There's a lot of things that could go wrong. Warner has said goodbye to his mother and other family members. Still, he acknowledges, sound thinking has eluded some of the world's greatest climbers, men and women killed doing exactly what he has been training for. Death Zone Everest is 29,035 feet high. Near the summit, the body gets one-third of the oxygen it would at sea level.
Bottled oxygen helps, but it is no substitute.
Warner is one of three guides on the expedition headed by Russell Brice, a New Zealander with nine seasons of Everest experience on his resume. My responsibility is to get people down alive. The climbers will take the North Ridge route, considered somewhat safer than the popular South Col route, but technically more challenging. It also was the route chosen by George Mallory in 1924 on his doomed attempt to be the first to conquer the mountain. At least four books and two documentary films followed.