원정 개요

Beaird and his one Sherpa, Pasang left C3 for the top at about 7:00 pm on 20 May. He explained their early start: "We decided on an overnight summit because our summit window was so small and we didn't want to get stuck in traffic. We summited at 2:15 am on the 21st. We were one of the first groups up after the Chinese team, and I found one of the summit ropes (installed for the Chinese) to be dangerously improperly anchored (the end of the rope pulled right out of the anchor) and so I fixed this before we came back down." They descended to C1 for the night.

Beaird commented that "I am thankful to have had the opportunity to summit Everest and to be joined by such hard working and talented Sherpas. Although we summited at night, it was a fantastic experience and well worth the physical and financial cost.

"My only disappointment was the degree to which the Chinese politicized the mountain -- something I've not experienced anywhere else in the world. There were many instances where I was left a little confused regarding the political climate in Tibetan China. Issues not directly related to the mountain were having goods inspected while crossing into China for, among other things, pictures of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan flags. This continued with Internet access in country, which was censored. I could not access my email or my climbing blog."

"On the mountain, it was the insistence of the Chinese that their team be the first to summit, which forced everyone else on the mountain to wait until the Chinese climbing team felt the conditions were just right. The non-Sherpa rope team didn't put up any ropes until the Chinese climbing team was ready to go for the summit, and in acting this way, the rope team missed many good chances to get ropes in much earlier. Additionally, it seemed (I only know this from second-hand accounts) that there was tension between the Chinese climbing team and the Tibetan rope team, for obvious political reasons.

"The coup-de-grace was that once the Chinese team did actually make a summit attempt, something like only three of the 12-14 climbers actually summited. So we all waited many extra days if not weeks so that three Chinese climbers could claim the summit first. It seemed to me like a very amateurish way for a country of China's stature to act. The emphasis should be on climber safety, not on national pride. As you can imagine, emotions and frustrations on the mountain were running high, which I'm sure affected my perception of the political issues."

Sherpa:
Pasang Sherpa, 20/2/83 (8/11/2039), Balakharka, Makalu-4, Everest X4,
Cho Oyu X1, Makalu X1