She Climbed Mount Everest But The Descent Down The Mountain Became A Battle For Her Life

It turns out that climbing Mount Everest was only the beginning of the battle for one climber. The way down almost proved deadly.

Speaking with People, Julia Lyubova shared her Mount Everest horror story. On the ascent, she had felt her throat get scratchy but pushed on anyways. However, on the way down, her sickness nearly claimed her life. She had hardly any energy left when it was time to descend Mount Everest. She explained, "Imagine: I got up there, I had no power left, and I still have to go all the way down."

Upon descending, she started to cough up bloody phlegm. That quickly progressed to not being able to breathe.

"I fell to my knees. I was like, 'Help,' to my guide, 'Lakpa, help me help me,'" she says. "He put my oxygen onto the emergency level four."

She continued her descent from Mount Everest slowly but with determination. Her lungs began to crackle, and she was scared to sleep, fearful that she might not wake up.

Mount Everest Rescue

She said, "When we got to Camp 2, I was very weak. I was just walking like a zombie, if you can imagine how slowly I was moving."

Her guide believed she may have high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). He suggested an air lift rescue after she began gasping for air again.

"I never had these problems before in my life with altitude ... I didn't want, I was very annoyed at that. But what can you do? Your body's just decided that that's how it is," Lyubova said. Ultimately, a helicopter brought her down to Base Camp, where she still needed oxygen. Her breathing didn't stabilize until she made it to Lukla.

"Suddenly, I coughed up this huge amount of phlegm. I don't know how it fit inside my throat, but I think what was happening is that all of this phlegm was blocking my airways," she notes. "That's why I couldn't breathe, and that's why it was developing into HAPE, because obviously I was at high altitude."