On May 19th, 2016, Robert Kay was standing on top of Mount Everest.

You know, stepping foot onto the summit was just an incredible few moments.

You know, there's this sense of elation and

and happiness for having got there. The skies were clear, sunny, not much wind.

It was the moment Kaye had been hoping for.

Oh yes, this is something that I have been dreaming of since I was about 15 years old.

He says he barely even felt cold.

I suppose it was cold, but I didn't feel cold my gear was working very well and I didn't really didn't feel cold

Although there was quite a bit of frostbite that night

K summited along with two days worth of climbers because bad

weather the day before had caused a backup. At points, the hiker traffic was so

thick that Kaye and his team would be stalled for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. But he made it, fulfilled

his dream, and started down the mountain. The going was slow, too slow.

Coming down from the summit to the South Summit is about a 15, 20 minute trip normally.

It took us two hours again because of crowding.

Soon, again because of crowding.

Soon, things started to feel wrong.

I could hardly go more than a few steps without having to sit down and rest. I would breathe as hard as I could and I'd get no relief. Even when he sat down, he couldn't recover.

Imagine putting a plastic bag over your face and just tightening it up.

That's how it feels. You know, or I compared it for one person. I said it's like breathing through a garden hose.

You got 50 feet of garden hose and you're under water and you're trying

to suck air through this thing and you just can't get enough air.

...