Everest Summit Reaction – Marlette De Jager
Summit reaction from Marlette De Jager, who reached the Everest summit on May 12th at 8.20am.
“It was brutal.
“You have to dig deep and then LOT deeper.
“I’m not going to sugar coat things and say it was easy or lie about what really happened.
“It was an 18 hour day on top of other very long days. I spent most of the summit push hoping I didn’t get frostbite or the person in front of me who was going so slowly wouldn’t be the death of me.
“Yes, I made it to the top of the world. Yes I achieved my goal. Yes I saw the dawn break from the highest point on earth and the shadow Everest casts over other peaks.
“But it was a choice between photo or fingertips. I chose fingertips.
“There is no Elation on top because as you know, it’s halfway and usually on the descent that people die.
“Unfortunately that was true in our case, and two people from our camp, one who was with us since Kathmandu and had become a friend died.
“Others sustained severe frostbite and snow blindness.
“I’m a mixed bag of emotions. Lots to process.
“Grateful to be alive.”
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