The Seventh Summit

Chapter Four

3rd May, 1985, we woke up in the wee hours of the morning. I checked my watch, which said 3:45am. That seemed like the perfect time to climb up the final ascent to the summit. I could remember every time I walk the Hillary Steps towards the summit. I've always had a habit of leaving a souvenir at the summit. But now, I wasn't just nervous as always. I was really scared to make the final ascent up there.

We got ready really quick, and left our camps to start going towards the summit by 4:00am.

As we were walking, Baig suddenly stopped halfway. I turned around and saw that Baig stood there quietly.

"What's wrong?" I asked him.

"Promise me that we won't stop under any circumstances," Baig requested. I didn't know why he asked for such a promise. But then he slowly pulled out his walkie-talkie and called his base coordinator.

"Janab, Baig here. Over," he said.

"Baig, this is base. Is everything okay?" the base coordinator asked.

"I'm not really sure at the moment. I'm not in a completely fit state to make the final ascent, yet I'm going to attempt it. But if I fail, I request that the Indian shall not be blamed under any circumstances over my defeat. He is the one who is carrying me to the summit. Over and out," he explained and turned his comm. off.

He then pointed me towards the summit and asked me to carry on towards the Hillary Step.

Those final moments before reaching the Hillary Step were the most excruciatingly challenging moments. While I was slowly climbing up towards the summit, I was also keeping a close eye on Baig whether he was with me or not. Nations aside, sportsmanship aside, everything we were doing was simply out of humanity. But we were starting to struggle as we were stumbling and hardly making our way towards the top of the Hillary Step. The air pressure was getting really lower than what we were hoping for. It was difficult for me to breathe, but it was far more challenging for Baig to handle. After a long struggle, we finally reached the top of the Hillary Step. What would have taken 9-10 hours to climb up there, took more than 12 hours of our time. We reached there at 4:45pm to be precise.

But just as we were starting to take our final steps towards the summit, I heard a loud thud. I turned around and saw that Baig had fallen down. I sat down and turned his body around. He was barely breathing.

"Baig, hey Baig. Get up man. We gotta finish this thing up. Seventh Summit, seven times, remember?" I said as I tried to motivate him to get up and leave a forever lasting mark on the summit.

"Sorry brother, but I can barely breathe to even stand up anymore. I have reached the summit, which is where I'm standing right now. This is my Everest Summit," he slowly said as he closed his eyes before letting out his final breath and laid there motionless like a rock. I couldn't believe that he gave away right when he was just a few steps away from his goal.

"Not like this Baig," I said angrily and took off my glasses and held him by his collar.

For the last few steps, no matter how difficult it was for me to breathe, no matter how difficult it was to muster so much strength, I plucked up all my courage and stamina and pulled Baig's motionless body till the summit.

As I made the final step at the tip of the summit, I gave Baig a final pull and rested his body by the peak as I sat down slowly.

***

It's 9:30pm right now, and I'm sitting on the top of the world. After I reached the summit, I rested there for a while as I was beyond tired and completely out of breath. We both reached the summit at 7:45pm, which means that it took me almost three hours to reach the summit.

I don't know what's gonna happen next because I'm not able to see anymore. When I took off my glasses to walk towards the summit, I forgot the fact that the Ultraviolet Rays of the sun are way more harmful and dangerous. This caused a retinal damage in my both eyes, making me blind temporarily. But this temporary blindness could have been solved if I'd have started my descent immediately I reached the summit. But descending the summit blindly would have caused an immediate death.

This reminds me. I was supposed to contact the base again after 9:00pm.

"Shiv to Mishra, come in, over."

"Shiv this is Mishra, over."

"Mishra, how long is it gonna take for you guys to come and get me?"

"It's getting dark and really difficult for the climbers to initiate a rescue mission in such adverse conditions Shiv."

"So help ain't coming before sunrise, right?"

"Sorry Shiv, I'm helpless."

"It's fine Mishra. I can understand."

"You hang up there tight buddy. You are named after Shiva, you can handle the cold."

"Yeah sure, see you guys tomorrow, over and out."

So that was base, assuring me that help is coming after sunrise. So I'm to wait the whole night up here frozen solid up here, with hardly any oxygen or any food or water.

I'm shivering with cold. Along with retinal damage, I'm developing hypothermia. I don't know how I'm holding myself together, but now my voice is slowly fading away.

It's, 1:30am, and I am trying to sleep on the top of the world. Winds are almost tearing my face apart. My hands and feet are frozen. And my nose and ears are now frostbitten and I'm still trying to figure out how I'm speaking at all.

But it seems that things are getting even more difficult altog...