GARRETT MADISON: HE DID NOT COMPROMISE
Chad & I spent a lot of time hanging out at Everest base camp in Nepal over the last few years, as he made 3 attempts (3 separate expeditions) to break the speak record climbing Everest without supplementary oxygen.
He was the nicest and most inspirational guy I have ever met. In 2012, Chad helped put in a new route from the base of the Lhotse Face to Camp 3, that ended up making the route much safer by avoiding the rock fall hazard.
Chad joked about putting on Os and firing off successive climbs above 8000 meters, as I had been doing with my Everest & Lhotse clients, saying "wouldn't that be fun to feel so strong". I admired him greatly that he tried everest 3 times, without compromising his style. He could have easily put on Oxygen and likely broken the speed record, or likely made the summit without using oxygen if he had spent a few nights at the high camps as we do while on his summit attempt. He knew this, but the only way he wanted to do it was a single push speed climb without oxygen, in his goal of breaking the record, and that is what he stuck to. He did not compromise…..