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Speaking as an alpine climber, Sir Edmund Hillary is quite right in asserting that no one should choose achieving a summit over rendering all possible assistance to another climber in distress. However, all mountaineers know that there are places and situations in mountaineering where it is physically impossible to rescue an incapacitated individual. High altitude, high angle terrain is frequently one of those situations. The question here is what aid was possible. Given the environment and the way the human body behaves, it is quite possible that those 40 people were not even aware that they were passing a man in distress. People who have never experienced the conditions that often prevail in high altitude alpinism should remember that ignorance is the firmest base from which to make sweeping judgments.