Jayanthi and Johann on conquering Everest

Mountaineering duo, Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala and Johann Peries have return safe after their successful expedition to summit Mount Everest.

On the earlier hours of Vesak morning the pair attempted the precarious journey, which was only made possible due to the shifting of a jet stream that had previously produced unsafe weather conditions.

It is ironic that the cyclonic conditions produce in the Bay of Bengal that wreaked havoc in Sri Lanka had also pushed the jet stream out of the way in Nepal to create clear skies for the intrepid duo to make their ascent.

Jayanthi Kuru-Utumpala became the first Sri Lanka and first female Sri Lankan to summit the highest mountain in the world with an elevation of 29,029ft. While Johann Peries managed to reach an elevation of 27,559ft giving him the highest altitude reached by a male Sri Lankan. He was not able to summit the mountain due to a group in front of him taking longer that expected, costing him the use of more of his oxygen tank supply. He thus had enough to reach the summit yet none to make the journey back down.

“Instinctively I wanted to run up, where I was I felt like I was standing at the top, it was a victory for me. My thoughts quickly turned to Jay and hoped she had made it to the top.” Johann said very animated while waving a finger in a bandage, due to a mistake while tying his shoelace for too long, without a glove and succumbing to mild frostbite.

On reaching the summit Jayanthi stretched into her suit to produce a small digital camera. “I marvelled at the beautiful Poya morning with the full moon on one side and the sun rising on the other” The moment of victory was short as at that height the air is at its thinnest and risk of hyperthermia is great so climbers need to move around to circulate the blood before making the journey back.

There were moments when both felt depression and risk while doing the many rotations between the four camps in preparation for the assent. For Jayanthi it was when her oxygen tank was due to be changed and the valve had frozen.

Causing her to endure several minutes without an oxygen tank supply. Johann rather terrifyingly witness someone slip and fall to their deaths leaving him feeling fearful that night in his tent yet found the strength to continue.

Speaking as the first Sri Lankan women to summit Jayanthi said, “ I am immensely proud, I believe that women can achieve anything given equal opportunities. In our society there are barriers for women and they are not encouraged into sports. The sense of achievement reaching the top of the world will empower others”

Text and picture by Dilantha Dissanayake