Spring, 1953. The monsoon arrives in early June and closes the mountain for the year. You lead a five-rope expedition — climbers, Sherpa, an expedition doctor, and a radio operator — from Base Camp at 5,364 m to the summit of Everest at 8,849 m.
You carry bottled oxygen because the “death zone” above 8,000 m kills slowly: minds cloud, men sit down in the snow to rest and do not get up. Above you wait the Khumbu Icefall, the Lhotse Face, the Yellow Band, the Southeast Ridge, and finally the South Summit and the Hillary Step.
Manage five vitals: OXYGEN, MORALE, HEALTH, SUPPLIES, WEATHER WINDOWS. Choose pace at camp, spend supplies deliberately, climb carefully in the death zone. Every station above Advance Base needs oxygen discipline or minds start failing. A climber lost in the death zone is almost never recovered.
Stations of the climb: Base Camp → Khumbu Icefall → Camp I → Camp II → Lhotse Face → Camp III → Yellow Band → Camp IV (South Col) → Southeast Ridge → South Summit → Hillary Step → SUMMIT.