Climbers' Attitude Is 'Horrifying', Says Sir Edmund

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 5-24-2006

[blam]

Climbers' attitude is 'horrifying', says Sir Edmund

(Filed: 24/05/2006)

Sir Edmund Hillary, one of the first mountaineers ever to scale Mount Everest, has expressed outrage at reports that a young Englishman was left to die on the side of the world's tallest peak.

Sir Edmund: 'People just want to get to the top'

David Sharp, from Guisborough, apparently died of oxygen deficiency while descending from Everest's summit last week.

Several parties reported seeing Mr Sharp, who was 34, in various states of health on the day of his death.

One party included the New Zealander Mark Inglis, who became the first double amputee to reach the mountain's summit on prosthetic legs. His climbing party stopped and one of its Sherpas provided Sharp with oxygen before the group continued its climb.

Mr Inglis said Mr Sharp had no oxygen when he was found but said that his own party was able to offer only limited assistance and was forced to put the safety of its own members first.

"Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain," Sir Edmund said.

Sir Edmund, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first mountaineer to reach Everest's summit in 1953, said some climbers did not care about the welfare of others.

"There have been a number of occasions when people have been neglected and left to die and I don't regard this as a correct philosophy," he said.

"I think the whole attitude toward climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top," he said.

Sir Edmund later said he would have abandoned his own pioneering climb in 1953 to save another life.

"It was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say 'good morning' and pass on by," he said.

[corlorde]

If I'm not mistaken, Inglis himself had to be carried down the first time he went up. A Sherpa strapped him to his back and headed down the mountain, because Inglis could no longer walk on his prosthetic limbs, due to severe blisters and frostbite.

[baltoga]

Having seen the 2006 Discovery Channel series I have a completely different perspective of events on Mount Everest. In the series one of the episodes actually chronicles the climber who encountered the distressed climber and how he was torn that he couldn't do more to save him. The "death zone" as the series refers is a unforgiving area. I strongly recommend watching the series.

Here's a link to some of the video available over the Internet.

http://dsc.discovery.com/beyond/player.html?playerId=203711706&categoryId=292457748&lineupId=291718331