Return from Everest tests team to limit
LANDSLIDES, fast-flowing rivers, helicopter rides and close encounters with death were all faced by seven Merthyr Tydfil men on an unbelievable six-day journey to get home from Mount Everest.
Dafydd Hellard, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer last year, and six of his rugby teammates from the Valley Cougars planned an 18-day trip to Nepal to climb to Everest Base Camp, a fundraising venture that turned into a three-week journey across the Himalayan foothills.
“The whole trip was absolutely amazing – now we are home, we can reflect on those last six days of the trip and appreciate what we went through. It was really difficult,” said Dafydd, 33.
The group’s trek to base camp, 5,380m above sea level, took four days and no-one experienced altitude sickness or exhaustion, said Dafydd, who was joined by Aaron Lewis, Kyle Williams, Harry Miles, Ross Price, Thomas Rees and Matthew Tabb.
However, on their return to Lukla, where most climbers start and end their trek, the weather forced them to spend three nights there rather than one before heading to Kathmandu to catch their plane home, as all flights were cancelled.
Dafydd spoke of the deadly conditions in the area.
He said: “One of the nights that we stayed in Lukla we had been talking to a group of trekkers from Australia who were getting ready to make the trek to base camp. A couple of days later we saw them coming back down the mountain and they were carrying one of the girls on a stretcher. She must have only been in her 20s.
“We saw six dead bodies the entire trip. The weather conditions were just so bad, people couldn’t cope with it.”
After three nights, the group trekked to the next village where they were offered a helicopter flight to the capital city, but visibility was too poor and they had to land 45 minutes into the journey.
Their next option was to try to get down from the mountain by jeep – but after reaching an impassable landslide, the group walked for three hours on a mountain trail, crossing a fast-flowing river with water at waist height.
They managed to get another jeep for a 29-hour journey to Kathmandu, but their troubles didn’t end there.
“One of the jeeps in front of us slammed on their brakes and everyone jumped out of the car,” said Dafydd.
“One of the passengers had a heart attack, and obviously you are in the middle of nowhere, there are no ambulances, no medical staff, no defibrillators. We took it in turns to give him CPR for 45 minutes, but he was gone.”
They made it to Kathmandu three days after their planned flight. To add to their bad luck, their plane was delayed by four hours, meaning they missed their connecting flight back to the UK.
“When we eventually got back to Heathrow we were picked up by our minibus which didn’t even make it to Reading before breaking down. We had to walk down the hard shoulder to the closest services to wait for another bus to pick us up,” said Dafydd.
“You could not even make up what we went through in that last week.”
The group will not forget their wild journey to the Himalayas, especially because of their motivation in completing the trip.
“We were all doing it for different reasons, but mainly it was to raise awareness of testicular cancer,” said Dafydd.
The group funded the trip themselves but are fundraising for Velindre Cancer Hospital and Checkemlads.
To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/do-it-for-daf