Lynn Schneidhorst Olson
Pathologist Defies the Odds on Mt Everest
In May, a storm on Mt Everest claimed the lives of
expedition leaders Rob Hall and Scott Fischer and
six other climbers.
Since then, much has
been written, said, and
asked about the events
that led to this tragedy
atop the world's highest peak.
A closer look at this
story, however, reveals
stories of remarkable
individuals—like Dallas pathologist S. Beck
Weathers—who showed amazing strength
and a will to live in the
face of death.
Tibetan prayer flags
flapping overhead,
S. Beck Weathers
takes a break at base
camp before his
attempt to scale
Mt Everest.
Scaling the Seven Summits
Weathers began mountaineering eight years ago.
He was inspired to climb each continent's highest
mountain after reading Seven Summits by Dick
Bass, the first person to ascend all seven. After
climbing the other six, Weathers decided to tackle
the 29,028-foot Everest.
"I had really never thought I would climb
Everest... But I thought that if I didn't try I
would regret it," Weathers says. "I had already
decided it would be the last mountain I would
climb. After that, I would hang up my crampons
and explore other things."
10-second biography
Seaborn Beck Weathers, MD,
pathologist in private prac
tice, MCD Pathology at
Med City Dallas Hospital
Journey to the Top of the World
Weathers and the other climbers in Rob
Hall's expedition traveled by helicopter to
the valley from which Everest rises.
Education/Training: MD from
Several other expeditions were also on
the University of Texas
Everest—Fischer's expedition, an IMAX
Southwest Medical School
internship/residency
film crew, and groups from South Africa
Parkland Hospital, Dallas
and Taiwan.
At 17,600 feet above sea level, Everest's base
camp is higher than most mountains, and already
tests the human body's ability to adapt to
extreme conditions. Weathers' group spent six
weeks climbing and returning to base camp to
become acclimatized to the altitude. Then they
began their climb, stopping at a series of four
camps over several days on their way to the top.
Everest's summit is small, like a tabletop;
Weathers knows this only second-hand, because
he developed temporary blindness before he
could get there. Years earlier, he had radial keratotomy. Neither he nor his surgeons knew that
this surgery could cause extreme fluctuations in
vision in conditions of low barometric pressure—such as that encountered on Everest.
Weathers became aware of these fluctuations
during his climb, but their severity had been
masked because the intensity of the light on the
mountain contracted his pupils; for most of the
climb, he could see quite well. The night before
the summit attempt, however, he found that the
problem was far more serious than he had
thought. By the time he was within striking distance of the summit, he had no vision in his right
eye and had limited vision in his left.
He told Hall, who made him promise to wait
on the South Ridge until he returned from the
summit: "[It] was a bad promise, because he
never came back down."
Weathers waited patiently while others
climbed the 330 vertical feet to the summit and
passed him on their way down. The weather was
calm. He marveled at the beauty of the view from
the top of the world, apparent even to his
impaired eyes.
Searching for Camp
By the time guide Mike Groom encountered
Weathers, a storm was brewing—the temperature
was dropping and visibility was decreasing.
Groom helped Weathers down to the South Col,
a barren saddle of ice and boulders. Camp was at
the extreme edge of the Col, but with their limited visibility, they could not find it. They met up
with a group of climbers from the Fischer expedition, who also were in search of camp.
By then, the storm was in full force. Blinded
by a whiteout in a pitch-black night, they
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VOLUME 27, NUMBER 10
OCTOBER 1996
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wandered for two hours in 70 mph winds and
actual temperatures of — 40°F. At least once, they
almost walked off the edge of the mountain.
In desperation, Groom and three others left
Weathers and the four remaining climbers in
search of camp. "We were huddled in a human
pile, slapping backs and doing anything else that
would keep you awake, to keep from sliding into
unconsciousness," Weathers says. He knew that
unconsciousness meant hypothermic coma and
death. "It was an emotional scene," he says.
"Everyone thought they were dying."
When the others finally found camp, no one
there was in any condition to search for Weathers'
group. But guide Anatoly Boukreev summoned
up the strength to go out into the storm three
times. He brought back everyone except Weathers
and Japanese climber Yasuko Namba, both of
whom he thought were dead. The next morning,
a cardiologist ventured out to examine the two
have or develop drive and willpower—the same
skills you use in mountaineering. You put negative things out of your mind and focus. If you
give in to pity and fear, you will not be able to
function. The question is, 'Do I have the
willpower to exclude all these negatives and focus
on the positives?' or, 'Do I give in?'—which I was
not going to do as long as I could stand up."
He stumbled onto camp without knowing
what it was. Then he made out the figure of guide
Pete Athans standing up in front of him: "I realized then I wasn't going to die on the ice."
Weathers was helped down the mountain by
Athans, Todd Burleson, and climbers from the
IMAX film crew. He was rescued in one of the
highest-altitude helicopter rescues on record.
The Long Road to Recovery
Weathers' injuries were serious. His right hand and
the fingers on his left have been amputated. He has
minimal use of his left
hand and hopes surgery
Twice left for dead. Weathers awoke.
will help restore some
At first, he thought he was dreaming.
mobility to it.
"I'm trying to get
Then he saw his dead, frostbitten
back to work—it's a
main focus of my life,"
hand: "I knew then that if I didn't
he says. His associates
are filling in for him
start moving, I was going to die."
while he recovers.
Weathers
does
not
consider
his to be a story of
and again left them for dead. Weathers' family
courage.
"Bravery
requires
a
choice.
I was just trywas called and told that he had died.
ing to rescue myself." The heroes in Weathers'
opinion are Boukreev, those who helped him down
Fighting Back From ' D e a t h '
In the middle of the day, Weathers awoke. At first, the mountain, the helicopter pilot, and Weathers'
he thought he was dreaming. "Then I saw my wife Margaret, nicknamed "Peach."
hand was obviously dead [from frostbite]. That
"She's had to shoulder such a heavy burden
helped me focus on where I really was. I knew since I've been back," Weathers says. "That kind of
that if I didn't start moving, I was going to die. I climbing involves a degree of selfishness because it
felt sure that no one was going to save me, puts more than yourself at risk."
because if they could have they would have by
"[When you climb] You know the odds, but
now. I stood up and left my gear; I knew if no one feels they will be the one to pay the price,"
I didn't make it to camp I wouldn't need it. I Weathers says. "We were in the wrong place at the
walked upwind [where he assumed camp was]. wrong time. If the storm had hit an hour later,
I walked for what felt like a fairly long time."
this wouldn't have happened."
Ravaged with frostbite, nearly blind, and oxyWhen he finally got in contact with his family
gen-starved, Weathers believed he probably after the rescue, the first thing Weathers told
would die on the mountain: "It was not as fright- them was how much he wanted to be home with
ening as I would have thought. I had already them, and how much he loved them. He calls his
'died' once, and knew how to do it. My main feel- second chance on life an "opportunity."©
ing was of regret. Regret that I would never see
my family again and would not have the chance Lynn Schneidhorst Olson is the director of the
to tell them certain things."
ASCP fournals Department.
He cites his physician training as being key to
his survival: "People who go to medical school
OCTOBER 1996
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 10
Everyone Has a
Story To Tell
Who would you like
to read about in this
column? If you know
someone who uses
his or her laboratory
skills in an unusual
way, please contact
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ext 369, or e-mail
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