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 Home > South Col Dispatches Index > May 25 Dispatch

The Rescue
Base Camp - Sunday, May 25, 2003

Benitez
Benitez
DISPATCHES

Everest 2003 Dispatch Photo
In Memory
A monument to climbers

As all of you following along on The Mountain Zone know, our team has been at Camp II for quite a few days, watching the weather, but also the vast carnage coming down from the South Col. Everything from frostbite to snow blindness. We were feeling good about our decisions to stay put for a few days and simply be spectators to the circus coming down the hill. Yesterday morning, our world went from spectator to participant. After breakfast with Willi and Damian Benegas (dear friends from Argentina who just returned from putting up a bold new route on Nuptse, alpine style, no oxygen) we were lounging in the sunshine, and making fun of Willi for all the gear he dropped on the climb. Then something caught our attention. A Sherpa was being helped downhill by the arm by another Sherpa. Given all we had been seeing the past few days this should have been nothing out of the ordinary, but this time was different. As this guy walked, he moaned in pain, and struggled to breathe. Upon reaching right below our camp he sat down and refused to move. Willi, Damian and I hustled down to see what was up.

Upon arrival we saw that Karma, the sick Sherpa was not just tired, but in serious trouble. His oxygen saturation was fine, his pulse was a little high, but, "his stomach", he said, was "very, very bad". Upon hearing this and realizing that one Sherpa would not be enough to get him to Base Camp, I proceeded to get him fluid with sugar and salt mixed in trying to combat dehydration as his friend said, "no eat, drink, shit or piss for 3 days." The rest of the guys got on the radio to try to find extra Sherpas to help him down. No one responded, not only did no one respond but when Karmas teams Base Camp manager begged other teams for help, she was flat out refused. Karmas leader, an American man, was stuck on the South Col, snow-blind with a dead radio. At this point it was obvious to all of us that we would have to be the team to run the rescue.

(Editor's note: It should be emphasized that the lack of a response was not an indication of a lack of willingness by any party to help, rather a lack of available personnel at the time of the incident to assist in a rescue attempt; Luis and the others were in a position where they were the only ones available who could possibly attempt a rescue).
Being so close to leaving for our summit attempt, we chose how we would go about this very carefully. After getting Karma to drink a liter of sugar and salt water, we agreed that Lakhpa our Sidar, and a few of our Sherpas at Camp II would get him to Camp I. and at that point after working the radios some more, we were hopeful that a) Karma would recover a bit with a loss of elevation and b) we would get a bigger team moving up from Base Camp to help.

We could not have been more wrong on both counts.

I was, at this point, feeling a pull from two sides. First, my job as a guide and responsibility to my team and second, starting to work on someone not on our team medically. Willi and I agreed that for the time, it was best for me to stay at Camp II at this point and see over the radio how things would play out. Upon reaching where Willi and Damian Benegas were taking down their camp, Karma had collapsed and was conscious, but unable to walk. Seeing this, Willi and Damian knew that they were now a part of whatever would transpire. Putting their fatigue aside from being on an alpine wall for six days, they ripped a ladder from a crevasse crossing, got Karma packaged in a sleeping bag and on oxygen, and begun to drag him downhill. By this time we were making some headway on the radios to enlist more help, three Sherpas from Base Camp were coming up with a actual litter to put him in instead of a ladder, and two Sherpas of his own team were on their way downhill from Camp IV. Tired to say the least, they dropped their loads at Camp II and continued down to join in the rescue.

At this point Damian and Willi realized that they needed more western style help. They have limited medical training, and were the only ones that could work the ropes and anchors needed to move Karma downhill. Willi and I started a very serious conversation at this point as to what would be the pros and cons of me heading down to join. Realizing that joining in the rescue could cost my summit bid with the team, we reasoned that if needed, I could talk Willi or Damian thru some patient care things if needed, or was it better for me to join as it was found out that out of all the folks at Camp II that day, I had the most medical training and experience. Right as this thought was being vocalized, Damian came on the radio and said that Karma had lost consciousness, he had been convulsing, vomiting, and was unresponsive to verbal commands.

Enough was enough.

Willi and I looked and each other, and no words needed to be said. With his eyes, he told me, "go, and do the best you can." as I rushed around Camp II, Willi was saying that his injectable dexamethazone, had broken, and he needed it, and quick. I don't remember much of packing up at Camp II and saying goodbye, all I remember, is running. Running at almost 22,000 feet to try and help a man I had never known before this day. I hopped on the radio and told them I was coming. I also requested IV fluid and a prep kit from Base Camp to be run up by our two fastest Sherpas at base. No looking or begging, simply pick our two strongest, and send them, fast.




I made it from Camp II to Camp I in 27 minutes. Don't ask me how, other than I knew that minutes would count, or so I thought. I arrived on scene and quickly administered the dex. I tried to do a secondary survey, collecting vitals and general conditions to relay to Luanne, the Base Camp doc. One of the problems was, I could not find a pulse, everywhere I looked, it was light and thready, barely seeming to be there, his eyes were rolled up in his head, and to get him to focus on me, I had to rub his sternum with my knuckles, never a good sign. But the thing that let me know that time was of the essence, was that his entire abdomen was rigid, not just tender or firm, but hard as a board, appearing more and more like kidney failure, or septic shock from a perforated bowel or intestine, none of which is good. He had been vomiting bile into his oxygen mask and it took at least all of us to roll him over to clear the mask and his throat. This was not altitude sickness, this was something much, much worse.

We continued to call for more assistance, but none ever came, except the two Sherpas I requested, Mingma and Kami. We did however, get more assistance from above in the form of two Italian speed climbers. Tired and weary from their speed attempt on Everest, Fabio and Merciel put their thoughts of Base Camp aside and joined in to help, providing direction on the ropes to manage the travel of the litter Karma was on. I would stop the group to check on him periodically, seeing how bad his level of consciousness was. The terrain was too difficult to move fast, most people at these elevations who fall sick are left for dead. Period. As I looked at the circle of people around Karma, giving everything they had, I realized that these people were not used to failure, or excuses, so we went about our work with the same passion, if we could help it, we would not fail. As the sun set, and the night wore on, we could all tell that Karma was getting worse. We were reaching the limit of endurance, doing technical raising and lowering having no less than five ropes on him at a time, all in the dark. I was beginning to wonder how to keep all the rescuers safe, as people were losing balance, falling over, and not drinking water or eating food. There simply was no time.

While doing a casual check of his level of consciousness at 7:15 pm, in one of the most dangerous parts of the Icefall, Lakhpa, our Sidar, said "he has passed out again", but shining my light on his face, I knew something was terribly wrong. I pushed all the rescuers aside and proceeded first to rub his sternum with my knuckles, no response. Then I checked breathing and heartbeat, nothing. Then the eyes, as they are truly the window to the soul: fixed, dilated pupils. At that point we knew that there was one thing left to do: CPR. I began chest compressions as Damian did the rescue breathing. I tried a cardiac thump, Damian and I refused to give up, until a gentle hand on my shoulder, Willi told me to stop. It was over. I looked up thru the steam coming off all our bodies from the effort and the light from our headlamps and started to cry, we had failed. Karma Sherpa, 28 years old, was gone. It was agreed that we would secure him there overnight and get to Base Camp as quick as we could seeing that we were all at that time, beyond the limit of our own emotions and endurance. We silently made our way down the rest of the icefall, watching Base Camp glow in the distance, and hearing the cheers and laughter of teams finished with their trips, and successful summits achieved. As I walked into our camp with Willi and Damian, a cheer came up from the French camp, not knowing what had transpired. How ironic then that after all that effort, pain, and bold risk for the sake of Karma, we had failed. The Sherpa culture has strict rules about cleansing after handling a dead person. They used Juniper smoke, sprinkled pure water, and threw rice three times into the air. After all this was done, and the weight of what had happened began to sink in, I had a cleansing ritual of my own. I dropped to one knee, and promptly threw up.

As I sit in Base Camp trying to recover from all the aches of the rescue both of the mind and body, I find myself angry. Angry at the fact that when calling for help, none came. But when his body was brought the rest of the way thru the Icefall hoards gathered to gawk. BBC, AP, ABC all set up their cameras. The night before, he was a simple Sherpa in trouble, now, he was newsworthy and all the people in the world showed up for the spectacle of a body coming to the helicopter platform. The Sherpa are our employees true, but they are human, just like us. This did not need to happen. The fact that they are expected to be superhuman at all times sickens me. I have many Sherpa friends that I have met over the years, I would gladly risk my life for them as they do me. Complacency does not count as a modus operandi for an expedition. They are our responsibility as they are here because we are here, no more, no less. The question remains for me, if I can go back up and be satisfied with the reasons for doing so. My team hopes to summit on the 29th leaving me tomorrow to make my decision. This will be one of the hardest things I have ever had to decide. Willi supports me if I choose to stay down, yet the same pull that drew Karma up onto her slopes, calls me still. I have to choose if that call is so important at this point out of respect for him.

May God and Lord Buddha hold you in the palm of their hands, Karma Sherpa.

Luis

Luis Benitez, Alpine Ascents International Guide and MountainZone.com Correspondent

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