Even after death, his eyes were waiting

Even after death, his eyes were waiting

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Dinesh Kukreti

Wilson was looking at the highest peak sitting just six thousand feet below knee from Mount Everest.  Looking at his blue eyes for paleness, it seemed as if he was sitting in wait and thinking that the world's highest peak would come to him.  Wilson sat in this state for exactly one year.  The leader of the Everest expedition of 1935, Eric Shipton, first saw Wilson at this stage and saved his dead body from being deformed.  Wilson's tent was a few feet away from Wilson's lifeless body.  A small diary was found in his pocket, in which the daily account of that great and indomitable courageous expedition was recorded in chronological order.  Shipton buried Wilson's body in a rift with the help of his porters, including the young man Tenzing who was first included in the Everest expedition team.

Wilson, the son of a merchant in the city of Yorkshire, England, did not even get an early mountaineering education nor did he have any specific knowledge of Himalayan mountaineering.  But even then, he had to go on a dangerous journey to kiss Sagarmatha.  Wilson's desire to conquer Everest was awakened when in 1933 the Houston expedition succeeded in conquering Mount Everest by airplane.  He too decided to fly by plane, land it somewhere on Mount Everest and walk from there to kiss Sagarmatha.  He bought a small ship, despite the companions' detention, and embarked on his mission one day, saying that he was going to Australia via India.  When Wilson landed at an airport in the Middle East to refuel in the ship, the authorities there realized his intentions and seized Wilson's passport.  However, Wilson with high intentions proceeded to the destination on his ship without a passport.  Meanwhile, the British Air Ministry had also got a glimpse of his campaign.  The ministry warns him to stop his creepy intentions, but no one cares about Wilson.  He had reached Purnia via Karachi on his plane.  On the day of departure from Purnia, the local police took his plane in the morning, which he got back after 21 days.  During this time the rain had started, but if the spirits are high then where can the obstacles stop.  Wilson also decided that he would climb Everest on foot.  For this he went to Darjeeling.

The distance from Darjeeling to Everest is 350 miles, but to cover it one has to go through the most rugged and bumpy terrain in the world.  Everest could then be reached via Tibet, and Wilson wanted to carry the barest of things alone through this inaccessible route.  Knowing how many mountaineering teams had lost their lives on this route from Darjeeling to Everest.  Tibet could be reached from Sikkim only by crossing several passes through this route.  Wilson left Darjeeling on a moonlit night with his belongings and three Sherpas.  Crossing the treacherous paths for 25 consecutive days, he reached a desolate icy strong wind from which the very cold plateau of Tibet begins.  After staying there for two weeks, Wilson with his sherpas finally reached the ice reef from which Mount Everest was just 12 miles away.  The road ahead had ice trenches and icebergs ranging from 50 to 100 feet in height.  During this time, two pits were also found, which were covered with frozen ice from all around.  At that place they proceeded by passing under the swinging icebergs above the head.  Now the morale of the Sherpas was beginning to waver, but they kept moving forward seeing the strong intentions of Wilson, a strong believer of his tune.  By reaching the third camp (21200 ft) of his previous campaign, his lungs started to ache due to lack of oxygen.

From this height, the summit of Everest was just three miles away.  Wilson now had to climb only 8000 feet in height with his Sherpas.  During this time, luck also supported him and he got a big bag of logistic material pressed into the ice.  Which probably the previous expedition had left.  In such a situation, Wilson was fully convinced of his success.  Although the courage of the Sherpas is rarely seen in others, Wilson's colleague, Sherpa, had suffered from fatigue during this long and difficult journey.  His condition was worsening due to cold and lack of oxygen.  At the same time, he was also afraid of Wilson, because he neither ate properly, nor did he feel tired.  Bus!  With his lonely eyes, the lonely lonely gaze stared at the Tushar Dhawal peak of Everest.  Despite this, he hoped that he would not be able to continue his madcap campaign in the face of difficulties to come and would return.

In front of the third camp was an 800 feet high rock, on which it was impossible to climb without a trained climber team due to lack of ropes, and the only way to reach Northcool was through this rock.  Despite this, Wilson was fully hopeful that he would even penetrate this fort.  When the Sherpas came to know about his intention, they trembled with fear and sat down in rebellion.  He explained to him that even if he somehow climbed a snow cliff, he would not be able to reach Northcoll alone.  The way to the top from there goes through a two hundred feet high narrow chimneyed crevice.  It is not possible to climb without a mountaineering team.  But Wilson could not see anything other than success.

 

On 17 May 1934, Wilson shook hands with his porters and proceeded, saying that they would stay for two weeks.  The items he took with him in this journey included three loaves of bread, two tin parees plus a small tent, altimeter, a camera and a union jack, which he had in mind to bury at the highest peak.  This stubborn man, who came out to conquer the world's highest peak without any material, finally crossed the ice rock too.  Seeing this immense courage, the Sherpas were confident that he would reach the summit of Everest.  He waited for Wilson for three weeks instead of two, but eventually returned disappointed.

 

On the other hand, Wilson had become very weak by reaching the crevice above which was the Northcoll.  The summit was Everest at an altitude of only 6000 feet.  Wilson entered the rift and began to push the back of a wall and with the foot of the front wall, slid upwards with the thrust of the hands.  For the entire six hours, he kept moving up in this way and finally reached Northcoll.  When Wilson was standing on the northcool, he might not have been ill-judged to be the ultimate climax of his greatness.  Moving up from the Northcoll was now beyond Wilson's capacity.  His whole day was spent in finding the right place to climb from here.  He eventually entered into it by burying his small tent.  His lungs were now asking for oxygen.

As soon as the next morning, he started climbing again, but climbed to a certain height and slipped down.  It was evening in this effort.  Seeing the sun set, he slowly returned to the tent.  That night Wilson handed over the last piece of loaf and the remaining parridge.  It was a stormy night.  The patience of the mountains had answered.  Stormy icy winds uprooted Wilson's tent.  That Wilson came out without delay, otherwise the tents and he would have flown together.  It was a pre-emptive storm, leaving Wilson with no fighting power.  He sat there with his knees bent.  The next day when the sun rose, Wilson stared at the highest peak of Mount Everest for the last time and stared again.

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