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.
"A man's got to know his limitations."
I dunno, dude. Either you make an attempt to save the guy, if he can be saved, or else you STAY with him! You don't just give him some oxygen and continue on with your merry little trek, leaving him to die.
Damn, fella! I'd hate to be in a combat with you behind enemy lines and lose a leg or sumpin! Because it didn't appear he would live is a good enough excuse? There's a higher power that makes judgement on these things, but, just damn!
It does sound callous.
Not one person...not one....could spare the time or compassion to spend it with this dying man.
If he was in fact "near death" you are absolutely correct; at 28,000 feet, little if anything could have been done to save him, especially since the other climbers were not equipped for a rescue. But I'm not entirely sure if they were competent to judge whether he was near death.
someone could have just stayed with him while he died......even if there were no heroics, they could have stayed with him....
Even if what you say is true.....they could have tried.
I would have.