Weather permitting, the Irish expedition hopes to reach the summit of Everest very soon, writes Lorna Siggins
"We've been through the Khumbu icefall almost a dozen times now, and we want our next return traverse to be our last If we get the weather break, it's all the way up this time."
Dr Clare O'Leary and Pat Falvey were resolute. Early yesterday morning, the pair and their Sherpa team reached Everest's South Col at 26,000ft and climbed into their tents for a few hours' sleep. Weather permitting, this would be their final rest before pushing for the mountain's 29,035ft summit.
However, the emphasis was on "weather permitting" as Falvey spoke to The Irish Times by phone from Camp 2 (21,000ft) at the base of the Lhotse Wall over the weekend.
Both he and O'Leary had returned several days before to base camp after a brief descent to the Nepalese village of Dingboche, where they tried to recuperate from some of the ravaging effects of altitude.
Several weeks had been spent establishing the higher camps and allowing the body to acclimatise gradually. There is method to this: research has shown that an unacclimatised person taken from sea level directly to Everest's summit, some five-and-a-half vertical miles, would pass out in about three minutes and die in about 10 more due to lack of oxygen.
Last Thursday, the climbers, who will be using oxygen in the higher reaches, analysed all available weather information and identified a slim "window" between May 15th and 18th. There were some discrepancies between wind speed and temperatures, they noted, but "after much analysis, a decision was made". Supplies, including food, water and that vital oxygen, were prepared for a summit bid.
And so, by Friday, the pair and their Sherpas were resting at Camp 2 and preparing to move on Sunday up to Camp 3. This third camp, named by the group after Ireland's Carrantouhill, is a bleak spot - a narrow platform off the 4,000ft Lhotse Wall extending from 22,300ft to 26,300ft.
"We won't linger there, but will leave for Camp 4 on the South Col and have about six to seven hours' rest," Falvey explained. "Then if Clare is feeling well enough, we will go for the top later on Monday [yesterday\]. That's another 12 to 14-hour journey. If all goes to plan, we will be there early Tuesday [today\], Irish time, or else we will turn back and save our energies for another attempt in a few days."
Early yesterday, the text message came through to The Irish Times from Camp 3 at 7.44 a.m. Irish time. It reported that the climbers were on the South Col, resting. "Clare feeling strong," Falvey's message read.
If the 33-year-old Bandon gastroenterologist makes it early today, she will be the first Irish woman to reach the summit of Sagarmatha, the Nepalese name for the mountain. If Falvey joins her, it will be his second ascent - and the first by an Irishman from both the Tibetan and Nepalese approaches.
Both know how much depends on good fortune, after all their preparation. To quote Tenzing Norgay's son, Jamling, who followed in his father's bootsteps when he made the summit in 1996 - "humans are granted no more than an audience with Everest's summit, and then only rarely and for brief moments". After that, the real challenge is to make a safe descent.
The Irish Wyeth Everest expedition's progress can be followed on www.patfalvey.com