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A Fall Before Rising: the Story of Jai Jaikumar (a)

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Submitted By bensonkuo
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Pages 9
Harvard Business School

9-600-047
March 3, 2000

A FALL BEFORE RISING: THE STORY OF JAI JAIKUMAR (A)

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434.

It would seem almost as though there were a cordon drawn round the upper part of these great peaks beyond which no man may go. The truth of course lies in the fact that, at altitudes of 25,000 feet and beyond, the effects of low atmospheric pressure upon the human body are so severe that really difficult mountaineering is impossible and the consequences even of a mild storm may be deadly, that nothing but the most perfect conditions of weather and snow offers the slightest chance of success, and that on the last lap of the climb no party is in a position to choose its day . . .1 Eric Shipton, Upon that Mountain

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A RAPID DESCENT

He was 24,000 feet above sea level, but the light was fading, and so Jai Jaikumar knew that he had little time to admire the view. It was 4 p.m. on a summer day in 1966, and Jai, an engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology, stood with one of his closest climbing buddies at the summit of a Himalayan mountain. The final ascent that day, beginning at high camp at 2 a.m., had been rougher and more difficult than the pair had anticipated. They had originally set 1 p.m. as their “turnaround time,” the point at which considerations of safety dictate that climbers should abandon their ascent and head back to high camp. However, the prospect of waiting a few more days to again challenge the summit held little appeal for Jai and his companion. They were both healthy and experienced at climbing despite their youth, and so when 1 p.m. came, the decision to press on had been easy to make. Now, at the pinnacle, their perseverance was rewarded, but they were well aware that time was against them. After a short celebration, they began their descent. In the failing light, they were on a dangerous march as they had

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