[Paddlefish]

The allure of mountain climbing has always escaped me, but to leave a dying person behind just to get to the top?

[Mikey_1962]

Remember: these people climb mountains,

they are the most self absorbed bastards in the world.

[ANGGAPO]

The wrong decision.

[ANGGAPO]

The wrong decision.

[michigander]

but to leave a dying person behind just to get to the top?

Because he was there.

[rawhide]

Wow, so cold-hearted, no matter what the circumstances were.

[hattend]

It sounds callous but at 28,000 feet the guy was already near death and there is no way they could have gotten him down to 15,000 or lower before he would have died. They gave him some of their oxygen and that's about all they could have done.

The only way to possibly save him would have been to fly him down but 28,000 feet is above any air rescue attempt.

[Centurion2000]

About 40 people passed him that day, and no one else helped him apart from our expedition. Our Sherpas (guides) gave him oxygen.

Unfreakingbelievable.

[Darkwolf377]

"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."

What a stunning "defense".

Were this person already dead and they just left his body, that's one thing. But he was still alive, and they didn't abandon their journey to save a human life because, well, he wasn't a professional climber?

This guy MUST be a democrat.

[ContemptofCourt]

About 200 people have died on Everest since the first expeditions in the 1920s. The corpses are stepped over by climbers traveling the most popular routes.

Mr. Inglis, recovering in his Katmandu hotel yesterday, revealed blackened and swollen finger tips, which may be removed soon.

He also suffered injuries to the stumps of his amputated legs caused by the repeated impacts of climbing on prosthetic limbs. His legs were removed below the knee because of frostbite on an expedition in 1982.

---

OK, I understand that an exciting life is a life worth living, but there is a limit to that as well....

[jetson]

These people are nuts. They should be forced to carry parasails so their bodies can be floated off the mountain when they croak.

[Redcloak]

It's simple math. Attempting to save one dying man could have killed them all. They were at an elevation where brain damage has already started from lack of oxygen. They had to get back down to thicker atmosphere before they started dying too. The guy went up on the cheap and got his money's worth.

[Mr. Brightside]

These climbers were in what is called the "Death Zone."

Every minute they stayed there, they were dying. Is is nearly an impossible task to save yourself, let alone to save what may end up being a frozen corpse by the time you get him to the bottom of the mountain.

[baltoga]

I recall seeing a show about the "death zone" on Everest, but for 40 climbers to walk over the fallen climber is really just cold (pardon the pun).

[BunnySlippers]

I don't think bodies are ever removed from Everest. They remain there as it is too difficult to get them out IIRC.

[junta]

This is done with some regularity from what I've heard. A guy wrote a book on some busted expedition and Everest is a high altitude grave yard.

[catholicfreeper]

Their defense is they couldnt save him. Well there something that is so cold hearted. Who leaves a man to die alone regardles if they could save him. How that must have been felt to that guy dying and seeing people pass. Yuck

[tcostell]

I was everest from inside a cessna citation jet that flew out of Khatmandu.

It was pretty and impressive, but not nearly worth dying for.

[ansel12]

These guys don't belong in the company of real men.

It would be interesting for those 40 climbers to explain their vacation decision to a group of vets from
Afghanistan.

[RetiredArmy]

8 people have died. Find another sport you stupid people. Die to climb a stupid mountain. Geee-zussss! When will people get a clue? Stupid is as stupid does. I wonder what the dying guy's last thoughts were: "wow, I almost made it to the top, but at least I die doing something I wanted to do." Great legacy. Will there be a democratic call for climbing control??? I doubt it.

[Old_Mil]

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."

Perhaps if Mr. Inglis had been less concerned with the personal record of being an amputee who climbed Everest he would have found the time to act like a human being.