Mountain Guide:
I’ve Only Encountered This Extreme Situation Three Times
“Tents being blown away by strong winds — this kind of extreme situation has only happened to me three times, all at the Everest Advance Base Camp at an altitude of 6,500 meters,” said veteran mountain guide Dorje Daji yesterday.
Born in 1985, Dorje Daji graduated from the Tibet Mountaineering School and currently works for the Sacred Mountain company. He has successfully summited Everest twice and Cho Oyu five times. His teammate Soinam, who stayed behind at the advance camp of the Diqiang Expedition Team, was born in 1989 and has also summited Everest once.
Getting Up in the Middle of the Night to Secure the Tent
“For the past three or four days, there have been strong winds at the advance camp, especially fierce at night. Last night, starting after 1 a.m., the wind picked up to force six or seven. The two of us had set up a small high-altitude tent inside the activity tent. Although we were lying in our sleeping bags, we didn’t dare sleep,” said Dorje Daji. “Around 1 a.m., when we realized the wind was too strong, we quickly got up to secure the big tent — I even put my pants and socks on backwards.”
Moving rocks to weigh down the tent, the two guides worked through the night, and their efforts paid off. Although the cook tent was basically destroyed from a rip down the middle, and the poles of the activity tent were bent by the wind, none of the food, equipment, and other climbing supplies brought up by the advance team of the Diqiang Expedition were lost.
In the early morning, an inventory showed that other expedition teams at the advance camp also suffered losses. Some large dome tents were completely destroyed, and even unoccupied high-altitude tents were blown away and vanished without a trace.
Going 30+ Hours Without Sleep
Mountain guides are the guides and protectors of climbers. They even have the authority to decide whether a climber should continue toward the summit based on their physical condition. Yet they always stay behind the climbers, with no share in the glory of reaching the top.
Dorje Daji and Soinam are the high-altitude guides specially hired by the Diqiang Everest Expedition Team from the Sacred Mountain company. Since getting up at 10 a.m. the day before yesterday, the two hadn’t slept at all until they finally rested safely at the Everest Base Camp last night.
“Last night the wind was so strong, we didn’t dare sleep before the tent was blown away. Later, after we briefly cleaned up the site, Dorje Daji rested in the high-altitude tent while I sat at the entrance — neither of us slept,” Soinam said with a laugh. “Dorje Daji is the boss, so he rested in the tent, and I stayed outside to keep watch.”
At 12 p.m. yesterday, the two guides handed over the campsite to colleagues from the Sacred Mountain company and left the advance camp. Around 5:40 p.m., they returned to the Everest Base Camp and reunited with the Diqiang Expedition Team. The distance between these two camps is about 28 kilometers. “That’s not fast — we even took a break at the transition camp at 5,800 meters along the way,” said Dorje Daji.
Special Report from the Everest Base Camp by Correspondent Zou Jin