Adventurer not ‘prepared to die,’ ends bid

An Ottawa adventurer’s bid to be the first to the top of unclimbed Hillary Peak in Nepal is over.

Elia Saikaly and his friend and climbing partner, Pasang Kaji, called off their climb Friday after deciding it was too dangerous to continue. “After careful analysis of the risk vs. rewards scenario, we decided as a team that it is best to end our efforts and surrender due to the unstable terrain and extreme levels of risk,” Saikaly wrote in a Facebook post.

“Relentless” monsoon weather, avalanches and rockfalls, deep snow and buried crevasses have plagued the pair during the climb.

“PK and I have deliberated for days and now have decided it simply isn’t worth the risk,” Saikaly wrote. “Neither of us is willing to lose our lives to reach the summit.”

Saikaly, 38, has been in Nepal since Aug. 5. Originally the team included Montreal mountaineer Gabriel Filippi, the expedition leader, but Filippi was injured in a fall early in the climb and was medevaced to Montreal.

Saikaly and PK Sherpa decided to attempt the summit on their own.

Saikaly and Filippi’s preparations for the expedition were filmed for a documentary, Unclimbed, which will air on the Discovery Channel in November and is being posted online in 10-minute segments. Saikaly was filming the Hillary ascent, which made the climb even more difficult. “I know in my heart of hearts that we made the right decision,” he wrote.

“Neither of us is prepared to die on a mountain and ruin the lives of the people we love.”

It is Saikaly’s fourth expedition to Nepal, including two times standing on the summit of Mount Everset, the highest mountain on Earth. Hillary Peak was named in honour of Sir Edmund Hillary who, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first to climb Everest in 1953.