Hell Is Above Us: The Epic Race to the Top of Fumu, the World's Tallest Mountain, Jonathan Bloom [best ebook reader TXT] 📗

razing the wall. They could not be sure how much effort would be required until they started having a go at it. There did not seem to be any cementing of stones, which was good. But the stones appeared to be heavy and wedged in tightly. They could disassemble them, but it could take a while, and who knew how thick it was?

Decisions must have been difficult to make in the sparse air shared by hundreds of tired men. Chhiri Tendi, Mano, and Hoyt tried to talk through the options and come up with a utilitarian solution that would bring the greatest benefit, or at least minimal suffering. Chhiri Tendi recounts:

“The decision was made even more difficult because, despite hypoxia, Hoyt was managing to find enough sustenance from the air to be visibly enraged. But the rage was not aimed at Mano anymore. Hoyt seemed to finally understand that anyone wearing a bunting was inherently innocent. If you willfully choose to follow someone wearing a bunting, whatever happens after that is your own damned fault. No. His rage had turned to someone not there. He seemed to know in his viscera Junk was the mastermind behind this wall. Hoyt’s theory was that Junk had seen the cave, grown concerned over the easy access it might provide, and in a fit of paranoia, had told his porters to build it.”

Entries into journals from the Junk expedition suggest Hoyt was correct in his theory. After River Leaf has escaped certain death on the Qila Pass and made her way to the base of Fumu via the caves, Junk had indeed told the porters to construct a wall blocking any further passage.

As Hoyt, Mano, and Chhiri Tendi tried to reach a decision, another problem arose. “Hoyt, come back here. You’re not going to like this.” It was Chatham’s voice. It sounded as if it was coming from behind a wall, which made little sense given they all shared the same cave. Putting his pack down, Hoyt slid past the other travelers with lantern in hand, back to the location of Chatham’s voice. Before he could arrive at Chatham he came across the yak. In great frustration he demanded the porter in charge of the yak move the great beast so he could determine what the problem was. Chatham said from nearby “That’s the problem, William. The yak is stuck.”

The yak had been guided with little effort up to that point, but then they had reached the narrow portion of the cave and the old girl had become wedged between the walls. Chatham explained that the yak had been moving fast enough to get its withers into the space, but then it became wedged in between the sides. The load on its back had also become stuck against the top of the cave. They had tried backing it up and pushing it forward to no avail. Hoyt wrote, “The animal complained, grunting and moving its head about wildly. If anyone tried to reach for her head, the horns tried to find purchase in flesh. Its eyes, wide with fear and anger, were fixed on me. Its mouth was open, tongue distended, drool flying to all points on the compass.” The porter assigned to the yak pulled on the rope in vain. This only managed to make the animal more hostile.

The stuck animal posed serious problems. The slight oxygen supply for those ahead of the yak was now even slighter. Who knew if sufficient air was slowly entering from hidden vents and from between the yak’s legs? Would they be smothered? Was the carbon monoxide from the lanterns and torches going to be a problem? For all they knew, oxygen was being replaced with sulfurous air coming from the Earth below. Breathing was now clearly getting more difficult but no one could gauge the rate of decrease in supply. Also, retreat from the cave had now become less probable. Until the animal could be moved, they would have to focus on the man-made wall for escape. The men at the front of the line were trying to get the top stone out of the wall but were having some difficulty working fingers and the tips of ice axes into the crevices and then pulling the stones into the cave. They seem to have been placed in such a way that sending them outward from the cave would be easier than pulling them in, but the men could not manage the proper angle to do this. There was no doubt getting the wall down would take precious time.

After a spell, the animal calmed down, possibly due to the lack of air. It sporadically huffed and stared at Hoyt. Hoyt stared back, trying to think of what to do. Hoyt wrote: “The yak looked at me as if to say ‘Now you die, old fool, and I will be the one to deliver you to the Underworld. This is the demise your hubris has wrought – not at the summit of the world but in a subterranean staring contest with a yak.’” Hoyt looked beneath to see if there was space enough between the four legs for the twenty or so men trapped at the front of the line to make an egress. There was not. Even if a person could slip under the yak’s brisket, any sudden actions by the yak could lead to serious bodily damage. As long as the wall and the animal stayed where they were, there was no exit.

Several plans arose at once. None of them involved the wall because even if it was only one stone thick from bottom to top, the limited diameter of the cave and the crowded conditions did not permit a proper assault. They did not have anything to use as a battering ram and even if they did, they did not have the space for a running start. Because of this, all plans revolved around the yak. Hoyt’s plan was to wait for