Red Deer climber Phil Bota has made it out of the extreme danger zone on his way down from the top of Mount Everest.
The death zone is anything above 8,000 metres where even with supplemental oxygen it is not enough to sustain life.
After reaching the summit Wednesday evening local time, Bota, 22, began his descent to Camp 6, and then onto to Camp 5 where he was considered safely out of the “death zone” over night.
Pizarro said the weather was accommodating and Bota felt great so he continued from Camp 6 on to Camp 5. He arrived at Advance Base Camp Thursday.
Now the team will rest for a day and conduct an inventory of the equipment before they continue on their final descents.
Pizarro said Bota is not completely out of harm’s way until he reaches Base Camp.
“He’s out of the extreme danger zone but he is still on the planks of Mount Everest,” said Pizarro.
The team is expected to be at Base Camp on late Friday or early Saturday. The team will be in Kathmandu on May 30 and in Montreal on June 2.
Pizarro said everyone is in good spirits including Red Deer’s Steve Barahona, who had to pull out of the climb because of frostbite.
Barahona, a fire medic, has been treating other climbers who have more severe frostbite.