Mount Everest And The Accident

Phil James was an ambitious young kid who always dreamt to summit the Mount Everest. He was working with Merrill Lynch and quit his comfortable job at the age of 23 to follow his dream. He would have been the youngest person to summit if he was successful with this venture, but he failed. It was a 65 day expedition and the preparation for this took almost a year’s time. Phil even had to sell his house in London to pay the expenses.

Everybody who knew him complained and cribbed for his useless decision but he still believed that he could reach the peak and be the youngest one to do so. The expedition started with his team and he was much accompanied by his climbing partner – Conan. It was a special day as they were close to reach the peak and the crew was all excited about this but an accident shook them off.

Someone fell from the cliff pulling Conan down. He landed on a rocky ledge falling 20 feet down and broke his leg with severe injuries. Phil was further down the mountain and received this information through the radio. Phil says “I first thought there was no way! There was no way he was getting down and coming back to life. It was a crazy moment when experts were just walking past us.”

Conan was rescued but he suffered from major injuries. Phil says “An expert who was my role model walked past me, looked at Conan and said – Leave that poor bastard, he is already dead”

Phil and the team took five days to bring Conan down from the mountain. His effort was all washed away and he was blamed. But Phil took it in a positive note. He knew his abilities and he became a different person altogether with this accident. Bitter cold, bad accident, death of their guide during the expedition made him strong mentally and to get his partner down.