It's 14,000 feet down one side and 9000 feet down the other.
Posted on 05/28/2006 6:06:47 AM PDT by Mr. Brightside
Sharp unrescuable, says Chinese mountaineer
Updated: 2006-05-28 09:14
Chinese female mountaineer Luo Lili regretted David Sharp's death in the Mount Qomolangma but said the British climber was at a nearly unrescuable height.
"Mountaineers all know the height above 7,000m is very dangerous and usually deemed as an unrescuable height," said Luo on Saturday, who just returned from a May 15 scaling of the world highest peak.
Sharp, 34, ran out of oxygen and died in a snow cave just 300 meters from the summit on his way down the Himalayan mountain. Dozens of people had walked right past him, unwilling to risk their own lives.
The world is angry. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first surmounted Mt Qomolangma in 1953, called it "horrifying" that climbers would leave a dying man.
Luo disagreed with Hillary.
"At 8,534 metes where Sharp died, every climber feels worn out and was unable to offer help," she said.
"I had once been trapped at where Sharp died and a dozen climbers, including David Sharp, walked past me."
Inglis said they had been in contact with Sharp's family and they now wanted to give them some privacy.
His father John Sharp, of Glendale, Guisborough in England was reported to have said David was "a great son, a very able climber and we loved him."
His mother Linda Sharp said Russell Brice, who led Inglis' expedition, and a sherpa had tried to help David but it was too late.
"One of Russell's sherpas checked on him and there was still life there. He tried to give him oxygen but it was too late," he said.
"Your responsibility is to save yourself - not to try and save anybody else," she told the north east of England newspaper the Northern Echo.
"I can't say how grateful I am to the sherpa and to Russell," she said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/everests-cold-hard-fact/2006/05/25/1148518929582.html?page=2
Everest: At least 186 dead in 35 years
Sunday May 28, 2006
Climbers attempting to reach the summit of Mt Everest have always faced the risk of death in the process. As attempts on the summit have become more frequent, so have instances of people encountering dangerous situations.
At the same time, advances in climbing technology, as well as increased knowledge of Everest and the dangers it poses, have enabled climbers to reduce their likelihood of dying while attempting to climb to the highest point on earth.
Below is a list of successful attempts on the summit of Everest by year, compared with deaths suffered on the mountain.
1969 — SUMMITS: 0, DEATHS: 1
1970 — SUMMITS: 4, DEATHS: 8
1971 — SUMMITS: 0, DEATHS: 1
1972 — SUMMITS: 0, DEATHS: 1
1973 — SUMMITS: 10, DEATHS: 1
1974 — SUMMITS: 0, DEATHS: 6
1975 — SUMMITS: 15, DEATHS: 2
1976 — SUMMITS: 4, DEATHS: 1
1977 — SUMMITS: 2, DEATHS: 0
1978 — SUMMITS: 25, DEATHS: 2
1979 — SUMMITS: 18, DEATHS: 6
1980 — SUMMITS: 10, DEATHS: 3
1981 — SUMMITS: 5, DEATHS: 1
1982 — SUMMITS: 18, DEATHS: 11
1983 — SUMMITS: 23, DEATHS: 3
1984 — SUMMITS: 17, DEATHS: 8
1985 — SUMMITS: 30, DEATHS: 7
1986 — SUMMITS: 4, DEATHS: 4
1987 — SUMMITS: 2, DEATHS: 4
1988 — SUMMITS: 50, DEATHS: 10
1989 — SUMMITS: 24, DEATHS: 8
1990 — SUMMITS: 72, DEATHS: 4
1991 — SUMMITS: 38, DEATHS: 2
1992 — SUMMITS: 90, DEATHS: 5
1993 — SUMMITS: 129, DEATHS: 8
1994 — SUMMITS: 51, DEATHS: 5
1995 — SUMMITS: 83, DEATHS: 3
1996 — SUMMITS: 98, DEATHS: 15
1997 — SUMMITS: 85, DEATHS: 9
1998 — SUMMITS: 120, DEATHS: 4
1999 — SUMMITS: 117, DEATHS: 4
2000 — SUMMITS: 146, DEATHS: 2
2001 — SUMMITS: 182, DEATHS: 5
2002 — SUMMITS: 159, DEATHS: 3
2003 — SUMMITS: 264, DEATHS: 4
2004 — SUMMITS: 330*, DEATHS: 7*
2005 — SUMMITS: Being calculated, DEATHS: Being calculated
Total — SUMMITS: 2249 and counting, DEATHS: 186
Data from www.everesthistory.com.
"Nearly unrescuable"? Is that like "mostly dead"?
I think that means that even if by some miracle, other climbers had been able to get him down from that elevation without killing the whole lot of them, he would most likely have died on the way down or at base camp anyway because of his condition.
Gotta love people who are so bent on getting to the summit that they'll go right past a dying person. Everest climbers are a real classy bunch. Let me guess, "The dying guy wanted us to make it."
The two most experience Sherpa guides determined that the frozen man could not be rescued.
You could have done better?
Well, it wasn't like they were in Grand Central Station. I respect the judgement of the hikers who realized he couldn't be saved. Their own lives were on the line.
A dozen passersby couldn't share their oxygen to get him off the mountain? No, they all said to themselves, "I didn't pay a hundred grand to make it 99% of the way and abort to rescue some guy 300 m from the top." I suppose it's like the unwritten rules of baseball. Climb the hill, accept that risk.
Maybe this guy thinks so:
The world is angry. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first surmounted Mt Qomolangma in 1953, called it "horrifying" that climbers would leave a dying man.
I'll go with him.
An excellent book on the Everest climbing experience is "Into Thin Air". After reading the book, my vague romantic notions of climbing Everest were blown away. The climb is near-suicidal, grueling, life-threatening, and apparently not even all that 'scenic'! The detritus of earlier climbs litters the trails; including empty oxygen bottles, camp gear, and the occasional frozen body. It is a testament to the power of human will, madness, and obsession about those who climb Everest.
That was a great book.
Stopping to share your O2 means you don't have enough to get back down the mountain. They only bring enough O2 to make their trip both ways.
Think of it in terms of two people out in the ocean 10 miles from shore, one with 50 lb of weights locked to their legs. Do you stop and both die?
I read that great book and one thing Krakauer writes about that has stuck with me is the ever-increasing number of wealthy "adventurers" with little mountaineering experience who pay huge sums of money to guides to take them to the top. All to often, these adventures have no comprehension (or are simply in denial) about how perilous an Everest summit is.
"Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below."
"Dawa, who did not summit because of giving his oxygen to David, told this to me less than 24 hours later when I met him on the fixed ropes. He was close to tears even then."
Additionally, most climbers cannot even carry the amount of 02 they need. The Sherpas carry the spares, because the cannisters are heavy and because inexperienced climbers are likely to use up all their oxygen too quickly.
I don't think about EVERY man in EVERY situation. You're free to go with whom you wish.
I chose Sir Edmund's opinion. I run out of breath DRIVING to the top of Pike's Peak.
It's 14,000 feet down one side and 9000 feet down the other.
Interestingly, as far as "climbing" goes, Everest doesn't have that much - it may be the highest mountain, but not the toughest. This is why so many non-climbers can pony up the cash to have guides literally haul them up to the top. Just not possible with harder mountains.
And you are free to take the opinion of a person who was NOT an eye witness, and was last on the mountain when Dwight Eisenhower was president.
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