The Summit Page #6

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all together anymore,

so you are

a little bit separated,

a few meters between you.

Everybody is just descending.

We came at the point

where the fixed rope should be,

but it wasn't there.

Marco was looking.

I was searching.

But we couldn't find it.

I was convinced

that this was the right way,

but why wasn't the rope there?

The only thing you think is,

"We must be on the wrong side

of the mountain,

or we must have lost the way."

My soul said,

"Marco, stop yourself."

"Stop. Stop. Stop."

I called Ger.

I said, "Ger,

let's stay here for the night."

We must stay still

because it would be easy

for an avalanche to get us.

I expected by noon

at the latest to hear from them.

And the phone rang

when I was at lunch,

and I thought it was him,

but it was another friend.

She was like,

"Have you heard from Ger yet?"

And I said, "No.

I'm really worried."

And then I went home from lunch,

got immediately on the internet,

and the first thing

was "Trouble on K2."

First thing I thought of was,

"Okay, when does the sun

rise on K2?"

"Because that's when

they'll start moving again."

And, you know, "How many more

hours do they have out there?"

We were stranded

above the death zone.

Mahdi was out of his head.

I thought he was

going to kill us both.

By instinct,

I digged a hole into the slope

to get out of the storm.

I remember screaming

at the top of my lungs,

"I don't want to die!"

And that's when I heard them

above the howl of the wind.

I don't know whether

it was Compagnoni or Lacedelli,

but I heard a voice.

"Do you want us

to freeze for you?"

"Leave the oxygen

and go straight down."

For me, the descent

is not a really big problem.

I'm so much fixed

in the descending

that I don't really know

who is in front of me

or back of me.

So only thing is,

I know that I see light

and I was coming

close to the light.

Then I saw it was Hugues,

the Frenchman.

Hey, Hugues.

Hey, Gas.

Y... you go past.

You're quicker than me.

I pass him,

and I go on descending.

Take your time.

Go. Go.

And then I noticed something

is not okay with the rope.

If you sleep, you die.

I think Wilco heard our voices,

so he came in our direction.

We were not in a panic.

We were-

we were just sitting.

We were just, you know, yeah,

wondering why

we couldn't find the rope.

But we were convinced

that next morning,

with the first light,

we would find the rope again.

The Korean, they sit down.

I feel, it's very, very sad,

because I understand

many people,

they cannot reach

a high camp tonight.

4:
00.

There is nothing,

no ice anchor, no length,

no rock anchor,

no fixed line, nothing.

Then I try to contact

with the Korean Sherpa,

but I couldn't get them on radio

because nobody

switched on the radio.

It was a big problem.

Hmm.

We could go.

We could go up and...

If we had people,

we could do this.

It was still nice and clear.

We could see

some of the climbers

on the top of the serac.

We were convinced that,

with the first light,

we would find the rope again.

And Gerard was going

to the right, you know,

to have a look over there.

I was going to the left

to have a look over there.

Marco was looking somewhere.

We couldn't find it.

And then I start to realize

that I got problems

with my view.

I was getting more in panic,

you know, because I knew-

f***, getting snow-blind

at this altitude is finished.

No helicopter are coming.

The guys can't do something

with a body of 80 kilos.

It's finished.

- Guys!

So, I said, "Listen, guys."

"I have to go down.

I have to go down."

I have to go down!

So I started just going down

without thinking anymore

and just going down.

Just one question.

Here is base camp

Serbian calling.

Do you know some information

about Gerard, the Irish guide,

from Norit expedition?

What I was hearing is "Jimmy,"

but "Jumik and Pasang

in trouble."

They were the Korean Sherpas.

Yes.

And then Rolf

and then "Prenmaldic"?

I didn't even understand that

other people had died, really.

I was in shock.

I remember a phone call

I had to my father-in-law.

I was so scared

to make that phone call.

He was gonna be mad at me

for not looking after his son.

But instead, he said...

"You have to get

off the mountain."

"You have to come home."

Yeah.

I didn't want to lose

my husband,

but I lost, uh...

Of course, my best friend...

And my future

like I was hoping it would be.

I was just climbing down,

and then, suddenly,

those Koreans

were hanging over there.

I was just thinking,

"What the hell

are they doing here?"

I didn't understand

anything about it.

Gloves.

I had some spare gloves,

so I gave the gloves.

I didn't ask what happened.

Maybe they

were hanging all night long,

but at that time, I was...

I was just, you know,

shocked about it.

I said, "Listen."

"I have to go down"

"because I'm starting

to get snow-blind."

And he said, "Yeah, yeah,"

"but help is also on the way,

so go ahead."

I'll send help.

They are all up there

by themselves.

They're not moving anywhere.

They're just sitting still,

just waiting to get help.

The South Korean

expedition leader, Kim,

was arranging a rescue mission.

But I just said, "Hey, guys",

"they're not standing up,

moving one meter,"

"and you're telling me

that I should go up there"

"when the ice

is still falling down?"

There's no fixed lines.

There's no ropes.

I mean, that is just insane.

This is not a guided tour.

We cannot physically pluck

people off this mountain.

Then American team, they said,

"Because we

don't have enough manpower,"

"we cannot go ourself,

a rescue,"

"because physically

we are all so weak."

"Is still bottleneck,

is very dangerous."

"Then, now we have to go down."

Copy that.

Copy that.

Most of the people,

they are moving from-

Down from Camp Four,

moving down.

Then, uh...

In our group,

Mr. Kim insisted that we

go for a rescue.

We had no choice.

We had to follow

their instructions.

They paid us,

and they acted

like they owned our lives.

I was so thirsty, you know,

and I knew I'm getting crazy

in a few hours,

because when you don't have

water at that altitude

for such a long time,

you won't survive it.

I looked up, and I saw

that Marco and Gerard

were with those Korean guys.

Which way?

That's it.

It was the Korean climbing leader.

But everything was smashed up

with lots of blood everywhere.

I have worked for 15 years

in mountain rescue,

and I have seen many things

and many people.

I knew this was a bad situation.

Okay. Okay.

You're all right.

You have to save yourself on K2.

It's the only way.

I've never attempted

to take the credit

from Lacedelli and Compagnoni

of conquering K2,

nor would I.

Yet Mahdi and I

were written out of the story.

Our sacrifice

was completely omitted

in the official records.

Then it was lied about

behind my back for decades.

They said we used the oxygen

to save ourselves.

This is the oxygen, mind you,

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