<center><a href='https://d.tube/#!/v/arjunvajpai/9o47oxgw'><img src='https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmVGKMFiw1nVq7tEfHhfuoLauiDRmbxqVUYQo8wM7XQxPF'></a></center><hr>

Namaste! Here is a video from my Everest archives of me crossing a massive crevasse towards the end of the Khumbu Icefall while on our way to Camp 1 (6000m).

This moment was 8 years ago but I remember crossing this ladder for the first time very vividly. This was the longest ladder I had come across in our first rotation. The crevasse was so wide that 5 ladders had to be tied to each other to get across. As I started walking on them, the crevasse below me slwoly started revealing itself. I was searching for the bottom of it but couldn’t see it. After a few hundred feet, the crevasse just went black. My mind started to think how deep is this? My Sherpa once jokingly said that crevasses in Khumbu are so deep, that if you fall, you go straight to America. I started to wonder if that were true.

I arrived in the middle of the ladder; suddenly a gust of wind blew and I lost my balance. I squeezed my hands real tight and held onto the ropes for my dear life trying to balance myself with all that I had. My heart started beating really fast and I told myself that this would be a very bad place to fall. I closed my eyes for a second and got control over my body. I took the next few steps and made it across. As soon as I was safe on the other side, I got on my knees and took a deep breath of relief. Another obstacle had been surpassed!

We cross Khumbu Icefall multiple times during our Everest expeditions. After the second time, I became very used to crossing these ladders and I started enjoying myself. It is surely a deadly and a very dangerous place to be in. Many great mountaineers have fallen a prey to its precarious nature. I count my blessing to have survived it.


<hr><a href='https://d.tube/#!/v/arjunvajpai/9o47oxgw'> ▶️ DTube</a><br /><a href='https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUU5KFJk66CUggKGpRzUXt7uab9cq2yTvE65BgbQo9chM'> ▶️ IPFS</a>