Coronavirus COVID-19: Mount Everest is inevitable, Wanaka filmmaker Scott Semper discovers

Scott Semper, Emmy Award winning director of photography. Photo / Keri Waterworth

Scott Semper has climbed Mount Everest twice before, but said catching Covid-19 while filming on the mountain this year was his worst experience.

“I was on Everest due to the avalanche in 2014 when 16 Sherpas died, I was there in 2015 when the earthquake hit and we had a lot of deaths in our camp – I had some hard years there, really tough years, but this was physically tough .

“If I had known what I know now, I would not have gone.”

Before the pandemic, Simper spent more than six months of each year traveling and photographing in some of the world’s most remote and harsh environments.

When the borders closed, filming projects were canceled overnight, some of which had been in development for years.

The 52-year-old Emmy-winning director of photography in the US is married to New Zealand mountain guide Anna Keeling, has a 14-year-old son, lives in Wanaka, but has always worked abroad.

After several months of forced leave last year, Simper agreed to work two photography jobs in Nepal when the country unexpectedly reopened its borders after the number of Covid-19 cases fell.

Cimber arrived in Kathmandu in February, and after a week in quarantine and a negative test, he was allowed to travel to the Khumbu Valley in northeastern Nepal.

Climbers make their way up Mount Everest in late May. Photos/Getty Images

By late March, Semper had finished filming one and was working on a second, a documentary about Sherpas climbing Mount Everest, for a Canadian production company.

“Base Camp is usually a very social place, but this year all the different camps were closed, everyone was wearing masks and everyone was very careful, but the food had to come from somewhere and it was coming into the valley.”

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The border between India and Nepal was porous, no passports or ID were required for anyone to cross from these two countries, and unknown to Semper, the number of cases in India has soared.

Over the next six weeks, Semper would cycle between the various camps on Mount Everest, acclimatizing, photographing, and waiting for a weather break.

He said it used to be common to get a bad cough — called a “khumbu cough” — from dry air and dust, but this year he noticed that many more people were coughing.

Sherpas carrying bags on the Mount Everest road. Photos/Getty Images

On May 11, the cyclonic winds abated and 60 to 80 people pushed them to the top. By then, the number of Covid-19 cases across Nepal had risen to 9,000 and Simper began wondering if he was one of them.

“I felt good all day, had no energy, had a headache, had a fever, and then, on the South Peak, lost the vision in my right eye.

“Everything became opaque, as if I was looking into a transparent plastic bag.

“I knew having problems with your eyesight could be a symptom of Covid, but I thought I might have froze or caught wind.”

Semper spent nearly five hours filming from the top of the South Peak to the summit itself, and by the time he got down to Camp Four, he and the Sherpas sharing his tent were “snaking and hacking.”

There was another day of filming at Camp 4 before going down to Camp 2.

“I was feeling worse and worse and worse, headache, cough, nausea, my eyesight was starting to come back but I had a fever and had no energy.”

When he arrived at Base Camp, Simper lost his voice, and spent the next two days lying in his tent.

He dragged himself to the Himalayan Rescue Society camp where Nepalese doctors examined him and said he was suffering from a very bad case of khumbu cough and acute laryngitis.

The mountain top is seen from the air. Photos/Getty Images

They haven’t tested it for Covid-19.

Semper believes there is no testing for the virus because the Nepalese government has been denying the existence of Covid-19 on Mount Everest.

If found, officials had to close the climbing season.

This year, the government of Nepal sold more than 400 permits to climb Mount Everest, each at a cost of US$10,000 (NZ$14,360).

Although there have been many guides and climbers who have reported symptoms of Covid-19 on social media, the government has dismissed them as rumours.

“The Everest season is an influx of money for Nepal that they won’t want to shut down, and if they had closed the season, they would have had to move all passes next season.

“There hasn’t been a season in 2020 and a lot of people have been out of work for a long time, and the government may have had some pressure from society to keep the season open,” Semper said.

“I certainly don’t agree with Nepal’s denial of Covid, but I can understand why they would like to keep it open.”

On his return to Kathmandu, he took a test and came back positive.

Within half an hour, he was taken to a government medical center for Covid-19.

“It was the real experience of recovering in that small hotel room without heating.

“It was very dirty; in the end I got some disinfectant and was able to disinfect the room but everyone there had Covid.”

Simper was tested every three days and was unable to leave the facility until he produced a negative Covid-19 test result.

“I would lie most of the time or just get up and walk around the room; there was internet but I didn’t feel good about looking at the screen.

“Some people would call me and talk to them on the phone, but mostly I would go and stand in the bathroom for a long time to relieve severe body aches or just rest.”

Simper said that although the accommodations and food were “not great,” the nurses and doctors were very attentive.

On the twelfth day, Simper tested negative and five days later was on a plane bound for the United States.

He spent four days in Utah, where he found he could get a Covid-19 vaccination at a local supermarket before traveling to New Zealand.

Even after coming out of managed isolation in Auckland and returning to Wanaka, Semper said he still had Covid-19-related headaches bordering on migraines and had no energy.

“Covid does not discriminate,” he said.

“I’m in a serious age group but even 30-year-old athletes died because of it.”

“We can’t be complacent – New Zealanders need to be vaccinated, and we should have been vaccinated sooner.”

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