The Summit of Dreams

By Paul Grainger

This is the story of a couple, Catherine and Philip Stevenson, both dedicated mountain climbers and, as a couple, have climbed some of the world's most challenging peaks. All through their climbs, they have been blessed with luck and good fortune where others would perish. For their last mighty climb, Catherine determines that they climb Mount Everest and thus satisfy her dream of standing where Hillary stood.
However, luck and good fortune have run out on Mount Everest for Catherine as she battles to save her husband dying in the Everest Graveyard where hundreds of climbers lay. This is a saga of showing that with even the most experienced of climbers, the forces of nature can combine to kill, leaving the survivors emotionally destroyed.
This is one woman's saga of learning to live even after the greatest of tragedies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Nov 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781528968409

Paul Grainger

Paul Grainger is the author of the award-nominated novel Sailing Everest, and is the son of Elena Grainger, a prize-winning writer of Australian history. Paul has travelled widely and have been to Mount Everest and Mount Cook. He is an enthusiastic mountain climber and thus knows the challenges and triumphs of mountain climbing, both physical and emotional. Paul has three university degrees, which include a major in psychology, one of the themes of this book. Paul has two grown-up children and lives in Sydney, Australia.

Book preview

Journey

About the Author

Paul Grainger is the author of the award-nominated novel Sailing Everest, and is the son of Elena Grainger, a prize-winning writer of Australian history. Paul has travelled widely and have been to Mount Everest and Mount Cook. He is an enthusiastic mountain climber and thus knows the challenges and triumphs of mountain climbing, both physical and emotional.

Paul has three university degrees, which include a major in psychology, one of the themes of this book. Paul has two grown-up children and lives in Sydney, Australia.

Dedication

Dedicated to Victor Romero, good friend, who had a huge impact on this book; and Sir Edmund Hillary, great human being and first to ascend Mount Everest.

Copyright Information ©

Paul Grainger (2019)

The right of Paul Grainger to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781528935692 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781528968409 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published (2019)

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd

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E14 5LQ

Chapter One

Arrival in Kathmandu

Catherine smiled happily, as looking out the plane window she could see the unique city of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, and the starting point for the adventure of a lifetime. Seated next to her was her husband Philip, a brown haired handsome man with a small beard. Both Catherine and Philip were in their early thirties, with Catherine a quite elegant dark-haired, pale-skinned woman. quite beautiful. They had been married for five years but had been together since their college days and shared a joint passion of adventure and climbing.

This trip was to be their final adventure before settling down to have a family and successful careers. One thing they had always agreed on was that while they were young and in their twenties, they would explore the world together, as both felt that without this their lives would not be complete. As climbers, they reached the summit of numerous American mountains as well as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and Mount Blanc in France. The Nepalese Himilayas was their last unexplored territory as mountaineers, although they had climbed various peaks near Djareeling in India, including the third highest mountain in the world, Kangchenjunga. Both felt that having climbed Mount Everest, they could retire in honour, knowing that they climbed the highest mountain in the world.

Catherine was a university lecturer specialising in social relationships, while Philip worked for a management consultant company; both hadobtained masters degrees and thus were clearly highly intelligent people. Probably the most notable thing about Catherine and Philip was that they loved each other deeply with dedication. No thoughts of unfaithfulness plagued these two, as the thought of anyone else was inconceivable.

Then Catherine and Philip were in the arivals area, where they were met by a person from the trekking company who was to take them on their adventure to Everest. Also on the plane were other people booked on the treck, so it was a happy group that boarded the mini bus which was to take them to their hotel.

One of the things that Catherine and Philip liked about climbing and trekking was the people one met, for they had found most of their friends this way. Trekkers and hikers were all, it seemed, great outgoing, intelligent people with whom it was easy to get along with. Both knew that when they settled down, they would miss the wonderful feeling one had when having dinner over a campfire and talking to other like-minded people. It was a feeling hard to replace and both Catherine and Philip knew it.

Kathmandu is like no other city for westerners with Pagodas and a Monkey temple. For many visiting Kathmandu, Nepal, is akin to a step back in time with it being a medieval city mixed in with the twenty-first century, a truly strange combination. Thus, as Catherine and Philip could see ox pulled wagons jostled with the latest cars while modern supermarkets faced onto ancient corner stores. The most noticable feature of Kathmandu for westerners was, however, the animal dung which littered the roads giving the city a unique smell.

Their hotel was excellent, located in the middle of this strange and unique city. They would be staying here for two nights before setting out on their trek to Everest Base Camp. Tonight, there was a drinks get together in the hotel, so everyone could get to know everyone else. Sitting on their bed while Philip showered, Catherine thought about how they had first met, something she thought of often for it seemed that was when her life began.

Catherine knew of Philip for people had mentioned him as being both very intelligent and a good climber. So, when he walked beside her and introduced himself, she knew who he was and, thus, struck up an easy conversation with him. What Catherine liked about Philip was he had no ego but in fact was a somewhat shy young man, one embarrassed by his abilities when praised. That Philip liked her she could tell, and hoped he would contact her for a date.

This Philip did about a week later when he asked her to a classical music concert. From the trek, Catherine had gathered that Philip loved classical music as she did. As a first date, it was a great success as the concert was mainly Robert Schuman, a composer they both really liked, leaving them in a happy mood when he escorted her home. Their first kiss came of the second date, when Philip took her out to dinner and they had a most interesting discussion on what they wanted out of life. From that moment on, Catherine knew Philip was the man she wanted in life for he was and liked all the things she admired and liked.

What united them forever was when they climbed Mount McKinley (Denali), the highest mountain in North America, some 20,310 feet above sea level, no mean feat and a climb that qualified them to try Everest at 29,029 feet. The thrill they both felt standing on top of Mount McKinley was something that just could not be replicated for it was a mighty achievement.

When they added the 16,001-foot Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and the 15,777 Mount Blanc on the French-Italian border to their résumé, Catherine and Philip could consider themselves amongst the finest climbers in the world. This was confirmed when they became one of the few to climb the third highest mountain in the world, Kangchenjunga at 28,129 ft, located near Darjeeling, India. For such climbers, not to try Mount Everest was impossible. As Catherine reflected with Philip, she could do it for he was her encouragement and hope when the going became hard. Added to this, Catherine had never seen a finer climber than Philip for his resilience, toughness and judgement made him a climbing partner she trusted implicitly.

Whenever danger threatened, the decision made by Philip was the correct one, as she had found when disaster threatened on Mount McKinley it had been Philip’s coolness and calmness that had saved the day. As they stood on top of Mount McKinley, Catherine knew that this was the man she could totally trust with her life. Gazing at the horizon and the mountains around, Catherine remembered looking at Philip with awe for at one stage she had thought they would join the hundred or so climbers who have died on this north Alaskan mountain.

From her knowledge, Catherine knew that Everest and its notorious ‘death zone’, the climb above camp four at 26,000 feet to the summit was no place for the faint hearted. Catherine had no fear, for Philip would be with her every step of the way and he would ensure they returned safely. However, as people could tell her, Mount Everest was not that sort of a mountain, for it was totally lethal and could kill literally anyone.

Once dressed, Catherine and Philip headed downstairs to a room reserved for the welcoming function, all enthusiastic at meeting their fellow climbers. Entering the room, Catherine realised that they were the centre of interest, for to have climbed the mountains they had made them one of climbing’s elite. That these two climbers were on this trek added to the prospect of success, for these two never failed at any climb they did. Catherine and Philip themselves were suitably impressed by their fellow trekkers, for in conversation it became clear there were no ‘rookies’ in this group, only hardened successful climbers. Then there was the trek leader who would take them to the summit, Alan Hathaway, who had five successful ascents of Everest to his record. Added to this, Alan Hathaway had never lost a climber from his expeditions up to the summit.

As Catherine and Philip had gathered, Alan Hathaway owed his success to meticulous preparation and ensuring that his group was thoroughly acclimatised to the high altitude before any departure from camp four for the dash to the summit. Certainly talking to Alan over drinks, Philip and Catherine were impressed by Alan, as he was impressed by them for he was very familiar with their feats and really pleased to have them on this expedition.

Then Alan Hathaway halted the conversation, as he wanted to talk to the group.

"Looking at the group, I can see I have got all very fine experienced climbers. What I want to say is that whatever mountains you have climbed Everest is different, not only is it the highest it has a totally lethal guardian of its summit called ‘the death zone’. Basically, my job is to get you through the ‘death zone’ to the summit and back. Now when we leave camp four, it will only be with climbers I know can make it. As you have realised when you signed on for this, my word is final as my other aim is to bring you all back down the mountain alive. In the three seasons I have run these expeditions, I have lost no one and I aim to keep it that way.

"However, what I want to stress, despite all my experience and preparations, Everest is a mountain with a mind of its own and I certainly cannot control it. All I can do is assess the conditions and make a decision on what to do. To date, my judgement has been spot on but I never think I have tamed this mountain. Put bluntly, no one has and no one ever will.

What I ask is, if you feel you have a problem, mention it. As you will see, some 150 to 200 dead climbers still lie frozen in the snow in the ‘death zone’ unable to be removed. I do not want anyone here to join that number, so it is better to say you have a problem than to die. Just remember, in the ‘death zone’ you have 12 to 20 hours of oxygen to survive and if you are caught in it at night, you will surely die. Now I know this is meant to be casual drinks but I just want to make sure you realise what is involved.

It was a sobering speech, which bought everyone back to the enormous undertaking that was climbing Mount Everest. Still with such an experienced group, realising the dangers was an essential part of any such trip and certainly no one thought reaching the summit of Everest would be easy. If it were easy, they would not be here putting their skills and experience up against the highest mountain in the world. While arguments might rage about which was the most dangerous mountain on Earth, this was in reality an argument over degrees of extremely high danger. While other mountains might be above 26,000 feet, Everest’s ‘death zone’ made it a mountain to truly fear.

After drinks, Catherine and Philip had dinner with two New Zealanders, Richie and Dan, who they both knew as really good climbers. It was an interesting dinner, for Richie and Dan were two climbing fanatics who worked only to pay for the climbing. A future after climbing they had not contemplated, for the all-consuming passion for high places dominated their thoughts. Both were married with their wives and children left to fend for themselves for six months a year.

While there were some women climbers, climbing by and large was a male sport with most expeditions being all male. On this trek, Catherine was in fact the only woman with the rest of the members made up of men in their thirties for whom the ascent of Everest was the final confirmation of their climbing prowess and their success as human beings. To be able to say ‘I climbed Everest’ would denote them as the gods of climbing and their male prowess confirmed.

However, women climbers were prominent in achievement and Catherine and Philip were in awe of Susan Ershler and her husband Philip, who were the first married couple to climb all seven major peaks in the world in 2002. In 1992, Junko Tabei became the first woman to climb all seven peaks, while American Mary Lefever became the oldest person to