Guest post from friend of the brand, director and producer Alexis Girardet about his recent work/expedition to Everest with the Walking with the Wounded Team which airs tomorrow night on ITV 1 (UK) at 9pm...
"As a young boy I always rather fancied the idea of summiting
the highest peak on the planet, it seemed so epic, so full of promise and of
fulfilling so many dreams. What could be more romantic, brave and challenging
than that? So I kind of followed a plan, become a camper, a mountaineer, a rock
climber, although if I’m honest it wasn’t really a proper plan, it was more of
a vague patchy ambition. I was an avid reader of all the great explorers old
and new, Chris Bonnington and Wally Herbert were two particular favourites. But
then life started to get in the way, women, work and wine all started making
demands and that dream to climb Everest gradually moved down the list. And then
I had a family and it all went to pot – in a good way but to pot all the same.
Alexis working on Harrys Arctic Heroes
Eventually I started getting the chance to combine work and
adventuring, it seemed like a natural fit, making films about amazing
expeditions across the globe and get paid to do it. I have been so fortunate to
get to go to some of the most amazing places on our planet, from high mountains
to horrid jungles, from polar plateaus to hot, hot deserts. I’ve visited every
continent and walked a very long way, I’ve knackered my knees and I have enough
kit to sink the Titanic or at least to wind my wife up something rotten. It’s
been an amazing range of experiences, but if I’m honest as a film crew there’s
always someone to help carry stuff and so it hasn’t been as hard-core as many
proper explorers and adventurers out there. After all I’m out there to tell a
story, to make a film, not to suffer unduly, if at all possible. That doesn’t
mean it’s been easy, but I am not going to claim to be a ninja like so many
great and intrepid true adventurers.
And then it happened, I got offered the chance to climb that
childhood dream, Everest, all 8848m of her unforgiving and oxygen starved
slopes. I must admit there was a slight sense of trepidation, of nerves, of
worry, but then the excitement kicked in and of course, hell yes. I was to make a film following the Walking
With The Wounded 2012 Everest Expedition for ITV. This film, like a previous
one I had done to the North Pole, would follow a group of wounded servicemen as
they attempted to become the first wounded servicemen to summit Everest. A big
ask, given that between them they had been blown up, shot and nearly burnt to
death on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. 5 incredible guys with
shocking injuries yet a desire and belief that they can still take on the
worlds biggest challenges, totally inspirational. And so we began…
The plan was to fall under the wing of the very experienced
and respected Russell Brice and his team of guides and Sherpas. And so in late
March 2012, we found ourselves arriving in Kathmandu for the start of the trip.
Hundreds of bags, boxes and kilos of kit surrounded us as we fended off the
ever so helpful locals, all vying for a few dollars to help get us to our hotel
in the chaos that is Kathmandu. After a few days in the luxury of the Hyatt
Kathmandu, we flew up to Lukla for the start of the 10-day acclimatisation trek
to Everest base camp. A lovely stroll through small villages, past yaks and
porters carrying unfeasible loads, staying in tea houses, eating dhal baht and
getting higher and closer to our goal. Having been this way before on a previous
expedition, it was nice to revisit places like Namche and Pheriche and feel a
sense of familiarity, seeing the mountains grow higher and higher with each
step.
Getting a first glimpse of Everest was both an exciting and
daunting prospect, a stunning clear day revealed her in all her glory – over
8000m of very steep looking snow, ice and rock, gulp! Keep going. The soldiers
decided to rename her Brenda, that way she seemed less daunting. With lots of filming
to do along the way, there were many early starts to get ahead and then lots of
running to catch up, although as we got higher the running and catching up got
slower and slower. Passing through the Everest Memorial was a very sobering
moment, sad to think of so many climbers that hadn’t made it home to their
loved ones, to share their tales, very touching and one that resonated
particularly with the soldiers, bringing back memoires of fallen comrades.
Finally we came in sight of Everest Base Camp, I must admit
at this point I was starting to feel pretty crap, light headed and very short
of breath. I just wanted to get there and rest. But a chilled bottle of coke
later from Russ’s very well stocked base camp bar, soon perked me up. Normally
I avoid the devils drink but at altitude it was fabulous. Petter, my Norwegian
colleague and friend, seasoned mountaineer, polar guide and high altitude
cameraman was like a whirling dervish, seemingly unaffected by the altitude –
bastard!
We soon settled into base camp life, tea and hot towels at
7am every morning, breakfast at 8, in one of four mess tents, followed by
lunch, more tea and dinner. We met up with all our filming kit, boxes and boxes
that some poor yak had hauled up. For about 7 days, we rested, and prepped and
filmed and generally relaxed. All lulling us into a false sense of security,
all too soon we were off to climb our first peak, Lobuche, a 6000m training
climb. Lobuche isn’t a hard climb, in fact it’s rather lovely, with incredible
views and another chance to see Everest and get those all-important cut-aways.
We climbed up and down a couple of times and spent 2 nights perched on its
peak. We saw some amazing sunrise and sunsets, melted lots of snow for a
continuous flow of rehydration and our bodies slowly acclimatised to a new
altitude.
The Walking Wounded Team
Then back to base camp for yet more rest. We did some
climbing practise on the Khumbu glacier, did a few walks around the slopes
surrounding base camp, but generally took it easy. It was around this time that
the first worries started to occur. There were reports that the icefall, the
notorious glacier that all South siders have to negotiate, to reach the Western
Cwm, was in a perilous condition this year. We saw a few avalanches and then
the first tragedies. 2 Sherpas from other teams were killed in the icefall, one
falling to his death from one of the many ladder crossings. Considering how
hard these guys work, and how they make life so easy for us climbers, it was a
real shock and one that we all really felt. It started to feel a bit ominous.
Russ held an impromptu team meeting – all his guides and 26 would be climbers in
attendance, he outlined the situation and said he was very worried about the
conditions this year, lower than average snowfall, higher temperatures, greater
avalanche risk on the ice fall and the 2 deaths so far had started causing real
concerns. But for now we would carry on. GULP!
And then one night at 1am, we set off from our little tented
homes at Everest Base Camp, to take our first steps up the Khumbu Ice fall and
onto Everest herself. Even though filming shields you from what is happening –
being so focussed on, well, focussing your shots, telling a story and making
the sure the sound is right – both Petter and I felt a sense of trepidation
mixed with awe and excitement – we wanted to get on with it, but we also wanted
to get through the ice fall and live to tell the tale, unlike those poor souls
in the Everest memorial. We all set off with energy and ambition. But the
Khumbu icefall is no easy feat, one vertical kilometre above was Camp 2, but in
between was a mix of sheer vertical climbs, delicate ladder crossings over
seemingly bottomless crevasses, the ever present threat of avalanches, lumps of
ice teetering at crazy jaunty angles towering above our fragile bodies and the
cold, a constant menace. We all battled through the night, head torches
flickering, crampons crunching and constantly struggling to get as much of the rarefied
thin air into our bursting lungs as possible.
As the team headed up the hill, we inevitably started to
spread out, further up, 2 of the wounded soldiers were nearly swept away by 2
small avalanches, only quick dashes to hide behind ice boulders saved their lives.
Down below others were struggling with sheer physical hard work, the altitude
and the cold. What would only have been a 2hr stroll at sea level was turning
into an epic. I will freely admit that I was also struggling with a couple of
the guys at the back. The 3 of us kept each other going through some very low
points. And I tried to film it – why, oh why was I doing this…
Finally as dawn arrived, we reached the top of the icefall,
relieved and exhausted, but the ordeal was far from over. Now the giant rips in
the ice were all too visible, large gaping holes bridged with ladders, often
lashed together with little more than a bit of thin rope. And then we came to
the last ladder crossing, sadly named Blood and Guts; this is where one of the
poor Sherpas had lost his life. As we tottered across the ladders, down below
were large streaks of freeze dried brown blood, staining the ice, it was a
timely reminder of just how insignificant we are to this beast of a mountain.
Very sobering and poignant. It was an endless, tedious and exhausting slow,
slow trek against the clock.
It seemed to go on and on and on…
Finally we arrived at Camp 2 shattered but relieved. As a
group, we all pretty much disappeared into our tents to sleep and recover. We
spent 7 days at Camp 2, the plan was to head up to Camp 3 and overnight there,
which would have been the final part of our acclimatisation, but each day brought
new reports of rock falls, or injuries higher up the Lhotse face. Russ rightly refused
to let us go any higher, judging that it was only a matter of time before a
serious accident would kill half of us in one hit. Who were we to argue with him
and his guides? Then after 7 days of getting extremely bored at 6,500m, we
headed back down the Ice fall – I can tell you never has a team moved so
quickly in it’s life. Basecamp was so tempting and the icefall so treacherous
and most importantly the well stocked bar was calling. Really loudly. We
partied hard into the night – the bar was pretty much empty by the next morn,
as were our heads.
But that new morning also brought with it the end of our
planned trip to summit Everest. Russ, his Sherpas and his Guides had decided
that the chances of a serious accident were just too great and they just didn’t
want to be responsible for any loss of any life. They reasoned Everest was a
risk that we were all prepared to take and that we were all walking a thin
line, but that this year that line had already been crossed too many times and
that we would all have to step over it if we were to attempt to summit and that
was a step too far. Russ and his team were very emotional as they took this
momentous decision, as were many of the climbers; there were many, many life
long dreams and hopes dashed in that instance, but there were probably more
lives saved too. And I think we all accepted the wisdom of that decision, even
if it was a bitter pill to swallow. As one of the soldiers put it “Brenda ain’t
goin’ nowhere, there’s always another day” and I guess that’s probably the
motto for big mountains. Live to fight again. It was a tough decision but a
brave one and probably the right one.
I remember reading a quote from the legendary Reinhold
Messner, saying that climbing Everest is about “how much pain you can take”, I
always remember thinking I don’t want to or need to know that. But having
experienced a small part of that terrific mountain, I feel that he is probably
right, so for all you would be summiteers, BEWARE, but most of all enjoy every
minute of it, it’s unique, stunning and more than a little bit bonkers. Most of
all be safe and make the right decisions."
“Harry’s Mountain Heroes” goes out on ITV1 on Monday 27th
August 2012 at 2100hrs. More details available here and the Walking with the Wounded website
