- Jason Wardle, of Herriman, faced extreme conditions on Mount Everest this weekend.
- A severe blizzard stranded hundreds of hikers, including Wardle and his cousins.
- Despite sickness and challenges, Wardle emphasized the importance of setting and pursuing goals.
HERRIMAN — Jason Wardle turned 50 in February, said he and some of his cousins — who all live in Utah and are the same age — wanted to make the most of the milestone.
"We all turned 50 this year and had this crazy idea, we're going to do something crazy for our 50th," he said. The trio decided to take on the challenge of getting to the base of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.
Wardle, of Herriman, said he put himself through rigorous training for the past nine months in preparation for the climb and extreme elevation.
"There's no way to replicate the altitude that you experience here, but I just tried to do the best to get my heart and lungs in the best shape possible in order to be prepared," he told KSL.com.
Wardle and his three cousins arrived in the mountainous region of China late last month to begin their trek, but a few days in, the unexpected happened.
A severe snowstorm hit the area beginning on Saturday, eventually leading to hundreds of hikers becoming stranded in the region.
"The conditions on Everest have been crazy. We were caught in whiteout conditions and the tea house we were supposed to stay at had the roof collapse under the weight of the snow," Wardle described in a Facebook post on Sunday.
He said the group was hiking to Everest Base Camp; they'd made it up the mountain as far as they could before deciding the conditions might be too dangerous to continue.
"We were about six miles from base camp, and a huge storm came in; lightning, thunder, everywhere," Wardle said. With the mix of whiteout conditions and heavy snow, and learning that hikers on the other side of the mountain were stranded, the group opted to cut their losses and attempted to head back down.
To make matters worse, he and his cousins all became sick while climbing the mountain. Nonetheless, they continued to hike down the mountain to escape the dangerous weather conditions.
Wardle said his group had hoped to stay in a small, bed-and-breakfast-like hotel on the mountain, but the blizzard caused its roof to collapse. Eventually, however, the group made it to safety and was able to get some rest at another tea house.
"So we were able to get to a third hotel where we were able to spend the night, and then yesterday was just 10 hours of trekking, trying to get down as low as we could," Wardle told KSL.com Monday.
Wardle recalled seeing helicopters rescuing people off the mountain, some experiencing hypothermia and other severe complications. Rescuers were in a race against time to save stranded hikers.
"We did have one person that was staying at our same tea house that had a heart attack," Wardle said.
Despite the extreme weather and sickness, Wardle said on Monday that the group was feeling much better and preparing to hike the remainder of the way back down the mountain and eventually fly home to Utah.
Wardle reflected on the journey by emphasizing the importance of setting goals and appreciating life's challenges, even when plans go awry.
He drew parallels between his Everest experience and what he tells kids in a youth running club that he coaches in Herriman.
"You know, you set your goal for something and you do everything you can to accomplish it, and sometimes you don't accomplish the goals," Wardle said. "Sometimes you know you want to run a certain time, or you want to win a certain race; and you know sometimes that doesn't always happen and you just get to be happy with the journey and appreciate the lessons that you learn along the way."
Although the trip didn't go as planned, he believes people shouldn't be afraid to try hard things.
"I think anytime you do something that's going to be challenging, even if you don't accomplish your goal, you're going to learn from it," he said. "It's helped me now to learn to appreciate all the little things that you know normally you take for granted in life."
Wardle's sister updated a Facebook post on Tuesday night, saying her brother's group was less than 10 miles from reaching the bottom of the mountain, and was expected to conclude their journey sometime Wednesday.
On Wednesday, she said Wardle's party had safely made it off the mountain. She thanked Sherpas, guides and mountain support staff for their help and said she was praying for the health and safety of others still working on getting to safety.
Correction: A previous version said the party was trying to summit Everest, though it was only attempting to make it to Everest Base Camp.
