Practice with Gamow bag

The team had a real close call Monday. Nawang Sherpa, one of the high-altitude Nepalese guides, got a severe case of altitude sickness between Camp I and Camp II, and probably would have died if other team members hadn't been able to get him down.

Nawang was recovering in base camp, according to Scott, who relayed the details via satellite telephone. Scott said Nawang was lucky to be alive, especially since the rescue team had to bring him down through the Khumbu Icefall at night.

Nawang started having problems Monday afternoon. Scott, on one of many trips down from Camp II to Camp I, found him sitting beside the trail. He looked pretty bad, and Fischer advised him to head back down the hill to Camp I.

But these high-altitude Sherpas don't grasp the idea of retreat. They're some of the toughest people on the planet, and take a lot of pride in being able to climb Everest without extra oxygen. Nawang refused to come down, telling Fischer he was just resting and that he would get up to Camp II.

Later, closer to Camp II, team member Klev Schoening found Nawang, at which point it was clear that he was hurting. He had frothy blood coming out of his mouth--a sure symptom of advanced pulmonary edema--and he was delirious, which indicates cerebral edema. Both can kill if not treated quickly, which meant that Klev, a relatively inexperienced climber on his first Himalayan expedition, was suddenly in the role of high-altitude doctor.

Getting out his medical kit, Klev gave Nawang a pill for the pulmonary edema and administered an injection--right through Nawang's pants and into his thigh--for the cerebral edema. Then Klev and several Sherpas at Camp II stuffed Nawang in a special inflatable cylinder called a Gamow bag, which simulates the atmosphere at lower altitudes.

But after two hours, Nawang's condition wasn't improving sufficiently, and Klev had to organize a rescue. So here's a 38-year-old novice climber, whose highest peak to date is Aconcagua, and who describes himself as a "weekend warrior," practically carrying this delirious Sherpa down the tallest mountain on the planet.

They made it to Camp I, where they were met by a rescue team from the base camp led by Neal Beidleman, a 36-year-old alpinist from Aspen and a guide for Mountain Madness.

Yet even down at Camp I, Nawang wasn't recovering fast enough. Beidleman's team realized they'd have to bring Nawang to base camp, and that meant an after-dark descent through the icefall, which is easily the most dangerous route on the whole mountain, with huge blocks of ice and massive crevasses bridged by ladders.

Carrying Nawang on a litter, using head-lamps to light the way, the team slowly made its way through the icefall. They reached base camp in the early hours of Tuesday morning, and the team doctor, Ingrid Hunt, along with physicians from several other expeditions, got Nawang out of danger.

Despite his close call, Nawang still wasn't ready to call it quits, insisting that he just needed some rest before heading back up. Fischer put the nix on that. He also called Klev and Neal ''heroes of the day.''

Nawang isn't the only extra-tough Sherpa on the team. On Sunday night, Fischer and Pete Schoening, Klev's uncle, along with several Sherpas, were getting ready to bed down at Camp II when they started getting hammered by a powerful wind.

The two big mess tents were threatening to blow right off the mountain, and the climbers realized they'd have to collapse the tents or lose them. So they scrambled to cut ropes and fold nylon and one of the Sherpas kept worrying that Scott was risking frostbite on his hands.

Turns out that the Sherpa got frostbite, and had to be sent down for treatment, but apparently was OK.

Even with all the drama, Fischer said things are going great. The team's spirits remain high and everyone seems to be having an excellent time.

-- Jane Bromet