Everest climber left to die alone

Washington Times ^ | 5/23/06

[Paddlefish]

Mark Inglis, an amputee who conquered Mount Everest on artificial legs last week, yesterday defended his party's decision to carry on to the summit despite coming across a dying climber. As his team climbed through the "death zone," the area above 26,000 feet where the body begins to shut down, they passed David Sharp, 34, a stricken British climber who later died. His body remained on the mountain.

Mr. Inglis, 47, a New Zealander, said: "At 28,000 feet it's hard to stay alive yourself. He was in a very poor condition, near death. We talked about [what to do for him] for quite a lot at the time and it was a very hard decision. "About 40 people passed him that day, and no one else helped him apart from our expedition. Our Sherpas (guides) gave him oxygen. He wasn't a member of our expedition, he was a member of another, far less professional one." Mr. Sharp was among eight persons who have died on Everest this year, including another member of his group, a Brazilian. Dewa Sherpa, a manager at Asian Trekking, the Katmandu company that outfitted Mr. Sharp before his climb, said he had not taken enough oxygen and had no Sherpa guide.

*********

The company charges $6,000 to provide services as far as base camp -- far less than the $35,000 or more cost of guided trips to the summit. Other mountaineers have criticized the commercialism of climbing the 29,035-foot peak, with guides charging huge sums to climbers with minimal experience.

[Mr. Brightside]

some of the 40 man group could {should?] have tried to get him down to the highest established camp which I think would be at about 22,000 feet.

Which is still in the death zone.

It also depends on the obstacles between the dying climber and the route home.

There is one perilous cliff called The Hillary Step- named after the former first lady... ; )

If I recall, it is a 100 foot drop straight down an ice cliff.

It is near the summit, in the vicinity of where the climber was found. Was he above the Hillary Step? Or below it?

What other obstacles were there?

There's a lot about the mountain and this story we don't know.

[xp38]

Everest needs a clone army of Reinhold Messners.

[Mr. Brightside]

Good post. A picture tells a thousand words.

[Mr. Brightside]

Rangers risk their lives as well. They are paid to and do it and it is their job

And Rangers are trained for the task. But were ANY of these people trained mountain rescue professionals? Were they packing extra rescue gear? Probably not.

[spunkets]

" If they had helped him, then they would not have been able to reach the summit themselves. That's the bottom line."

The bottom line was that the man was too far gone to do anything useful. The Ox was given to revive the man to assess his condition. He was already mostly frozen when they arrived. They would have had a hell of a time just keeping him conscious. There's no way to warm him and no way to keep the rest of him from freezing up.

" "Here. have some oxygen. Have a nice death.""

That's not what they said and the man was out cold before they left.

[Mr. Brightside]

These mountain clymers may be subject to criminal prosecution.

"Tort" law refers to civil action, not criminal acts. Correct?

[Mr. Brightside]

if saw/ran across someone drowning while I'm fishing I'd sure as heck help him/her. It's called morals.

Its more like this.... You have been swimming for 36 hours straight. Your back is sunburnt. You are starting to hallucinate and can barely keep putting one hand out before the other. All the while you are crossing shark infested waters. And you run across a fellow swimmer that is drowning. If you determine that you can pull him three miles to safety, you know that you have only hours to get out of the water before the sharks come out for their evening meal.

[Westlander]

We ain't got no stinkin' sharks in Michigan. On the other hand Lake Superior doesn't get above 34F ever, so your point is taken.

[Mr. Brightside]

I could lower TWO immobile climbers down the Hillary Step. I could even do it while reading the New Testament held in my good hand and a church hymn book in the other.

I am a lot better Good Samaritan than any of these climbers.

Rolling eyes!

[Mr. Brightside]

Lake Superior doesn't get above 34F ever,

In Grand Rapids, I don't think we are EVER going to get over 34 degrees this summer. Spring is taking forever this year!

[citizen]

There is one perilous cliff called The Hillary Step- named after the former first lady ...

Thanks, I was trying to remember that area of the mountain, it would require the guy to be strapped into a hard-shell sling of some sort to traverse the near vertical section.

And I'm sure the Step was named after Her Vileness, since she herself was named after Sir Edmund Hillary -- except she was named a year or two before Sir Edmund first bested Everest.

[TravisBickle]

I'm thinking that we don't need to be there.

[streetpreacher]

I'm sure you're correct. I just know that one can be held criminally liable for beginning first aid and then stopping either a) until help arrives or b) until one is physically exhausted and can no longer carry on. If a person doesn't begin aid, then he/she is not liable. And to begin aid, you merely have to initiate contact.

For instance, you see a guy knocked out and lying face down on the train tracks. You go to turn him over and realize it's the guy that your wife had an affair with. If you then turn around and say, "Screw this guy", you are criminally liable (not simply because of the malicious intent, I only used that for an example) because once you took action by touching him or whatever else that might constitute "involvement", you assumed responsibility.

[abner]

Keep in mind it is a 14,000 ft. drop on the right side. But a much more managable 9,000 ft. to the left. :o)

BIG SMILES!

[Westlander]

I hear you! We had fffffrost the last two nites in Westland.

[xzins]

It's an astounding story when one thinks about it.

Corrupt human nature.

[P-Marlowe]

But you expect A MAN WITH NO LEGS, no training and limited rescue gear to pull a frozen near-dead body THREE miles down a 30 degree ice slope?

No, but I expect 39 men with two legs and enough stamina to climb Mount Everest to have more concern for the life of another climber than their own personal glory in reaching a peak that appears to exist for no other purpose than to attract suicidal idiots with oversized egos and underdeveloped moral compasses.

[Lurker]

I find the explanation given in post #3 to be much more likely.

I've met a couple of 'mountain climbers' and they are without doubt exactly as the poster here described.

L

[xzins]

The text said that some FORTY others passed this man while he died.

Either traffic is tight as a shopping mall on Mt Everest or this man took a considerable amount of time to die, AND SOMEONE was counting folks who passed him by.

PRESUMABLY not ever one of those FORTY FOLKS were lacking legs.

It is OBVIOUS that all FORTY had earlier received CARDIECTOMIES!

[P-Marlowe]

The telling thing is that they all passed him on the way up. A few people have said that he was near death so they couldn't have rescued him. It is ironic that when Mr. Inglis was rescued, he was near death too, but that did not daunt his rescuers from their task. They carried him down the mountain. Mr. Inglis did not seem up to the task of returning the favor. Now he is honored with the title of being the first idiot who lost both legs climbing a stupid mountain to climb the tallest stupid mountain on earth (and apparently lose a couple of fingers in the process).

In addition to having no legs he apparently has no brain and no heart and several less fingers.