Everest 2008: David Tait Calls it Quits, Evacuated Off Everest For Medical Emergency

David Tait, who climbed with Russell Brice’s Himex Expedition last season, has found 2008 a bit more troubling. Early on, when Tait discovered that China had shut down the North side of Everest and Himex had to cancel any plans of a 2008 expedition, David struggled to get on a South side expedition permit. That was the least of David’s problems.

On David Tait’s trek in to Everest Basecamp he began suffering from a toothache. He stopped at a local dentist and had the tooth extracted. During this process, Nepal shut down all air traffic into Basecamp. David and his climbing sherpa would be forced to trek back to BC on foot. They made pretty good time getting back to Camp, but enroute David discovered another tooth that was severely bothering him. He decided to calm the pain by an overload of pain medication.

Between the famed Khumbu Icefall and Camp 1, David ran in to major problems.

The medication he had been taking (1600 milligrams of Ibuprofen every 4 hours) ate away at the lining of his stomach. David soon found himself on his knees nauseated and coughing up blood. Climbers nearby urged David to return to Basecamp. He turned around and started the process of a reverse Khumbu trek. Crossing the ladders high above a crevice. I will let David tell the next few moments from his Expedition blog:

Five minutes later, and still very unstable and light-headed, I weaved my way back through the upper reaches of the icefall. As every segment of rope is negotiated, one unclips and reclips oneself to the fixed safety rope, circumventing the anchors. However, some of the rope lengths appear simply too short to warrant the effort of bending down to grasp and execute this procedure – and it was this small moment of neglect that almost cost me my life.

I don’t remember slipping in any way, or even beginning to fall – I must have fainted or passed out, because the next thing I remember was the harsh impact of landing flat on my back. I had fallen perhaps 10-15 feet from the roped track into a crevasse but luckily landed on an ice outcrop, either side of which was a deep, black void. Perhaps unconsciously, and despite not being “clipped on” to the rope, I had still grasped the nylon line in my right hand as I fell. Maybe it was the searing burn of the rope through my hand that woke me – maybe it was the impact – either way I swung my left hand across my body, aiming the spring loaded safety karabiner for the nylon rope in order to prevent myself falling further.

Luckily David’s efforts to latch on to the rope quite possibly saved his life. With the help of some nearby Sherpas, David was able to make his way back to BC where he was immediately taken to the Everest Basecamp Clinic then medivaced to Kathmandu where the condition on his expedition blog is listed as stable.

In 2007, David Tait broke trail and set ropes to the summit of Mt. Everest from the North, then traversed the summit to the South, where he made his descent while breaking trail and setting ropes once again. His strong climbing in 2007 ended up paving the way for hundreds of people to eventually make their own summits. In 2008, David had been working towards a no O2 ascent before the problems began. He said he is now giving up Everest and will not be back. He referenced talking to his wife and kids, along with Russell Brice, and telling them that it is over. Last season I was able to conduct two interviews with David–one before his Everest march up to the summit, and one right afterwards as he was sitting in Kathmandu. At that time, tired from his Everest Traverse, he told me that he would never be back unless one of his kids wanted him to go with them. I think, in most circles, many of us were surprised to hear David was going back this season.

After the unforeseen problems on Everest this season-and his brush with death, I honestly don’t think we will be seeing David back in 2009. He states that there are other ways to raise money and that he just chose mountain climbing to aid in these efforts. His efforts are not without merit though. In the last 4 years, David has summited Mt. Everest twice, including the first British western Everest traverse by anyone, and raised in excess of 350,000L for his charity of choice, the NSPCC, which helps abused children afford their court cases.

From following David throughout the past 2 seasons on Everest, throughout the interviews and emails, I can honestly say that David was definitely doing the climbing for the kids and his charity. He continues to express that he isn’t a climber, even though the past couple of years on Everest, he has been one of the strongest. It was a good run filled with memorable moments-success and failure-that will carry on with him in his future charity work. His wife and kids are everything to him. It is nice to know that David has put others first in his life and we wish him all the best in the future. The summit isn’t everything, It’s the journey. David will carry on in that journey and live to see another day. It’s been fun watching, David, but even better knowing that you made the right decision–some don’t. Carry on, my friend.