Press-Republican—Tuesday/ August T, T984
17
Mt. Everest:
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By ALISON FOLLOS
Staff Writer
Sara-Placid Bureau
KEENE VALLEY - Reaching
the top of the world's highest
mountain doesn't sound like
ftiuch fun,, but according to Ed
Hixson, that's not what it's all
about.
Hixson, a 42-year-old
Saranac Lake general surgeon,
leaves for China this month
Adhere he will challenge the summit of Mount Everest again — his
third attempt. .
Only 149 people (four of them
women) have ever reached the
summit of Mt. Everest and lived
to tell about it. More than 60
climbers have died trying.
Everest is a pan of Ihe
Himalayan range that divides
Nepal from Tibet, China. This
29,028-foot high superior pinnacle
is described by veteran climber
Hixson: "The lower mountain is
glacier and rock; the upper,
snow and ice. There are no
trails, not a tree or shrub* there
is nothing."
*
Sets out again Aug. 8
Having attempted the elusive
summit from the north and south
sides, Hixson will join an
American team of 10 climbers to
try the north face once again.
The north face of Everest has
been closed by the Chinese
government for 29 years, and for
that reason only a few expeditions from the northern and
eastern sides have ever been
tried.
What glories can be expected
upon reaching the top? Continues
Hixson, "The upper mounters is
always cold and windy. The top
has sub-zero temperatures. You
risk your life to get there and if
you make it to the summit the
wind blows away your footsteps.
You stay for only 10 or 15
minutes."
On Aug. 8, Hixson leaves for
Seattle, Wash., where he will
meef up with the other climbers
of the China-Everest '84 team.
Lou Whittaker, one of the
climbers, is the twin brother of
Jim Whittaker, who was the first
American ever to reach the
Everest summit.
Keene man to go too
There will be other members of
the expedition who will be traveling to the base camp, among
them, George Bright of Keene, in
addition to an author who will be
recording the experience.
In the spring of 1983* Hixson
was part of a successful team
that climbed the south side of this
foreboding challenge. They put
eight men on the summit. Hixson hazards you take," he said.
himself reached 28,000 feet, only
Hixson admits to being obsess1,028 feet away from the top.
ed with the challenge of climb"Coming down I had a stroke," ing, but bis wife, Karen, also an
he said. "It was the result of high ardent mountain climber, says,
altitude, the blood thickening at "I'm not as obsessed with it as he
the high altitude, and dehydra- is. I'm just glad that he's
tion. I climbed down myself. You recovered and healthy enough to
either climb down that mountain, want to go." There's some further discussion, before she adds
or you won't make it."
Questioned about medical at- quietly, "I don't mind him being
tention, Hixson says, "I am the away for that long period (it's a
team's doctor. They hate doc- three-month expedition). We're
tors, but they look at me and say, both very independent people,
There's a fairly benign fellow, so but 111 worry about the safety.
I'm concerned for all of them,
they take me."
but for him particularly.' Karen,
Stroke effects lingered
Hixson saysr^'It's important and the Hixson's one-year-old
for me to be a part of this group son, will remain in Saranac
and do my job as well as I can. Lake. Aside from me, for emergency
Letters take months
medical attention, we'll be a
Hixson said there is very little
week to two weeks away from communication. "If I send a letmedical care; and that's the ter in September, it should be
here after I get home in
Chinese Army."
The term stroke carries November. Lhasa, the Tibetan
ominous connotations. Hixson capital, has a post office that is
suffered vision and balance pro- probably smaller than the one in
blems and arm paralysis Wilmington. Lhasa is about 500 to
resulting from the stroke. He 1,000 miles away from our base
spent three months recovering camp, and there is a single
before he could resume his strand of wire along the only dirt
Saranac Lake practice; But he road that connects the two, for a
acts almost indifferent toward .virtually non-existent telephone
the possibility of a second oc- service. We will have radio comcurence, "It's just one of the munication among ourselves on
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The stark peaks of Mount Everest
the mountain, and to base camp,
but Red China will not allow communication outside the country."
China-Everest '84 will differ
from Hixson's '83 expedition
because from the north side they
will be able to take trucks into
base camp. Along the dirt road
from Lhasa it is expected to take
two weeks.
Excursions'from camp
From the base camp they will
ferry supplies and equipment up
the mountain to intermediate
camps in preparation to scale the
summit. This will take about one
month. From the final camp
before the summit, climbers will
go out on three- to four-day
climbs. If they have not reached
their goal, they return to camp to
rest before setting out again.
The personality that you expect to go hand-in-hand with Hixson's goals suggests calm and
control. You suspect his life to be
so stringently planned that
nothing hampers his personal
aspirations, that intuitively he
goes from here to there, his focus
never wavering. Deliberately
placing himself in death-defying
climbing situations, you wonder
how this personable, relaxed
man stimulates fiis everyday
life.
Describing himself he says,
"I'm a very goal-oriented person. I'm fortunate that I'm a
surgeon dealing ia crimes situations."
AH of bare survival
'The travel to China is so
much better knowing I have this
mountain to climb. I'd go out of
my mind taking a vacation to the
ocean. I'd need to know I could
climb Katahdin, or had a major
canoe trip at the end."
Does he relax? "It may sound
funny, but climbing, skiing, or
canoeing; these are my forms of
relaxation."
He mentions the priorities that
climbing has extolled. "The
team that goes to the summit
leads a fine Hnebetween survival
and success. X^storm can kick up
and blow you 6ft that mountain."
He says that he finds it difficult
to identify with patient's -minor
complaints, having experienced
the art of bare survival where the
daily priorities were food,
shelter, health and weather.
Climbed local mountains
You wonder if Hixson's obsession" may be driving him beyond
the point of his own good judgment, and where it will all end.
He says, "Climbing just goes
from harder to worse. If (you
conquer) Everest, what would
you ever do after you climbed the
highest? E v e r e s t .in your
shorts?"
He does say, "Lately, with the
big climbs I haven't had much
time for the little ones. I will probably rededicate myself to these
mountains. It's a lot nicer climbing over here; there it's more
spectacular.
"I've climbed most of these
mountains 20, 30 times, and
Whiteface well over 100 times."
Whiteface, with an elevation of
4,867 feet, is easily dwarfed by
the Everest peak, which is
almost shdtimes its-size. Yet Hixson say? he will return to climb it
with enjoyment.
About to embark on an advjenture, e x p e r i e n c e d and
knowledgeable about the grimmer aspects of its end, Hixson is
driven by another opportunity
for success. He does not seem to
thrive on recognition; he talks
more enthusiastically about his
fellow tean> members' accomplishments than his own. Is
he foolhardy or courageous? He
is probably only to be judged
fairly by a fellow climber, one
able to comprehend the climbing
obsession.
The upperjnountain is always cold
and windy. The top has sub-zero
temperatures. You risk your life to
get there and if you make it
to the summit the wind
blows away your footsteps.
You stay for only 10 or 15 minutes/1
-Edward Hixson
f
The calm before the storm
Edward and Barbara Hixson pose, along with George
Bright of Keene, during a quiet summer afternoon in
the Adirondacks. Soon Edward Hixson and Bright
will be on their way up the world's highest mountain
( P R staff photo by Alison Folios)
Hixson brings the mountain to the people
By ALISON FOLLOS
Staff Writer
Sara-Placid Bureau
KEENE VALLEY — Ed Hixson of Lake Placid recently gave a_
lecture and slide presefttatien w Keeae Valley about his experiences during his last year's climb of Mount Everest.
Sitting in a lovely old church, surrounded by athletic-looking
people, the presentation transports you from Keene Valley's
pleasant summertime grace to a captivating adventure of the
"Indiana Jones" caliber. The difference being the rudimentary
lifestyle of the Sherpa tribespeople (an ethnic group originating
in Nepal) crossed with the magnificent beauty of China and the
Himalayas.
Akmg their journey by foot to base camp, the team met Yeti
Man, a Scottsman devoting five years of his life to search for the
"abominable snowman." Hixson. whose climbing addition might
be considered as eccentric as Yetti Man's search, gives tonguein-cheek portrayals of their encounters.
On Yeti Man "Because we all know the abominable snowman
only comes out at night. Yeti Mao spends his days drinking with
the Sherpa and his night wandering the mountain in search."
On the Sherpa and their Buddhist holy men: Hixsoc said the
holymeo will pray for the expedition, though the fervency of their
prayers depends on the good impression the expeditiooers make.
as well as the smount of the donations they leave. Tbe hoiymen
pray to ward off evil spirits and Hixaon said, "Their prayers
worked; we never saw one evil sprit the whole time."
About the 2,000-year-old dirt trail, the only trail into base
camp: "The yaks (a cow-ftke animal with horns) carry the packs
and not being a completely domesticated, animal you have to be
careful they don't take a swipe ai you," Bridges over the river*
akmg the ancient trail have been modernized from vines and
plank board, to cable and plank board. Because of the cable, the
yaks will now cross the bridges. *
Asked why he wants to attempt this dangerous, if fascinating,
climb yet again, Hixson smiles, "1 guess I should say. Because
it's there/ " (George Everest Mallory said this in 1924. Mallory
was part of the first British expedition to attempt Everest and no
one knows if lie ever reached the summit. He was last seen at
27,010 feet; he never returned.)
4
' '-* I i
The silence presses and Hixuro concedes. "Climbing is an addiction. My aspirations are climbing at high altitude. Highaltitude climbing U the ultimate exercise of the spirit There's a
paose, then, "There, how does that sound?"
On Monday. July 30. Hixaon teft to being the first stretch of feis
China-Everest 'M expedition. He is now in Seattle. Wash., where
he meets his fellow climbers. He spent his last week in the U.S.
giving lectures and preparing for the trip. Hixsoo left Seattle
Mooday to Zlj to China. After two weeks of trying to get seven
t t w u r f pounds of equipment through Chinese customs. Quaa*
Everest *S4 begins in earnest-
On the snowy slopes
Edward Hixson, a Saranac Lake surgeon, as he looked on an earlier climb of Mount Everest. He will
make the cHmb again Aug. 8. George Bright of Keene
will travel to the base camp. (Photo supplied)