| This thread has been locked, it will not receive new replies. |
|
Locked on 06/08/2006 6:24:22 PM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Duplicate http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1645843/posts |
Posted on 06/08/2006 4:14:04 PM PDT by Serb5150
KATMANDU, Nepal - 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?"
IIRC K2 has the worst assent to death ratio on the planet.
A relative of mine, by marriage, died on K2.
That's the saddest part about the whole 'hobby' - that there are family members, widows, and children that get left behind.
The K2 death rate is 1 in 4.
For women, it's unbelievably high. Six successful ascents, five deaths. (I'm definining "successful ascent" as including getting off the mountain alive. Two of the five women died on the way down.)
This guy is a hero, but to be fair, I don't think anyone is a villain for ignoring another climber in such trouble at that height. Everyone has to decide for himself whether or not he'll risk his life for another. There are plenty of would-be heroes that have ended up being awarded the wooden cross.
bttt
K2 is a the 2nd highest mountain in the world.
It's also much more remote and much more deadly. It's vastly more difficult, it's colder and steeper.
Fascinating article here http://tinyurl.com/hf3m5
I wouldn't bother with "Into Thin Air". It was written by Jon Krakauer, who was on Everest that day in '96 when so many climbers died. He writes of himself walking right by climbers who were stranded on the mountain and leaving them to die.
Boukreev was climbing with another party that day. He rescued several people off of the mountain, climbing without air so others could have the O2. He was roundly criticized by Krakauer for his efforts to help other climbers. Krakauer badly maligns Boukreev in "Thin Air", although several other climbers had nothing but praise for the man.
"Climbing High" is another book on this climb, written by Lene Gammelgaard, a Danish woman who was in Boukreev's party. It's written in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style that is a bit off-putting, but her respect and admiration for Boukreev is obvious.
Despite Krakauer's very public (and profitable) criticism, the American Alpine Club awarded Boukreev their highest honor that year for his rescues on Everest.
Anatoli Boukreev died in an avalanche on Annapurna on Christmas Day, 1997.
"It's sad when a mountain climb takes precedence over a human life (to some, anyway). They must be soulless."
I'm sorry, but you have it wrong. Mountain climbing is the pinnacle (no pun intended) of individualism. Or at least it once was. Now, it seems that the wealthy merely buy their way to the tops of many peaks with maximal support from sherpas and guides, but that's another story.
But the true idea of mountaineering is that YOU DO IT ON YOU OWN.
The responsibility occurs within your own party, and you decide amongst yourselves before hand how various situations will be dealt with. You should go into it knowing exactly what's at stake for everybody.
Climbing above 24,000 feet is deadly serious. Most people can BARELY move their own carcass up the slope at that altitude-- some can't even do that. To expect such folks to be able to rescue anyone is expecting too much in most cases. In many cases an attempt at rescue will prove fatal to the victim and the "rescuer."
Furthermore, some people have sacrificed a lot to get there in the first place and this may be their ONLY chance to ever summit said peak-- to expect them to forfeit their ascent to save your sick ass is presumptuous.
That said-- a man who takes it upon himself to do the remarkably selfless thing and successfully rescue a sick climber is the mark of a true hero.
Major hats off to this man.
I agree. We need to celebrate all heroes, since so many in our media seem to relish bashing and nothing but.
I think this fine man climbed a higher mountain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.