Hell Is Above Us: The Epic Race to the Top of Fumu, the World's Tallest Mountain by Jonathan Bloom Read Free Book Online Page B

outlook for the next few days was even more positive. They would be ascending and descending vast fields of snow and ice that gradually rose up to the intended Camps Four and Five. These fields were not very steep and as wide as football fields.
    The weather was also in their favour. Other than the constant grim cloud at the summit, the blue of the sky was uninterrupted in all directions. The southern exposure and mild winds likely put the temperature somewhere around forty degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the men were shirtless.
    According to Nima Sonam, one of the nine Sherpa who survived the events of that day, Rauff was walking in front, untethered. Rauff had felt on such an easy pitch, there was little need to be tied to the other men. Lobsang Tenjing, another Sherpa who was very interested in currying favor from any “white eyes” who hired him, walked in front with Rauff. He too walked without a rope. The two chatted away about politics, women, and the best places in Berlin to get a custom-made, high-quality backpack. Rauff fancied himself an expert on such topics. The other six Germans climbed in a straight line behind Rauff and Lobsang Tenjing, all tied off. They had given themselves about ten feet of rope between climbers, but climbed much closer to each other than that. The nine other Sherpa brought up the rear, also unfettered by the rope.
    The warm weather put everyone in good spirits. Despite the thin air, the Germans began singing, most likely the infamous songs written for the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Nima Sonam knew enough German to catch the gist of the lyrics. “They sang songs praising their leader, condemning outsiders, and glorifying the brotherhood among Aryan men,” he remembers. “It goes without saying they did not ask us to sing along.” The Sherpa could only assume they were not included in the “brotherhood.” Lobsang Tenjing was making every effort to defy the tradition and break through to their world. But everyone knew that when a climb was over, the old boundaries between “coolie” and “sahib” – regardless of the sahib’s origin – rose back up to a great height.
    Below the singing, another sound began to rise, tuneless and terrible. The men stopped their revelry one by one as it reached their ears. A cracking sound. All eighteen souls stopped in their tracks and remained motionless. Whatever was cracking was enormous, the sound coming from directly below and also echoing from afar. And in another moment, it simply stopped.
    The men looked at each other, shaken. Rauff laughed to break the tension. After some time, the other Germans laughed as well. The Sherpa did not. The whole team began to walk again. Rauff broke into the first line of Das Lied der Deutschen when the Earth opened up beneath them. The sound was deafening as ice chunks the size of city row houses separated from each other and fell. What had a moment ago been a featureless field of ice and snow now looked like an enormous cat’s eye - white on both sides with a long black slit up the middle, roughly fifty feet wide. The men on the rope were draped across the slit, with Rauff and Lobsang Tenjing holding onto the man at the front, and the nine Sherpa holding onto the man at the end. The ones in the middle flailed their arms and legs over the chasm and yelled for help.
    Rauff was slipping and his backpack was ripping open. Oxygen tanks, cooker parts, cups, and the like fell out and rolled over the edge of the chasm. No one heard the sound of these things hitting the bottom. That may have been because of the screaming, or it may have been because the bottom was very far away.
    Rauff yelled for everyone to keep quiet. Although straining to hold the rope, he needed a moment to think. Complete silence fell over the group, even those hanging in mid-air. The situation was problematic. The weight of the tethered men was being shared by the people standing on both sides of the chasm. Neither side could