Posted on 06/08/2006 2:35:37 PM PDT by nhoward14
Just days after a British climber was left to die near Mount Everest's summit, an American guide abandoned his second bid to stand on top of the world so he could rescue a mountaineer mistakenly given up for dead.
Not only did Daniel Mazur not scale the world's highest peak from the northern side, he also failed to get his two paying clients to the top.
"It was very disappointing for me to miss my chance at the summit, but even more that I could not get my job done," Mazur, of Olympia, Wash., told The Associated Press upon returning to Nepal's capital, Katmandu, on Thursday.
Mazur, his two clients and a Sherpa guide were just two hours from the 29,035-foot peak on the morning of May 26 when they came across 50-year-old Lincoln Hall, who was left a day earlier when his own guides believed he was dead.
"I was shocked to see a guy without gloves, hat, oxygen bottles or sleeping bag at sunrise at 28,200 feet height, just sitting up there," said Mazur, who scaled Everest once before, from the southern side, in 1991.
Mazur said Hall's first words to him were: "I imagine you are surprised to see me here."
Mazur said he knew Hall was OK because he was not crying for help and still had a sense of humor.
Mazur's team spent the next four hours pulling Hall away from the slopes, giving him bottled oxygen, food and liquids.
They also radioed the base camp to tell Hall's surprised team he was still alive.
While Mazur's team was busy assisting Hall, two Italian climbers walked past them toward the summit. When asked to help, they claimed they did not understand English. On his return to base camp, Mazur discovered they did.
"I don't know why they didn't want to stop to help," Mazur said. "I hope when I am there, in that state, and someone passes me ... I hope it is someone like me."
Hall's rescue came just days after David Sharp, 34, died May 15, about 1,000 feet into his descent from the summit. Dozens of people walked right past him, unwilling to risk their own ascents.
By the time some Sherpas showed up to help get Hall back to base camp, Mazur, his clients and his own Sherpa were too exhausted to attempt the peak. They had no choice but to return without completing their climb.
"We all looked at the summit and then returned," he said. "We all agreed there was no choice."
But Mazur had no regrets.
"Oh yeah, it was worth it," he said. "You can always go back to the summit but you only have one life to live. If we had left the man to die, that would have always been on my mind ... How could you live with yourself?"
lol, you should be a physician or surgeon.
Exactly, Unixgeek. What pride is there in knowing you left a guy to die and left him to die alone. The others can justify as much as they want leaving the 34 year old, but the fact remains that they didn't even bother trying to get the man down. I'm glad these other hikers did the only decent thing we as human beings should do, saving the guy's life would probably be more rewarding than getting to the top of a mountain, even if it's mt Everest.
I wonder what the family of the other guy who was left to die alone must think when they heard of this guy being saved.
There are good people here on earth. We thank them from the bottom of our heart. As for the evil ones, they will pay for their heartlessness.
I've been following these stories the last week or so. Anyone who would allow someone to die while they have an opportunity to prevent it, only so they can say they climbed the mountain, well, such a person is so twisted you can't really call him or her human.
"The only decent thing to do. Personally, I'd take a lot more pride in saving someone's life than in climbing to the top of a mountain.
Yup. I'd hate to be at the Gates and have God ask what was the biggest accomplishment in my life and say, "Letting someone die."
I'm not so sure those that walked away (or walked by) are evil. Boy Scout Lifesaving 101: If you think you're gonna bite it saving someone else, don't risk it. Two dead is not better than one, regardless of the good intentions.
Not only did Daniel Mazur not scale the world's highest peak from the northern side, he also failed to get his two paying clients to the top.
"It was very disappointing for me to miss my chance at the summit, but even more that I could not get my job done," Mazur, of Olympia, Wash., told The Associated Press upon returning to Nepal's capital, Katmandu, on Thursday.
Mazur, his two clients and a Sherpa guide were just two hours from the 29,035-foot peak on the morning of May 26 when they came across 50-year-old Lincoln Hall, who was left a day earlier when his own guides believed he was dead.
I agree that leaving the guy to die would be immoral and wrong, but I also think that the rescuers should present a nice hefty bill to the guy for saving his life. About enough to finance sending throse two guys to the top again and paying the guide's bills would be about right.
If I read the article correctly, the two who pretended not to understand the request for help, continued on to the top.
I guess this answers the question about whether you can rescue someone from the peak. The answer is YES.
So, I wonder if this changes the opinion of anybody who defended the other climbers in the other story before.
Mr. Hall ought to be careful in selecting his guides. They thought he was DEAD when he was alert and speaking in full sentences??? Was he taking a nap and they didn't bother tapping him on the shoulder to try to wake him up, before deciding he was dead and taking off???
Yes, this whole story sounds very odd. The other cases of abandoned Everest climbers have involved people who were apparently really on the verge of death, and unlikely to be saveable with the resources available to other passing climbers. Something else was going on here.
Where are all those "experienced mountain climbers" who were on the other thread dissing Sir Edmund Hillary and claiming that "nobody could have gotten David Sharp down from that altitude alive."
< . . . crickets . . . >
All good questions. I would assume that asking a mountain guide if they know how to tell who is alive and who is dead wouldn't be necessary, but now I know I am clearly wrong about that.
You said -- "The only decent thing to do. Personally, I'd take a lot more pride in saving someone's life than in climbing to the top of a mountain."
And also, it sounds like that country needs to pass a law (since people don't seem to understand it) -- that makes it *illegal* to not give aide to someone who needs medical help or assistance in getting off the mountain. That should be part of the *condition* of being allowed to climb there at all.
Regards,
Star Traveler
I think he is just saying that despite all your efforts to make something as safe as possible, unforeseen circumstances do happen and he would hope someone would choose to help him rather than looking away and saying "No hablo ingles" or whatever the Italian/French equivalent is.
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