A Fall Before Rising - Jai Jaikumar

A Fall Before Rising by Jai Jaikumar is about a mountain climbing trip with Jai and his friend. They were suppose to turnaround and head back to high camp due to safety considerations but decided to continue climbing since they were not tired and they were also experienced. After reaching the mountain summit they began their descent - the cornice fell through, resulting in Jai and his companion to be separated on the other side of the slope. Jai fell on the snow in the Himalayas at close to 24,000 feet, and of the consequent 60-mile-per-hour ride down part of the side of the mountain losing nearly 3000 feet in altitude, and then a 24-hour trek through snow and ice apparently on a broken hip until he fell into the arms of a peasant woman who fed him and then carried him on her back feet by feet for three (3) days to a doctor in a neighboring village. The problem here was that Jai and his companion had originally set 1 p.m. as their “turnaround time,” the point at which considerations of safety dictate that climbers should abandon their ascent and head back to high camp. However, the prospect of waiting a few more days to again challenge the summit held little appeal for Jai and his companion.
The problem resulted from the fact that they should have followed the procedures and considerations set for the safety of climbers. If they had followed their initial decision to turn around at 1 p.m., they would have abided by the safety measures that were dictated. Usually, when measures put in place it is to ensure the most efficient of results which in this case was to create a turnaround point that the climbers could see to ascend the mountain instead of feeling their way down as Jai and his companion did. I would recommend two things to be done: firstly, they should have followed the initial precautions so that they would be able to better judge the cornice and hence would be obliged to find another route. Secondly, acknowledging the predictability and dangers of the