Other factors go into the decision.
"Do we have the correct equipment to carry him down?"
"Do we have to remove OUR OWN life-saving equipment to attempt his rescue?"
"Is it even possible to get him down the mountain?"
"Can we do it without risking one of our own lives?"
"How close to death is he?"
Until you know the answers to these questions, you can't judge them.
Your solution is to STAY WITH HIM AND DIE? Should only one person have given his life or should the whole party kill themselves?
Your "solution" would solve nothing.
Staying with him is probably not right: Would you "stay with" a person in a burning car?
no prudent person would.
But to leave a live person in a burning building just because YOU wanted to keep walking on your tour is wrong.
The author's account states that 40 people stepped over this guy and kept going. Imagine you are gasping some of your last breaths and you see/hear dozens of people walk past you, a moment of hope, and then you see they keep going.
Between the lot of them they couldn't have done something? No, this is more about craven selfishness. Wanting to finish your personal journey after so much investment. As another poster said, when they saw the guy, their journey to the top ended right there.
I recognize that it might be a very hard decision from a self sacrifice position, but the correct decision would have been to team up and help the guy. I agree, one person staying with the guy may not have been wise, but 40 people couldn't have banded together? And the fact that the stranded guy was stupid and ill-prepared is not an excuse either.
LOL
yeah right, they dying to get to the top.