- Xavier Ladouceur described his 25-hour Everest summit push as his craziest life story
- He faced six-hour traffic jams at 8,100 meters and saw dead bodies on the climb
- Ladouceur experienced frostbite on three toes and battled hypothermia during descent
A Canadian man who climbed Mount Everest recently has revealed the 'craziest' story behind his 25-hour summit push. In an Instagram post, 23-year-old Xavier Ladouceur from Quebec, detailed how he witnessed dead bodies during the excursion, braved hours-long traffic jams in the 'death zone', nearly ran out of oxygen and caught hypothermia before managing to complete his quest.
"This is probably the craziest story of my life. Everything in this post happened within 48 hours on Everest. And honestly in situations like this, you stop thinking about the summit. You only think about making it home alive," Ladouceur captioned the post.
Describing it as the "hardest, most terrifying, and most beautiful experience" of his life, Ladouceur detailed that he started climbing Everest at 7 pm local time on Wednesday (May 20). 30 minutes into the climb, Ladouceur said he witnessed the dead body of a climber being lowered down the fixed lines, which led to a massive traffic jam at 8,100 metres.
"More than 200 climbers stuck in the Death Zone. We barely moved for six hours," said Ladouceur, adding that despite his best attempts, he ended up with frostbite on three toes.
Almost 12 hours after starting the climb, Ladouceur and his guide, Purna Lopchan, reached the Balcony at 8,400 metres as the Sun shone in its full glory.
"9 AM and 13 hours into the climb, we arrived at the Hillary Step and found another line of 100+ climbers waiting on the most technical section of Everest," Ladouceur said.
While Purna initially hesitated looking at the crowd, he ended up following Ladouceur, who continued to push for the summit. After another traffic jam at 8700 metres, both managed to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain. "One hour later, we stood on the highest point on Earth," said Ladouceur.
Check The Viral Post Here:
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The Climb Down
The challenging conditions persisted during the climb down when Ladouceur found a solo climber without oxygen, nearly falling asleep in the Death Zone. After handing the climber his extra oxygen bottles, Ladouceur informed the Sherpas who managed to launch and complete the rescue operation.
Ladouceur explained that once he reached Base Camp 4, his entire body became wet, meaning he had hypothermia. "The most dangerous moments of the expedition," he added.
Purna helped him recover by melting snow continuously. However, at 4 am, with no oxygen left, they started moving again towards Camp 2. On the way down, Ladouceur said he passed the body of an Indian climber from the night before which made him realise why this place is called the 'Death Zone'.
