Bernard Voyer, Explorer-Inspirational Speaker


	An exceptional view of the Everest massif. The Khumbu glacier has carved out the valley. The Base Camp is located just outside the curve of the glacier. This panorama can be seen from Kalapatar, the shoulder of Pumoni. Photo: Claude Grenier - Martin Vachon
Base Camp. We set up our tents on the glacial moraine of Khumbu. Using ice axes and and picks, we manage to carve out a fairly flat space for ourselves. The stones lie on top of ice. The Base Camp becomes an international village where climbers from all over the world live side by side. At 5 400m, it is higher than the highest peak in the Alps, Mont Blanc (4 807m)! There is a constant buzz of excitement here. Each expedition hangs out prayer flags.

Between the Base Camp and Camp I lies the notorious Icefall. The glacier is twisted and crisscrossed with crevasses, and huge blocks of ice called seracs, some the size of a building, topple over regularly. All the climbers are wary of this part of the route. Bernard had to cross it six times in 1999, and twelve times in 1997.
	Camp I. Located at 6 100m, above the Icefall. The tents are set up on a wide serac, a huge block of ice that some day will tumble into the Icefall itself. Camp I moves to a new site every year. At this altitude, there is only 50% as much oxygen as at sea level.
Ladders are set up to cross the crevasses. If one isn't enough, a second or third one is tied on. There a dozen ladders to cross between the Base Camp and Camp II. Most of the crevasses are deadly, and it's a slippery and perilous trip across the ladder, what with metal crampons slipping and sliding on the metal ladders. Since the glacier is constantly moving, ladders sometimes disappear into the bottom of a crevasse.
	Camp II, 6500 m. Nearly at the end of the valley, we set up on the moraine beside the glacier, as at the Base Camp. Above our tents hangs a glacier that occasionally looses chunks of ice... the size of a house! You start to feel the effects of high altitude: headaches, loss of appetite, etc. Camp II is important for acclimatization, so we stay there several days.
One of the risks up in the high mountains is avalanches. After a heavy snowfall, the mountain sheds the excess weight. Avalanches are dangerous and quite frequent on the Everest massif. Day and night, the rumbling created by avalanches of rocks and snow add a certain ambiance to life in the Base Camp.
	Camp III. The world's worst campsite! 7 400m. On the steep slope of Mount Lhotse, we carve out a place with shovels and picks to create a small platform for the tent. In the midst of an avalanche zone and at an altitude close to what is called the "Death Zone," you don't get much sleep or relaxation here. Sherpas refuse to sleep at Camp III... They prefer to leave Camp II during the night and go directly to Camp IV. Quite a trip!

The summit pyramid of the Roof of the World. It is often snow-free because it is constantly swept by violent winds (the jet stream) and because its slopes are so steep. No use looking up when you get to the top--the whole world is at your feet. Photo: Claude Grenier - Martin Vachon
	Camp IV, 8 000m. The South Col, the highest col on Earth! By this time we are so breathless and exhausted, frozen and sleepless, with no appetite... it's hard to find anything good to say about this spot! It's in the middle of the "Death Zone," where human bodies can no longer adapt because of the lack of oxygen. People often say the place is polluted, and it's true that there are always oxygen bottles and remains of tents. But the ground is cleaned year after year and soon it will be back to normal. The bodies of some climbers remain here, though, for eternity.
Climbers use an oxygen mask, just for the last section, from Camp IV at 8 000m up to the summit. It doesn't make the climb any less arduous, but makes things safer, to avoid cerebral and pulmonary edema.
	The summit ridge seen from the South Summit 8 700m. This is a risky part before reaching the summit, 150m higher. Very powerful gusts sometimes roar in from the Tibetan side, to remind us that we are at the height of the jet stream. The snow is very fragile, and it's terribly cold. Many climbers turn back when they see the Hillary Step, in the middle of the route across the ridge: 8 metres straight up, on smooth rock! The step was named in honour of the first climber to reach the top of Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary, accompanied by Sherpa Tenzing Norgay (1953).
After setting foot on the summit of Everest, Bernard was invited to sign the prestigious "Everest Summiters Club'' board in Kathmandu. Bernard's and Dorjee's signatures are now inscribed next to those of Hillary, Rob Hall, Messner...