12
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
3hat lies beyond the heart of man
By Eileen M. Chambers
Correspondent
This is the second of a
three-part series about Sisters
mountaineer Warren Thomp-
son who has gone on two
expeditions to Everest, one
to Denali, and many more to
world-class mountains. Part
one appeared on March 7.
Everest 1984:
“Nobody sleeps well on
Everest because of the lack of
oxygen,” Warren Thompson
says.
In 1984, he was leading an
American expedition that was
attempting to climb Everest
from the Chinese side of the
mountain, a first for the U.S.
“I was at Base Camp,
looking at the stars which at
18,000 feet are unbelievable.
It was so quiet. The usual jet-
stream roar off the mountain
was still. Standing there, I felt
a slight tremor but thought
nothing of it until the next
morning, I awoke to a voice
outside my tent. ʻKnock.
Knock. Might I have a chat?’
My British visitor told me that
an earthquake had triggered
an avalanche which hit their
camp in the Great Couloir.
“Men were dead. Others
injured. No food, fuel or tents.
ʻDo you think you can help
us,’ he asked.
“ʻNot only yes, but hell
yes.’”
What Thompson had at his
disposal were yaks — shaggy
cattle that Tibetans use to
carry loads for expeditions.
“Immediately I went to
our Tibetan liaison officer and
said that we were going to
divert our yaks from our route
over to help the British.”
“ʻNo,” he replied.
“You don’t understand.
This is life or death.
“ʻNo,’ he raised his voice,
digging in his heels. ʻThat’s
their karma.’”
“Okay,” I calculated,
thinking on my feet. “That’s
their karma but we are going
to help them.”
“ʻNo! If you go there, you
will share their karma and
their karma is bad because the
mountain fell on them.’
“People are going to die.”
“ʻAnd then they will be
reborn.’
“Given his beliefs, I knew
he was not going to budge.
Like most problems you face
climbing internationally, you
have to be smart diplomati-
cally. Eventually, I got him to
let our yaks carrying our sup-
plies up our route to a junc-
ture where our climbers, using
makeshift ladders, could then
trek over to the British.”
This was not the first
problem to hit Thompson’s
expedition. Before they were
slated to leave Seattle, the
team itself showed signs of
dissension.
“Weeks before we were to
leave, after eight years plan-
ning this expedition, half of
the guys suddenly announced
that they wanted to climb
Everest alpine style,” he said.
Alpine climbing consists
of small, fast teams carrying
minimal gear. Expedition-
style is based upon the num-
ber of climbers estimated to
reach the summit and then
creating a supply train up the
mountain to support those
climbers reaching the summit
and, equally important, get-
ting back down.
“They wanted to climb
light, fast and without oxy-
gen, a very risky, make-it-
or-die-trying gamble. All my
planning had been based on
expedition-style. I had stud-
ied everything about Ever-
est. I knew the route, where
every camp should be placed,
the supplies we needed to put
our guys on the summit. I had
even gotten high-capacity
oxygen canisters from NASA.
As the expedition leader
knowing the risks involved I
would have pulled the plug,
but they insisted that we con-
tinue. However, I knew we
were in trouble. Bottom line,
you have to be able to trust
the guys climbing with you.
We didn’t have that now.”
Sure enough, when the
team got to Base Camp,
mutiny erupted.
“Those who insisted we
climb alpine-style picked
apart all of our logistics, right
down to how much toilet
paper we should carry. It was
hell. They didn’t know what
was needed like I did. After
six weeks, I had to ask incom-
ing guests to bring toilet paper
with them.”
As weeks passed, Thomp-
son, sick with a severe sinus
infection, realized that his
health was not improving
nor was the team’s resistance
diminishing. Devastated at
seeing the expedition fall
apart, Warren, along with his
friend Ray, and a physician,
made the difficult decision to
head back to the U.S.
“On the plane, Ray said
to me ʻIf you ever do another
expedition, I will go with you
but, Warren, before then, I
want you to consider what
you need to do to become a
better leader.’ I listened as
Ray continued, seeing that
my leadership was a factor in
what happened on Everest.”
His friend told him, “War-
ren, whenever the press asked
a question to the team, you
answered it for the rest of us.”
“I thought that is what a
leader did.”
“But what would have
happened if you said to the
reporter, ʻWhy don’t we have
Phil, our equipment manager,
PHOTO BY WARREN THOMPSON
Moon over Everest.
answer that question? He is
the best when it comes to
equipment.’ If you let Phil
step into the spotlight, War-
ren, how do you think Phil
would have felt?”
“Really important.”
“No. You are not getting
it. It would have told Phil
that you trust him enough
to answer a question that he
knows you can answer. So,
when the chips are down and
you need cohesion on the
team, who will stand with
you? Phil. The reason this
expedition is going to fail is
not because you had dissen-
sion. It is going to fail because
the rest of the team didn’t
stand with you. Warren, the
role of a leader is not to stand
in front and take the credit. A
leader’s job is to lift every-
one else on the team up.”
The expedition did, in fact,
fail. Attempting alpine-style,
two climbers who made it to
the highest camp had no food
or fuel to melt snow for water
and only a half a can of oxy-
gen. When a storm hit, they
barely made it back down the
mountain.
Thompson had learned an
invaluable lesson.
“In that moment, I learned
that leadership is ultimately
about the relationships you
build. I would not forget this
the next time I attempted
Everest.”
r
o
l
o
c
r
e
t
Wa inting!
Pa For Adults
Learn to paint from photos
of pets, fl 1owers, and more.
Jodi Schneider teaches you to
easily transfer any photo.
NO DRAWING EXP. NEEDED!
Ongoing | Thursdays,
10:30 a.m. Noon
707-337-5047
Sage Meadow Art Studio | $50/mo.