EVEREST 2021: THE COVID CLIMB || a life changing expedition to the summit of Mount Everest || Vlog

On the 14th of April, I left my family, the comforts of Kathmandu, and flew to the mountain village of Lukla (2,840m). My climbing partner, Kipa Sherpa, an experienced climber who has summited Mount Everest many times, met me in Lukla. We immediately started towards Everest Base Camp (5,364m), roughly a nine-day journey up the Khumbu Valley. On May 17th, we climbed from Base Camp directly to Camp Two. The weather at Camp Two was very cold and windy. We stayed there for two nights. On the third day, May 19th, the weather got a bit better, so we climbed to Camp Three. There were so many groups headed to Camp Three, it gave us good hope about the weather. Unfortunately, the bad weather returned. We barely survived two very cold and windy nights at Camp Three. On May 21st, many of the other groups started climbing to Camp Four (7,980m), even though the weather was still very bad. We did the same and after we got there it almost appeared to be a stupid decision. It was extremely cold and windy. Kipa and I set up our tent in the freezing wind. It was an incredibly hard thing to do. It is no joke to set up a tent in minus 40-degree temperatures with 70 km per hour winds whipping by. Without a tent, we would surely die. We were able to affix our tent to the frozen ground. That night we couldn’t eat or drink. Our stove would not work in those brutally cold conditions. I battled to stay awake the entire night, though, sleep kept calling to me. I knew sleep meant death. The temperature dropped to minus 60-degrees Celsius and the wind increased to over 90 km per hour. My hands and feet were beyond the pains of cold, numbness covered my entire body. I felt the flame of my inner being slowly flickering away. Sleep would soon overcome me and death was sure to follow. Determined not to fall asleep, I began moving my body. All night, I kept moving. And the freezing wind continued to blow. The next day, May 22nd, I was still alive and the wind continued to blow. At 9 00 pm, we all left Camp Four on the South Col and started our push to the summit. Fortunately, a few hours later the wind had eased quite a bit. When we reached the Balcony (8,500m) the conditions were almost perfect, moderate wind, and the star-filled night was moon bright. The Balcony to the Summit was the most amazing part of the expedition. It felt like I was climbing towards the heavens. Every step was unbelievably beautiful. The view was almost unexplainable. I experienced something beyond anything I could ever imagine. It was like dreaming a beautiful dream. I could see almost half of the earth. I could see the curved line of the earth’s horizon where it met the sky. I could see the Nepal Valley and the vast Himalayan Mountain Range. To the east, I could see the sun’s rays shooting up past the horizon and into space. And, with every step I took, the sun’s rays bent further and further over the horizon towards me. May 23rd, 5 00 am, just after the Hillary Steps, as I struggled to see, I accidentally stepped into a crevasse and fell waist-deep (or leg-deep) into the crack in the ice. I cried out for Kipa, but Kipa could not hear me over of the howling wind. Kipa got further away with every step he took. I shouted as loud as I could and still, he could not hear me. After struggling for some time, luckily, I manage to get myself out. Kipa turned and looked back just as I got to my feet. We trudged on. It took us another 30 minutes to reach the Summit of Mount Everest (8,). At 5 30 am, with the morning rays of the sun as our witness, we touched the top of the world. I sat there for a moment and gazed out over the beautiful planet that we live on. It was an awe-inspiring moment. I felt humbled and honored to set foot where Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary had first stepped. My dream of standing on the highest peak in the world was done, but the most difficult part remained. Going down is far more difficult and dangerous than you think. Anyway, i managed it. Thank you for reading my story and thank you for watching my vlog. Please share if you liked it. Chapters 0:00 Introduction 1:37 Kathmandu - Lukla - EBC - Covid 9:49 EBC - Camp 1,2,3 - EBC 33:57 Summit Attempt (Failed) 39:22 Summit Attempt (Successful) Watch my first attempt here - My contact info: Ram Sharan Upreti Managing Director Mountain Ram Adventures Kathmandu, Nepal Mobile number: 977 9851074270 info@ ©️ 2021 Ram Sharan Upreti; Mountain Ram Adventures. All rights reserved. No part of this film may be copied, reproduced, broadcast or distributed in any form without a signed, written permission of content creators Mountain Ram Adventures and Ram Sharan Upreti. #everest2021 #everestclimb #everestexpedition