Sunday 23rd May

Not in the least bit cooled off, Alain Hubert will begin the climb again...

Telephone call to the expedition HQ from Alain Hubert yesterday:
"Michel, I'm going to go back up and try the summit again in the next few days. Could you phone for the weather forecast, please ?"
To which you want to reply: "Stop this craziness, my friend, it's enough now…. Stay where you are, we want you back alive here…"
But these are the very things that you can never say (least of all to the one it concerns). You just think them. You don't say them, because the reasoning behind such a decision has been made on the basis of a different logic. You have to respect it.
Which doesn't stop us from writing that, in our opinion, Alain Hubert is not sufficiently fit physically, to re-attempt the summit like he says. There was this blasted throat infection, which is still handicapping him, despite everything he says. Fifteen days on, and he's still coughing, and he's already been ill twice at high altitude. And if he's going back up, it must be more to try to find Pascal, then to make an attempt on the summit. "Of course, I'm going to look for Pascal's body" Alain explained over the radio yesterday. "But I think that the family should be aware, that in order to recover his body, we would have to undertake a completely new expedition entirely. Going to recover it from where it lies, if we can find it, (and it's also for that reason that I have to go back up) will be completely impossible. If I can get close to his body, it will be to see in what state he is, and eventually to recover his backpack, if I can find it. That's all…."
The timing of this new attempt sickeningly resembles the last: Departure from the ABC Monday (24th May) in the direction of the North Col. Attempt to locate Pascal, at the end of the afternoon, and the next day. Tuesday 25th May: Arrival at camp 2 (7 800m). Stop to drink, then in quick succession to camp 3, where they will re-fill their drinking bottles. From the night of Tuesday (25th May) until Wednesday (26th May): attempt on the summit, depending on weather conditions, and physical shape.
The program may be delayed, at most, by a day or two, but no more than this, because the licence from the Chinese authorities expires on the 30th of May. Before this date the pair will have to pack up their camp, and "clean up" the mountainside.

See also the reconstruction of events leading to the drama. This reconstruction has been made with the participation of Nathalie de Brouwer.