Friday 21st May

"Pascal was lost on the North Face, some 1 000 m lower down..."

We asked yesterday Alain Hubert to send an e-mail describing shortly the way all that sad story happened. Her is his account.
"Here is a summary of our ascent and how things turned out.
We set out from the North Col on Monday 17th May (except for Pascal, who did not sleep at the ABC and who had left the ABC on the previous day). When we reached 7 800 metres, I felt ill, I was vomiting, my legs were buckling and, in the end, I gave up. Manram came back down with me. It was then 5 pm. Pascal rejoined Joao at camp 3 (or 6 depending on the names), 8 300 m, at 10 pm. Joao, in great shape, had been waiting there for him since 6 pm. The two companions filled up with fluids and set off again at 11 pm. At that time, Joao felt his feet were a bit cold, but he warmed up quite quickly. But as he was feeling good, he decided to leave his oxygen tank in the tent and decided to carry Pascal's so that he could climb more quickly.
That night, the weather conditions were excellent. Tuesday 18th, towards 2 pm, they reached the summit, as announced on the site. But - I don't know why - they spent more than two hours looking for the tripod placed there a few years ago by a Chinese expedition to measure the height of Everest; they did not know that this instrument has since disappeared. In fact, Pascal reached the summit a little after Joao and had been using oxygen for a few hours. At around 4 pm, they started their descent, which was not without difficulty on account of the fresh snow that was rather slippery. Because they could not find one of their rucksacks that they had left along the way so as to be lighter, they were forced to make their way for a few hours without torchlight!
When night fell (Tuesday evening), the darkness was especially opaque and heavy. What's more, the wind had got up and they were having difficulty finding their way. As is the case in this type of situation, each man went at his own pace, saying they would rendez-vous a little further on. Very quickly, Joao and Pascal lost sight of one another. At around three o'clock in the morning, Joao bivouacked for a few hours, waiting for a little daylight. Not seeing Pascal arrive, he continued his descent.
We were now Wednesday morning. Along the way, he met two of the three Poles who had reached the summit the day before, using oxygen: there, he learnt that the third man was reported missing. Without going into the details here, Garcia arrived at camp 3 (8200 m) at the end of the morning (Wednesday). He waited for Pascal, but he did not come. Here his courage took over and he wanted to go back up (with oxygen) and look for his companion. But as this happened, at the ABC, we had been warned by radio and had already organised help. We had to go and rescue the Poles and Pascal. That is how I got into contact with Joao who was becoming increasingly incoherent (he was talking about the sun, the birds, the countryside, etc.). After endless arguments, I managed to convince him to abandon the idea of going back up to look for Pascal, and to continue on down to camp 2. He finally saw reason and went on down: he reached camp 2 at around 6 pm (Wednesday) (NB: since from the beginning of the expedition there has been some confusion surrounding the names of the camps, with some taking the names used by the British in 1924, others using more recent names, and still others using the two, things are not very clear. In any event, it would appear that the camp 3 that Alain is talking about is the camp at 8 300 m and camp 2 is at 7 800 m). After a brief halt, he set off again for the North Col (7 100 m) apparently not accepting any assistance, despite the frostbite he was suffering on his feet, hands and nose
The second night (Wednesday evening) took him by surprise, and because I was afraid he would fall asleep for ever, I had to keep him awake by talking to him constantly over the radio. At 10.30 pm, the two Brazilians in the expedition (NB: these are two Everest fanatics who are on their third attempt on Everest as a couple) caught sight of Joao and rescued him as he was on his last legs.
As for Pascal, he was seen under the first step and then, as three people were making their way up towards him, they saw him slip. Pascal was lost on the North Face, some 1 000 m lower down. We are currently the afternoon of Thursday 20th May 1999; Joao has just arrived at the ABC and fortunately has been treated free of charge by a doctor from a Georgian team for his frostbite (hands, feet, nose).
In view of these tragic events, I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do. There have been so many dramas this year! And this bloody weather that only allows windows that are far too short to go from the ABC to the summit and back again without problems. As we have seen only too well! One thing is certain in any case: our Chinese permit expires on 30th May and I don't know if there is going to be the right break in the weather between now and then. And naturally I will have to take care of clearing the mountain, since Pascal is no longer with us and Joao is in no fit condition. I'll have a bit of a rest, and then we'll see what happens…
Alain Hubert.