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Posted: Tuesday 7 September 2010

Talking Points: Jamie Andrew, Mountaineer

Jamie Andrew September 2010Jamie Andrew, an experienced mountaineer, told S6 pupils the extraordinary story of his journey up a 4,000-metre mountain in the French resort of Chamonix in the winter of 1999. Peter Aitken [S6] reports.

Together with his friend, also called Jamie, they scaled the rock face with the ambitious plan of climbing the mountain in two days. He described himself as having "leaped at the chance" to climb this great north face. He explained that they both felt confident in the beginning; clear blue skies spurred them forward towards the summit. However, as time passed during the ascent, things began to change for the worst. "The weather changed in an instant," said Mr Andrew, as snowfall rained down on them and the visibility turned to zero. Spindrift avalanches thundered over their heads as the power of the avalanches nearly pulled them off the mountain face.

By this point, their climbing had become slow and arduous as they battled through thick waves of falling snow. The summit itself was a "disappointment", said Andrew. It was literally a knife-edge of snow and ice. There was no protection from the elements on top of that summit, he told us. "It was an appalling place to spend the evening."

Overnight, the weather had worsened and unfortunately their only course of action was to ride out the storm on the summit with dangerously scarce supplies of food and liquid supplies. Days and nights wore on and yet the storm did not pass; temperatures plummeted to -30ºC.

The onset of hypothermia cut into them both fast. Mr Andrew told us how both their bodies began to shut down due to the strenuous conditions and his friend's body was beginning to give up. Any form of rescue attempt was thwarted by the abysmal weather and by this point it was their fifth night on top of the mountain. His hands and feet were now frozen solid and he asked himself the question if this was the end? He remembered closing his eyes in the certainty that he was not going to open them again.

Yet he did wake up. He described the rays of sunshine "lighting the mountain peaks like a candle."

The rescue attempts, once thwarted, could now take place. Unfortunately, only one of the two men made the return journey to the base of the mountain alive. Andrew described himself spinning 1,000 metres above the glacier and seeing his rescuer crouched over the lifeless body of his climbing partner and best friend, Jamie.

The time in hospital, he told us, was spent "defrosting"; the surgeons and doctors literally bringing him back from the brink of death. His hands and feet had been amputated as the septicaemia in his system began wrecking havoc on the rest of body. He told us that the uncertainty of his predicament was what he struggled with most. He felt that he was rebuilding his entire life from scratch and that guilt was perhaps the strongest emotion that he suffered from. Yet, conversely, this emotion was what urged him on.

He even managed to climb that fateful mountain again, describing the event as cathartic as it helped him "lay those ghosts to rest."

Jamie Andrew concluded by explaining what he has achieved in the years since the incident: namely climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, completing an Iron Man triathlon, writing a book and having children - he jokingly tells of the perils of trying to change a nappy with his teeth!

He finished his speech by attaching tennis racket-like arms onto himself and juggling three balls at once.

"Bet you've never seen an amputee juggler before", he said!

 

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