A beginner’s guide to climbing Everest: Hongkonger pens book on daunting challenge
- Michael Tomordy returned to Mount Everest after witnessing tragedy, summiting the peak in 2017.
- He has now written a book about how to mentally and physically prepare for the daunting task which has claimed the lives of close to 300 climbers
Hongkonger Michael Tomordy’s first climb to a Mount Everest base camp ended in tragedy.
The 47-year-old engineer, who works for a risk and technology consultancy company, joined a training climb to Camp 3, also known as the Lhoste wall, in 2014. The area has its highest point at close to 8,000 metres above sea level and climbers usually do a number of attempts to various base camps when taking on the summit to adjust to the altitude.
Sadly, the trip ended in tragedy as an avalanche killed 16 Sherpas. Tomordy said the memory has stuck with him.
“The ice fall is a bit like Russian Roulette,” said Tomordy, who started mountain climbing in his late 30s. “We watched the events (from base camp) and saw the helicopters, the long line of bodies.”
Undeterred, Tomordy, who first visited the area in 1994, went back.
“I tried the same training climb in 2017 and was successful. I think you need to accept risk in this sort of activity and just work to mitigate the risks.”