When we left you before, the team was trapped at the Col
Camp as the snow fell on Makalu's southeast
ridge. Chris and Marty sat for almost a day and a half at their 6700
meter
bungalow. Unfortunately, the mountain took its toll on the climbers.
Chris'
health diminished as fever, chills and hypoxia of an unknown cause took
over.
His symptoms progressed, slowly surrendering him to the elements of the
altitude and the cold.
Calls to various doctors narrowed the diagnosis to
several potential causes, the worst being a pulmonary embolism that threatened
cardiac arrest if Chris moved too much. The other possible conditions were pneumonia
or an upper respiratory infection, all very serious at such a high altitude.
The team had two options; to descend their own crevasse
ridden glacier route, which was heavily avalanche prone, or take the long
traverse across the South East Ridge towards
the British Base Camp. Chris and Marty survived one more cold night on the
mountain and slowly made their way down the South East Ridge
with the help of the British team. They left camp at 11:30am and arrived at BC
at 8:00pm. The helicopter coordinated by Global Rescue * arrived early this morning (6am) and took Chris to Kathmandu for treatment.
His health and spirits are looking up and we are receiving
updates as often as possible. We will keep you posted as more information is
available.
-Ashley
*Global Rescue provides worldwide emergency evacuation and field rescue. For more information about Global Rescue and their services, please visit their website .
