Sir Edmund Hilary

Gills challenging adventure

In May 2019 Gillian Lee an Australian mountaineer attempted to climb Mount Everest for the fourth time with no oxygen. The route he took was the north side of the mountain away from the human traffic jam. At the height of 7600m, Gills Sherpa guides noticed that he was getting sick. They instructed him to go back down but he refused and continued to reach for the summit. As he got higher his body shut down. The guides dragged him back down to his tent.

 Once they got back the guides did everything they could to get him warm. They tucked hot water bottles in the sled/sleeping bag. As they were warming Gill a group of Chinese rope fixers came. Because Gill was sick they decided to help. They couldn’t carry him so they tied ropes to the sled/sleeping bag and pulled him down the mountain.

 After a long snow ride, they reached a rocky area. Obviously, they couldn’t drag him anymore so they called in a yak. With 22km and nothing but rock, Gill had to ride, but before he could go the Sherpa’s tied ropes around Gill and the yak so he wouldn’t slip off. Once they arrived at base camp it was a 20min helicopter flight to Kathmandu Hospital.

 While Gill was in hospital his mother turned up, not looking surprised. She was furious about what he did to himself and what he did to the Sherpas and the rope fixers. His mum described him as selfish but she was happy that he had survived.

 So will Gill try to climb Everest again using a different way or will he give up and go home?