The Everest Story by Tim Vicary. Part 5
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Chapter six
Somervell and Norton – 1924
Norton decided that two pairs of climbers would try to reach the summit, without oxygen. Mallory and Geoffrey Bruce would go first, and Norton and Somervell would follow the next day. The climbers would find a place for Camp 5 above 7,600 metres, and for Camp 6 at 8,231 metres. Odell and Irvine would go up to Camp 4, to help the climbers when they came down.
On 1 June Mallory and Bruce climbed up to Camp 4 with nine porters. The next day was clear and sunny, but above the North Col they met a terrible icy wind. It was difficult to stand, hardly possible to walk. Only five porters continued with Mallory and Bruce. At 7,600 metres, they found a place for two small tents on a steep slope – Camp 5. All that night they shivered in their sleeping bags, while the wind tried to blow their tents into the air. Next morning they were all ill. Only one porter was able to go on. Sadly, they decided to come down.
As they went down, they passed Norton and Somervell with four more porters, coming up. These men reached Camp 5, and spent a better night there. The wind was less strong, and they managed to cook, eat and sleep. It was very, very cold, and in the thin air, with no oxygen, it was difficult to move. But next morning, three porters – Napboo Yishay, Lhakpa Chedi, and Semchumbi – were ready to go on.
They climbed on, up to 8,170 metres – higher than any man had been before. Here, at 1.30 p.m., they put up one tiny tent – Camp 6. Then the porters went down to the North Col, while Norton and Somervell got ready for the night. As it grew dark, they wondered: can a man sleep, without oxygen, at this height?
Yes! It was ‘the best night since I left Camp 1,’ Norton wrote. So at 6.45 next morning the two men set out for the summit. They climbed slowly, taking three or four breaths for every step. They stayed a little below the ridge, to keep out of the wind. But in the shadow of the mountain, out of the sun, it was very cold. Norton shivered all the time, and he was having trouble with his eyes. Somervell coughed a lot, and his bad throat made it difficult to breathe.
By midday they were at 8,536 metres. The view was wonderful – they were above the clouds, with a sea of mountains below them.
But Somervell was exhausted. His throat was worse; he could hardly breathe. So Norton went on alone. He was moving more and more slowly, on a steep slope like the roof of a house. There were large stones and soft snow under his feet; it was easy to fall. And below him – 2,743 metres straight down, in the thin clear air – was the East Rongbuk Glacier and Camp 3.
He looked up. He was about 275 metres below the summit, but they were vertical metres – metres measured up the mountain, not along it. But he was tired, and moving very slowly. And his eyes were getting worse. Sometimes he saw two ice axes in his hand, not one. He knew that it was possible. He could get to the summit – but he could not get back.
Norton was nearer the summit than any man before him. But at 8,575 metres, he decided to turn back towards Somervell. It was the right thing to do. Halfway down to Camp 5, Somervell stopped. There was something in his throat – for nearly a minute he could not breathe at all. Then he coughed up a ball of blood, and could breathe again.
When they reached Camp 4, Norton could not see at all.