What lies beyond the heart of man - Part Three

This is the third of a three-part, behind-the-scenes series about mountaineer Warren Thompson, Sisters resident who has gone on two expeditions to Everest, one to Denali and many more to world-class mountains.

After the 1984 expedition, determined to return to Everest, Warren Thompson heard then-President Reagan call the Soviet Union "The Evil Empire." Frustrated, he decided to do something for world peace.

In 1990, he was back on Everest.

"There is this old saying, 'You can light a candle or curse the darkness.' I thought about the fact that Everest had never been climbed as an international peace climb but, if we could get the Chinese, Russians and Americans to climb together, we could light a candle. So, I asked my friend, Jim Whittaker, who was the first American to summit Everest in 1963, to lead the team. We discovered quickly that this was going to be very tough to pull off given the cultural animosities among these nations."

Once again, the point person on logistics, Thompson, after six years of preparation, arrived at Base Camp with the international teams. Soon after arriving, Jim Whitaker injured his calf, sending him off the mountain for six weeks. Warren was soon knee-deep in bickering over differences in high-altitude climbing and the unflinching competition among the teams.

"I was dealing with every idiotic squabble," he said.

"The only good thing was that none of the climbers could understand what the other person was saying.

The Russian theory of climbing is that you sleep as high as you can and as soon as you can.

The American theory is that you climb high and sleep low, meaning you climb to the next camp, drop supplies and then sleep at a lower camp to allow your body to adjust.

So, the Russians would climb to the higher camp, carrying light loads.

There, they would use up all the supplies that the Americans had hauled up there and, then, head back down.

As far as the Russians were concerned, the Americans were the donkeys.

Then you had the Chinese who refused to be outdone by either team."

Because the 1990 climb coincided with the 20th anniversary of Earth Day, the expedition took the initiative to clean up garbage on Everest, some of it dating back to 1921. "The mountain is a garbage dump. Nothing deteriorates at that altitude. The American and Tibetan teams (representing China) were cool with cleaning up the mountain, but the Russians, who are treated like rock-stars in their own country, well, let's say that you should have seen the look on their faces when I handed them 50-gallon garbage bags."

What made the climb worth all the challenges?

"I am very proud to say that we put 21 people on the summit without any casualties. Two of them, a Chinese and a Russian, were women. Also, Ed Viesturs was the first American to summit Everest solo and without oxygen. Initially, I was against him doing it, believing he was risking his life. But Jim differed with me. 'Warren, I want Ed to know I have absolute faith in him. If he wants to climb that mountain solo and without oxygen, I am going to tell Ed: Go for it. But get going early. Start by 2 a.m.'

"Not only did Ed follow Jim's advice. He skipped Camp 7 doing it. He started from Camp 6, skipped Camp 7 and was on the summit by noon. Then he made it all the way back down to Camp 5. That's an amazing accomplishment. Through that experience, I learned that being a leader means letting others accomplish things beyond your own expectations and what you think they can do."

Sidelined from climbing due to injury, Warren loves living in the shadow of the Three Sisters now and promises to record his stories for his grandchildren and, hopefully, for those who can only imagine what it is like to touch the face of heaven.

To learn more: The documentary "Three Flags Over Everest," narrated by Robert Redford, tells the story of Warren Thompson's 1990 Everest expedition.