Photos: Guts and glory in Aditya Gupta’s book “7 Lessons From Everest”

On May 29, 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first to summit Everest, the world’s tallest mountain. On the 68th anniversary of their feat, a look at the ultimate climb with pictures and a first-hand account from Aditya Gupta’s photobook 7 Lessons From Everest, comprising pictures shot during Gupta’s climb in 2019.

Cloud art by the Himalayas.

View from the South Summit at 8750m, 2 hours to summit. The Cornice Traverse at Mt Everest. Does not matter if you are totally exhausted, dehydrated, freezing, hypoxic, hungry … or anything worse. You must remain super alert, and in top performance mode. Or you will pay. With your life! That’s the deal. That’s what you sign up for when you sign up for a shot at reaching the “top of this world”. This is pretty much the last hurdle before you may kiss the summit. One look at it sends a sharp shiver down your spine before you piece back your courage together and fight on. Go for it. Glory beckons – but demands its price!

Dawn that day was a special gift. Not only did it offer some “once in several generations” views but the optimistic excitement about the summit being within striking distance. This is a majestic view of Mt Makalu, one of the 14 peaks higher than 8000m in the world. We had been going for about 10 hours by this time and I don’t know what was energizing me, but it felt “comfortable” in the given context. I got this quick shot from just under the South Summit. The winds were calm the sky was clear and Sagarmatha seemed like a friendly planet. I wish there was the time and opportunity to absorb these moments while on the climb, but out there it is just the tough ask of putting one foot ahead of the other, 5 to 7 gasps at a time.

The most difficult to see sunrise! Nearly from the top of the world – 4.58 am May 22, 2019.

The view of the Western Cwm from near C4.

Water droplets get arrested by the wind to become ice before they run out to the stream below.

Ice sculptures master crafted by the sun and the wind at Everest Base Camp.

Returning from the Khumbu Ice Fall.

The last horizontal ladder on the Khumbu Icefall at approx. 19000ft. the Everest demands and teaches several things. The “power of focus” is one of them. The ability to focus so sharply on what needs to be done, that one does not even see the “problems” is a useful talent in life and on Everest. You HAVE to focus sharply on the rung to place your foot and not worry about the crevasse below and not be scared on the wobbly ladder. No guts, no glory – this theme comes alive every few minutes on the Khumbu!

Aditya Gupta, author, 7 Lessons from Everest; Expedition Learnings for Life and Business