Those who spent the night of 11–12 May on the South Col included Pete, Todd and Anatoli, the survivors of the Adventure Consultants team, the South Africans and the clients from the Himalayan Guides expedition. By the time dawn broke on the morning of 12 May, for many at the South Col it was the third night that they had spent there or on the ridge above. For much of this time they had not slept much; they were in a state of extreme exhaustion and it was vital that they descend without delay.
As soon as it got light, the climbers started to prepare to descend. At 8.30 a.m. the remnants of the Adventure Consultants team started down. This did not look like the same team which had, only a relatively short time before, made its way up the mountain from Base Camp, full of confidence and ambition.
Between before midnight and 8.30 a.m. no climber at the South Col had gone to see whether or not Beck was still alive – it was probable that Beck had died, but no one knew for sure. But Beck had survived and, finding that he was still alive, his teammate Jon Krakauer rushed over to Pete and Todd, who started to give Beck the help he so desperately needed.
Earlier that morning the Taiwanese Sherpas had started to descend with Makalu Gau. It was going to be a cold and painful descent for Makalu. He was very badly frostbitten and without the aid of his loyal Sherpas he would not have made it back to Camp 2 that day.
Following in the tracks of the remaining members of Rob Hall’s team came the South Africans, followed later by the Himalayan Guides team, who had at last decided to give up their summit attempt.
On the South Col, Pete and Todd continued to look after Beck. The day had dawned clear, but the winds were horrendous. Only when climbers reached the Lhotse Face would they get any relief from the force of the storm.
Amazingly, Beck was able to eat and drink and, after taking some drugs, the speed of his recovery amazed both Pete and Todd. By mid-morning he was dressed and ready to go and, most surprisingly, he could walk.
Despite Beck’s appalling injuries, his good humour and positive attitude were an inspiration to all who met him during his evacuation from the mountain. As a doctor, Beck could appreciate the extent of his problems – he would later have his lower right arm amputated, and he would lose the fingers and thumb on his left hand and most of his nose.
Pete and Todd escorted Beck through the wind and down towards the Lhotse Face.
At the Yellow Band they were met by the Austrian climber Robert Schauer and the American Ed Viesturs, both members of the IMAX team who were playing such a vital role in the rescue on the mountain.
Further down at Camp 3, two other members of the IMAX team, the Spanish climber Araceli Segarra and the American team leader David Breashears, were waiting to give whatever further assistance was required. Also there was the Finnish climber, Veikka Gustafsson, and the American guide Jim Williams, who was climbing with Todd.
At Camp 2, the Adventure Consultants dining tent had been converted into a first aid medical centre. It was manned by the Danish doctor Henrik Jessen Hansen, one of the Danish climbers on our International Team, and by Todd Burleson’s American team doctor, Ken Kamler.
At about 1 p.m., the South African team, the members of the Himalayan Guides team who had been on the South Col, and the remnants of the Adventure Consultants team staggered slowly into Camp 2.
Now the only groups above Camp 2 were the rescue parties bringing down Makalu and Beck.
At 3 p.m. the first of these two groups, the one escorting Makalu Gau, arrived at the temporary medical centre. The doctors were amazed at the extent of Makalu’s frostbite. Within ninety minutes he would be joined by Beck Weathers.
The speed at which Beck was able to walk down to Camp 2 from the bottom of the Lhotse Face surprised everyone that day. It was difficult to believe that just over twenty-four hours earlier he had been lying alone in a cold, icy grave, having been given up for dead. He still had to face a night on his own in a tent that was being assaulted by the full force of a storm. It wasn’t until some seven hours or so before he arrived at Camp 2 that Beck at last proved to his fellow climbers that he really was going to survive.
That night the two doctors at Camp 2 started the slow process of thawing out Makalu and Beck’s frozen limbs.
It had been forty-eight hours from the time those at Camp 2 had first realised that things on the mountain were going horribly wrong until the arrival of Beck and Makalu. During those forty-eight hours none of the climbers at Camp 2 had slept much and they were all on the verge of mental exhaustion. It was amazing what a revitalising effect the arrival of these two climbers had at Camp 2. There was still some way to go, and things could still go wrong, but it was a significantly better atmosphere than it had been two days before when a sense of gloom prevailed.