The odds for this fellow were not very good.
A depressed pathologist from Texas, Beck Weathers had a passion for climbing mountains.
He decided to join an expedition to Mount Everest in 1996, hoping to conquer the highest peak in the world and one of the Seven Summits.
He didn't care much about his family or his marriage, which was falling apart anyway. He just wanted to feel alive.
Things didn't go as planned.
On May 10, he reached the Balcony, a point about 27,000 feet above sea level, where he realized he was blind.
He had undergone a surgery to correct his vision, but it backfired at high altitude and exposed his eyes to ultraviolet radiation.
He couldn't see a thing.
His guide, Rob Hall, told him to wait there until he came back from the summit with another client.
But Hall never came back. He died on the mountain, along with several other climbers who got caught in a blizzard.
Weathers was left alone on the Balcony, freezing and helpless.
Another guide, Michael Groom, tried to help him down, but they got lost in the storm and separated from the rest of the group.
They wandered around for hours, until they found a small tent with some other survivors.
But Weathers was too weak and hypothermic to go on. He was left behind with four others, while Groom and some Sherpas went for help. They thought he was going to die anyway.
They were wrong.
Weathers somehow woke up from his coma and staggered out of the tent. He was covered in black frostbite and barely conscious, but he had a will to live.
He walked for hours in the snow, following the sound of voices until he reached Camp IV, where he shocked everyone with his appearance.
He was still alive, but barely. He had to be airlifted off the mountain and taken to a hospital in Kathmandu, where he underwent several surgeries to amputate his fingers and nose. He also lost parts of his feet and cheeks.
But he didn't lose his spirit. He returned to Texas and reunited with his wife and children, who had been told he was dead.
He decided to rebuild his relationships and his life. He wrote a book about his ordeal and became a motivational speaker.
He also learned to appreciate the beauty of life and nature without having to climb mountains.
He said: "I don't need Everest anymore."
No comments:
Post a Comment