Trust yourself

“Trust yourself” is the repeated principle Lene Gammelgaard gives for her way of being within the expedition group. In the same debriefing passage, however, her appeal to self-trust becomes a basis for questioning the guides’ judgment: she says she had heard nothing about Lopsang’s illness and asks who was responsible for allowing a Sherpa who was vomiting, perhaps from altitude, to go onto the mountain.

The Expression in Context

Gammelgaard repeats the phrase three times as she describes her personal approach to the group. She presents it as something she had relied on throughout, then contrasts that reliance with the information she says she had not received about Lopsang’s condition before the summit bid.

From Self-Reliance to Accountability

The expression does not end the discussion with an uncomplicated declaration of independence. Gammelgaard directs a question to the guides, asking who should have kept Lopsang off the mountain when he was reportedly vomiting. She adds that she would never have made that decision herself. Her statement thus links individual self-trust to a demand for responsibility from those directing the climb.

Place in the Debriefing

The exchange turns from the question of Lopsang’s fitness to climb toward uncertainty about Scott Fischer’s whereabouts. Sandy Hill Pittman asks whether anyone has seen him at that point in the chronology, and Gammelgaard answers no. Against that unresolved question, the repeated appeal to self-trust also marks the limits of what a climber can know from within the group: Gammelgaard describes relying on herself while acknowledging that she had not heard about a critical concern raised before the ascent.