Tim responded to our questions by phone from his home in Los Angeles in December 2006.
How has Everest changed you, or not? Do you feel different?
I don't know if it changed me. It definitely humbled me.
I've never really been a team player. I have a real hard time with authority, which is why I kept pushing for the extra time up there. But it finally got through to me.
Do you still feel like you could have made it? Or do you feel that Russell made the right decision to turn you around at that point?
Absolutely, 120 percent I would have made it, no doubt about it. But getting down? I wouldn't have made it. So it was definitely the right decision to come down.
The thing is, I was mentally there, physically there, I mean I was definitely fatigued — all the metal in my body slowed me down. But I was absolutely there mentally and physically.
I'm a salesman, I sell motorcycles. I build custom Harleys and I sell them. It's funny because most of the guys who I deal with at my shop, they're like, "Typical Tim," I'm up there trying to sell Phurba and Russell on giving me 30 more minutes. I'm trying to close a deal on top of the world! A man who is not there mentally doesn't try to close a deal.
You're right, that is the way you sounded.
But you don't think about the way down, you just don't think about it. Especially when I could have taken a rock out of my pocket and thrown it and hit the summit — it was right there.
So it was absolutely, positively the toughest decision I ever had to make in my life. And I had to stretch it that extra hour, just push it a little longer. I definitely had to push it, but there would have been a moment when I came down when I didn't have oxygen, and I was so fatigued coming down that I still would have been up there.
So as far as I'm concerned, Russell definitely [made the right decision]. I mean that's why he's been on the mountain for 20 years. That's why I paid him to go with him. Absolutely the best decision.
What was it like to get back? Was it tough after being so close?
Probably the toughest part for me about being turned around was having guys still coming up the mountain. That was tough. When I was up there arguing and yelling, there were still guys coming up the mountain, which added to me being the pain in the ass that I was, arguing with him, because I couldn't grasp that there were still people coming up. I just couldn't comprehend, "Why am I being turned around when there are still people coming up?"
It's still hard for me to grasp that. But there's a reason why he's been on that mountain for 20 years. There's a reason why every time there's a problem with other camps, they all come to him. There's a reason why every time there's a rescue, they're radioing Russell. It finally got through to me — there's a reason why he's turning me around.
You could see how fatigued I was coming down — my legs were like Jello, my size finally caught up with me.
I thought it would be smooth sailing getting down, but that's when Woody told me Mark Inglis couldn't walk. I honestly had nothing left in me. Then, the adrenalin hits — Mark's in trouble. I jumped out of that tent and we hooked him up to our harnesses and short-roped him all the way down to just above the North Col. That's when Russell sent up a team of Sherpas to carry him down the rest of the way.
You have a little anger when you get down, and me and Russell, we battled it out when I got down. But in the end, it's the smartest decision I've ever made in my life, hands down.
That mountain will test you — it will throw everything at you and in the end, you truly find out who you are and what you're made of, physically, mentally and spiritually. And it's really important to have guys like Russell and Phurba in your corner.
Someone said something to me that sticks in my head whenever I think about how close I was and that now I have to go back and go through all that and try to tag that summit. But someone said, "You know what? Next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, the mountain will always be there. The mountain's not going anywhere." That makes it feel better.
What's it like to see yourself on film? Does it change the experience? Is it surprising?
It's funny because I live in Hollywood and everyone in Hollywood's in the business. I'm the only guy who lives in Hollywood without a head shot. And there's all this exposure with me on TV. So it is kind of funny with all my friends who are in the business — I have no desire to be an actor — so to see myself up there all the time on TV, it's amusing.
When you watch what happened, is that how you remember it?
There are certain situations that are chopped up or different than I remember. There's one situation I remember when I was coming down — there's that one scene when I fell off the trail and I was climbing back up, it was like, "Oh Tim's so fatigued he fell."
But that situation, there was an ice screw in the rock, and because of my weight, my size, some of the screws, from being up there so long, they just literally popped out. So me and the other Sherpa, we fell, like 30 feet. I remember seeing this screw and rock dust and then free-falling down the slope and literally seeing my life flash before my eyes. I looked over and Lakpa was upside down on the rope — thank God we were still clipped into the rope.
But then you see it on TV, and you can definitely see the added drama, but that's what they've got to do to sell it, so I don't have any grudges. But there are definitely moments where you're like, "Wait a minute, it wasn't like that." But that's why I'm not in the film business. I do what I do — I build motorcycles.
According to legend, you showed up at Base Camp with all your money in a sack. Is that true? Did you already know Russell?
I met Russell in a bar in Kathmandu three years ago. We got drunk together and I told him I was there to climb and train for Everest. I told him about all my injuries, especially to my left side and my foot. The big question is always do you climb from the south side or the north side?
So I asked his opinion because I knew his reputation. He actually told me to climb on the south side. He said, because of the way you'll be climbing on the south side you'll be putting more pressure on your good leg. The north side you'll be putting pressure on your left leg. So your odds of summiting are better climbing from the south side with your injury.
So that was it. Then three years of training, climbing all over, preparing myself — finally I'd raised the money, I was ready. I joined up with IMG and Eric Simonson climbing from the south side. But I was short about $15,000.
It was like the end of February and Eric said, "Listen, if I don't have the money wired into my account by tomorrow, you're off the permit."
I was selling my Harley and needed at least another week. Finally, he called and said, "Sorry man, you're off the team." I don't have any hard feelings at all. I mean, you're supposed to have this paid by Jan. 1, and here it was the end of February and I still owed him. It was totally my fault — I couldn’t get the money to him in time.
So then I did get the money after selling my Harley, I put it in my account, and the next day my plane was leaving for Nepal. So I'm on a plane with all my gear for Everest and I'm not on a team. I remembered talking to Russell, so when I got to Paris I e-mailed Russell. He e-mailed me back, said he remembered me and said to call him when I got to Nepal. At the end of the e-mail he said, "P.S. Didn't I tell you to climb from the south?"
I met him in Kathmandu, we had a few beers, he told me the situation and told me how much. The next day my bank wouldn't allow me to wire the money into my account from outside America, so I walked into a bank in Kattmandu with my passport and credit card, they pulled out about 30 million rupees and dumped it in my backpack because there was nowhere else to put it.
They asked me if I wanted a police escort and I said, "No, it's OK." I walked out and was walking through the streets of Kathmandu with 30 million rupees in my backpack and got on a rickshaw to meet Russell.
I got to the hotel, threw him the backpack, and he said, "What’s this?" I said, "Look in it." He opens it up, looks in and says, "Welcome to the team, and by the way, Discovery Channel is filming it. I forgot to tell you that last night, are you OK with that?"
That night was the team meeting, so I met everyone on the team that night and the next morning we left for Tibet.
So the legend is not that far from the truth?
Totally true, I mean blocks of rupees roped up and tied together. They literally wheeled a cart into the manager's office and looked at me like, "How would you like this?" I threw them my backpack and said, "Fill it up." So the legend is true.
We know you're going back to Everest. Are you planning to go with Russell again?
I'm definitely going back with Russell. Right now I'm training harder, I'm going back lighter. Last year I was about 250 pounds, now I'm about 230. I mean my weight, my size — I was way too big for that mountain. I'm training about four hours a day.
My main concern right now is trying to raise the funds. I've sold everything, emptied my bank account, gave up everything last year. I basically came back to nothing, so I don't have anything left to sell.
But I've gotten, like, over 600 e-mails, amazing e-mails from cancer patients, paraplegics, guys who've had major back reconstruction surgery, climbers. Really tear-jerking e-mails, it's really been amazing.
Episode 5 was a tough one. A lot of my friends said, "You stubborn son of a bitch."
When I got back down to Base Camp, me and him (Russell) had it out, we argued in the tent. That guy has got to have the biggest heart of any man on the planet. He told me, "I love you, I didn't want you to die, and that hour you put me through was absolutely horrible. Don't ever put me through an hour like that again."
I apologized to Russell and Phurba and told them that I was truly sorry for being so stubborn and not listening. Then we all hugged and I said, "Next year, I'll only put you through a half hour of it. I'm just as stubborn as you."
He's met his match.
Yeah, exactly. I hung around Nepal for about a month after that. I'm single, I don't have a girlfriend, a wife and kids, no dogs, I don't even own a goldfish. I spent time with Phurba and Russell in Kathmandu.
People love Phurba. What was it like to hang out with him?
He hates Kathmandu. We went out to dinner a bunch of times and he just couldn't wait to get back up into the mountains.
Was it nice to see Brett on Saturday at his party?
We went up to San Jancinto — we've been doing a little hiking together. I've been trying to convince him to go back. I had him, he was ready to do it. But then the shows came on and he had a change of heart. We've been spending time down at his firehouse — I had dinner with the whole crew.
Anything you'd like to add?
I'm just trying to raise the money to get back. And never quit, don't give up on anything, and the mountain will be there next year.
Also, I can't tell you how amazing it is to get all these e-mails from people who have similar injuries as I have. Just beautiful, inspiring e-mails that almost bring a tear to your eye of people saying things like, "I've been rehabilitating my body for so long, it's inspiring to see someone with all that metal." Beautiful, beautiful, inspiring e-mails.
