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Close call not the death of Mount Everest obsession

Australian Gilian Lee, who almost died attempting to climb Mount Everest without oxygen, won’t rule out another summit attempt.

‘I’m a stubborn bastard’: Australian mountaineer Gilian Lee. Picture: Sunday Night
‘I’m a stubborn bastard’: Australian mountaineer Gilian Lee. Picture: Sunday Night

The Australian mountaineer who almost died attempting to climb Mount Everest without oxygen last month has admitted he’s a “bloody lucky … stubborn bastard”, but isn’t ruling out another summit attempt.

Gilian Lee, an IT specialist from Canberra who has dreamt of climbing the world’s highest peak since his childhood, fell unconscious from lack of oxygen and a chest infection at an altitude of 7500m about 1km from the summit on May 22.

His two sherpa guides assisted him back down to the second base camp before he was carried on the back of a yak more than 22km to base camp and then flown to Kathmandu’s Grande Hospital.

A long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest last month. Picture: AP
A long queue of mountain climbers line a path on Mount Everest last month. Picture: AP

Mr Lee, who is still recovering in hospital, said he didn’t want to use oxygen because he considered it cheating.

“I think you wipe out half the mountain by taking oxygen,” Mr Lee told the Seven Network’s Sunday Night program.

“By putting a bottle on you wipe out 3000m, so did you really just climb an 8000m mountain? No, you didn’t.”

He said, despite his chest infection, he was determined to push ahead.

“I was at the limit, at death’s door effectively, but I was so close to the top” Mr Lee said.

“It’s a bit like summit fever — how do you say no, how do you cancel your dream?”

He was coughing incessantly, but ignored the pleas from his sherpa guides to turn around.

“I’m a stubborn bastard, OK? Let’s be honest about that,” Mr Lee said.

“I had just committed one and a half months or so of my life on this attempt.”

He acknowledged he “made the wrong call” by pushing his body to the limit and endangering not only his life but the lives of his sherpa guides as well.

Nepali officials unload bodies of Everest climbers who died in previous seasons, at the helipad of Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal last month.
Nepali officials unload bodies of Everest climbers who died in previous seasons, at the helipad of Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal last month.

“In this instance, let’s be honest, I made the wrong call,” Mr Lee said.

“If it wasn’t for those guys I’d be frozen on the mountain right now. I wouldn’t be here. They saved my life.”

He is also apologetic to his mother Julie Peck, who has been with him as he recovers his health in Kathmandu.

“No mum should have to go through what my mum has gone through,” Mr Lee said.

Despite narrowly escaping death, and the concerns of his family and friends, Mr Lee is not ruling out another attempt to reach the Mount Everest summit.

“Life is not about saying ‘I’ve hit a stumbling block, I’m just going to turn my ass around with my tail between my legs and go somewhere safe’,” he said.

“No, it’s just a readjustment, you have to modify the risk, reassess the risk.”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/close-call-not-the-death-of-everest-obsession/news-story/878ac719d084665725c8b73a2e521201