Hello Peak, Goodbye Everest

Hello Peak

I cranked my O's up to 4 liters per minute. It was getting harder to breathe with each step... not that I was taking many. I looked behind me to see how Sun-jo was holding up. He was going at the same slow pace as the rest of us were. He looked sickly and weak... like I felt any better. I stopped and waited for him to catch up, I could see he appreciated this from the slight smile on his face.

"I don't know... how much longer... I can go... on." He was having trouble with every word he let escape his mouth. Up in this altitude, saying one word felt like you were being punched in the gut.

"We're gonna make it, I promise. We've got limited time though, keep pushing on." I stayed walking beside him, making sure he was okay. I cranked up his O's for him, then did the same for myself. About 5 minutes later, Yogi and Yash had caught up and passed us. This was my cue to take 2 more steps each minute. I looked over at Sun-jo, who was breathing heavily. He was slowly blinking as though he was going to faint. I cranked up the O's one more time, I didn't want to go to far or all of the oxygen would empty out within 60 seconds.

We were 10 feet away when he turned toward me. He had tears in his eyes and his nose was running. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. I tried tugging his arm to keep walking, but he stood his ground. Time was ticking.

"Peak... I can't do this. You have to go... without me." He was in pretty bad shape, but I wasn't going to let him do this. He had sisters to take care of. If he tried going down the north side of the mountain, he'd be caught.

"Are you crazy? We've gotten too far for you to give up! I'm not going without you! You'll be caught if you give up now! Think about your family Sun-jo... don't fail them. Don't fail Zopa."

I saw the energy flare in his eyes when I mentioned his family, but it quickly dissipated. "Sun-jo, I'm tired, too. We all are, but 10 feet from here is the summit."

I gripped his arm and started walking. His steps were very weak, I was basically dragging him behind me. Yogi and Yash stopped and waited for us. I handed Yogi the camera and asked him to film me and Sun-jo.

5 feet...
4 feet...
3 feet...

I turned our oxygen down and pulled out the prayer flag I made. As I stood there, two feet from the summit, I thought about my family. I thought about my mom, the two Peas, and even Rolf. I thought about what my mom said... "you have to be selfish if you want to survive." I looked over and Sun-jo and, out of the corner of my eye, I saw trouble coming. Chinese soldiers.

"Sun-jo... Sun-jo, we have to keep moving. It's only two feet away the soldiers are coming." He looked back and began to panic. We couldn't run, not with the amount of oxygen we had. By the time we made 2 steps, they were in front of us.

"Illegal! We arrest you!" Sun-jo had one expression on his face; fear. I stepped in front of him, "He's reaching the summit whether you like it or not."

They looked surprise that I stood up to them, but got back to business. One soldier pulled out the radio to tell Captain Shek they found us while the other attempted to grab Sun-jo. I pushed him away, snatched the radio, and threw it. They wouldn't be getting that back. I pulled Sun-jo, and with whatever energy that God gave me, I walked to that summit.

I bent down and put my hands on my knees, I barley had an oxygen left. Yogi took care of the soldiers as Yash ran to us. "Got everything on camera!" I clapped Sun-jo on the back and looked out at the view. How I missed home.