Everest Climbers leave lone climber to die

[a_unique_person]

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/05/24/1148150284836.html

40 climbers up Mt Everest passed a man who was dying. The climb is extremely hazardous, and you pay a lot of money to get one chance at it. If you stop to help, you miss out.



Sir Edmund Hillary has questioned the actions of New Zealand climber Mark Inglis, who left another climber to die on his way to conquering Mt Everest.
Inglis, a double-amputee, was one of many climbers who passed British climber David Sharp, 34, on his way to the top of the world's highest mountain a week ago.
Sharp, a 34-year-old engineer, later died on the mountain.
"In our expedition there was never any likelihood whatsoever if one member of the party was incapacitated that we would just leave him to die," Hillary, the first climber to conquer Everest, told the Otago Daily Times today.
On Monday night, Inglis said his own party was the only one to stop and help Sharp from among about 40 climbers who walked on past Sharp as he lay in Everest's "death zone" above 8000m.
Other climbers reported seeing Sharp trying to work on his oxygen system, but Inglis said the Briton had no oxygen.
Sharp had climbed alone, after two previous unsuccessful attempts in 2003 and 2004, without oxygen.
Both times he was forced to turn back at 8470m. This time, he apparently reached the summit with the help of two four litre oxygen bottles from a trekking company.







Do you acknowledge when you do the climb there is an excellent chance you will die, and that no one else is responsible? The man who died clearly has taken dangerous risks before by trying to climb without oxygen.

[Beerina]

These ******** who walked by him are the same ones who bring down trash from previous expeditions, because it makes them feel good about themselves.

[roger]

As usual, it was left to Russell Brice to make the rescue effort. A friend has guided Everest twice for Brice, and was involved in several rescues of other teams both times. Did the team members of those people help? Usually, no, they just walked by.

Here's a longer news report: http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=2092

And another one on Brice's team's contributions:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:kU-lf0NaiWIJ:www.theclarion.co.uk/the_north_east/east_cleveland/news/NEWS0.html+%22david+sharp%22+mother+everest+&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3&client=firefox-a


Based on this, you can't accuse Inglis of just "walking by". He stopped, his team provided assistance and oxygen. According to these reports, it was too late. The man's own mother does not blame Russell's team, and in fact speaks well of them.

As for the ones who did walk by without offering assistance, well, no rule8 comment.

[pgwenthold]

Has anyone read "Into Thin Air"?

Ugly things go on on that mountain.

[LordoftheLeftHand]

I'm not a climber so I really don't know:

What are the customs of Everest Climbers? Is it customary for it to be every man for himself? Or just responsible for fellow team members?

The situation sounds harsh, but I don't know, this might be typical behavior at that altitude.

LLH

[roger]

There's no single answer to that LLH. First, understand that near the top of Everest you are in the "Death Zone". What that means is that the air is so thin that you can not acclimatize to it. Spend much time there and you will die, period. And it's not predictable. You can be up there, come down feeling fine, develop HAPE or HACE, and die. Stopping to help somebody, even for a short time, for a trivial thing, can be signing your own death warrant.

Everest didn't used to be very popular, and climbing it wasn't a paid, guided event. So everyone there fully accepted the risks, and pretty much would help out anyone in trouble. Kind of like the US Marines mentality of leaving no man behind, no matter the risks. You all assume the risk.

These days many of the people climbing the mountain aren't competent to get themselves up the mountain w/o help, let alone offer proficient help to another climber. Many have argued that you can't really "guide" Everest. You can tell people what is safe to do, make the climb/no climb decision, but if things go tits up, your ability to help is minimal even if you are in top shape and the best in your game. So the idea of a client of a poorly run commercial expedition walking past somebody in difficulty doesn't surprise me, though it galls me. The person probably doesn't have the skill to keep him/herself safe, and survives somewhat by the luck of the draw. It's easy to say that somebody should offer their oxygen tank to somebody in need, but you don't carry spares with you (sherpas do), and giving your tank to somebody else means that you will most likely die, even if you turn back at that moment. If a Sherpa doesn't have a spare tank, a rescue effort means: turning around, going back down the mountain to get a spare bottle (assuming there are any, and there aren't in bad commercial groups), bringing it back up, and administering it. That's a death sentence for the person doing it, if they aren't super fit. You carry just enough Os with you to get you to the top and back given good weather, and it's still a heck of a gamble. Having Os and not having Os at that altitude makes an enormous difference. You lose your ability to warm yourself, to think in complete sentences, to walk with coordination, etc., if you suddenly lose your air supply.

The good commercial teams, such as Brice's, will always drop their own summit attempts and help out others, regardless of who they are affiliated with. Russell spends a lot of money to have surplus sherpas on hand, and surplus oxygen. Heck, this year he fixed the ropes on the entire mountain (north side) alone to ensure it was done right. He's one of the good guys. Signing up with him means you get those great resources, but that you may also have to give up your summit attempt if somebody else gets in trouble. That's reasonable. But of course he can't run a business if he is going to give all his resources to other teams. That would mean that he would lose money, go out of business, and not be there to offer the help they now offer.

Anyway, there's a lot to it, and one shouldn't judge actions based on what you would do if trying to summit a local 1000m peak. With that said, there is a lot of callous things going on up there, and plenty of instances of teams ignoring the needs of a member while Brice or another team helps the person.

disclaimer: I have climbed in Nepal, know Everest guides, have even listened in on a sat phone call with somebody participating in a Everest rescue (I was on a different mountain at the time), but have not climbed w/ Os or on Everest (or any 8000m peak). So a HUGE grain of salt should be taken with my post.