Lukla Airport, one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Through the course of 6 days, we steadily climbed towards the base of the peak and further into the Sagarmatha National Park. We crossed countless swaying foot bridges over gaps in the mountains ripped deep by the rivers of glacier runoff each spring. The lower trails wound through rhododendron forests and pine trees, but above about 14,000 feet the plants began to disappear and only rock, dirt, ice and sunlight remained. We stayed in mountain huts in Phakding, Namche Baazar, Pangboche, Dughla and finally Lobuche high camp. Each day getting higher and the air getting thinner and getting closer to our goal, the summit of Lobuche Peak.

The afternoon before our summit attempt, it began to snow. I felt pretty acutely the affects of the low oxygen levels and so did one of the Sherpas. At this elevation, there is only about 45% the available oxygen as we have in Cleveland. My head began to hurt, my stomach too and I had no appetite. Even the smallest efforts like walking to another tent or going to the outhouse felt like running a marathon. I felt so unwell, shivering in that tent, lying on rocks with mountain sickness that I didn’t think that I would feel well enough to even make an attempt the next morning. I took some Tylenol, acetozolamide and even a little steroids and went to sleep about 630 pm. Surprisingly, I slept fairly well and when the alarm went off at 12:30 am, I actually felt ok.

We put on our headlamps, at a quick breakfast and started up under a nearly full and benevolent moon. The storm from the night before had blown out leaving about 3-4 inches of snow over the frigid rocks. With the clouds gone and the moon and the stars bright, the mountains looked like ghosts and were surprisingly visible even with no sunlight. We made our way up the icy face using fixed lines and jumars about 10 times over the difficult areas. The conditions were tricky and even the guides were slipping and falling short distances.

We steadily climbed and though I was feeling very fatigued, we were making great progress! We were almost to the glaciated portion of the mountain. From there the going gets easier, just crampons and follow the summit ridge to the top! Then the sickness began to return along with severe fatigue. After getting to 19,000 I began to feel a tremendous headache, stomach ache and light headed. I could tell I wasn’t thinking clearly and even 5 minutes of climbing was extremely difficult. I realized that my body really needed another few days to acclimatize as they had originally suggested. I also knew that 80% of climbing accidents happen on the way down. So with just ~300 meters left, we decided to turn around.

The mountain, will always be there, but I needed to make sure that I would be as well. We climbed as high as possible, had an incredible adventure. I thought of the patients, forced onto their dangerous journeys without the option to turn around. They only have the option to move forward with humanity. They inspire me.