'Raise hell' over Everest deaths secrecy (Climber Left to Die On Slope)

New Zealand Press ^ | 5/26/06

[GoforBroke]

Most of these people (the climbers) are arrogant and selfish. They lacked the proper flow of oxygen before they left home. However, in some way it seems like God's way of kulling those that attempt this.

[Enchante]

I don't think we have nearly enough info to judge - there certainly are times in the final 1,000 - 2,000 meters of a climb on mountains like Everest or K2 where one person cannot possibly 'save' another because the first person is already stretched to their absolute limit of human endurance. It may not be just a matter of giving some oxygen - if someone has collapsed at that elevation and in that extreme terrain it may (in many cases) be impossible for others to help them survive. I don't know what the case is here, the article simply does not provide enough info to really know the facts.

[FoxInSocks]

"When you are up there you can barely breath, you can't eat, you can barely drink – all you can really do is plod on upwards with this one thing in mind.

Mrs Arnold recalled the moments when her husband Rob called her from the summit shortly before he died.

You can't breathe or eat or drink, but you can make a phone call.

[Neville72]

This is going to sound harsh but it's not intended that way.

It's my understanding at that altitude it is physically impossible to carry someone down the mountain whose not able to walk themselves. Climbers know that once that last push to the summit starts either they get themselves back down to the highest camp and their tents(usually around 26,500 ft)or they die on the mountain.

That altitude is called the zone of death and for a good reason. It takes a superhuman effort to get yourself up and down. Having the strength to bring someone else down is not in the cards.

If they had tried there'd have been one or two more dead on the mountain.

[dinoparty]

Correction: "Play some SKYNARD, baby!" LOL

[Doctor Stochastic]

The Eiger's North Face has claimed about 50 since 1935. I think Ranier gets about 10 per year. The Mountains have a weight advantage.

[tfecw]

"you don't just step over a dying man and go on with your pleasure climb when you could share oxygen and get him to safety."

Here's 2 men who didn't step over a dying man and lent a helping hand.

"...when New Zealander Rob Hall died on the slope looking after an ailing client. Another New Zealander, Andrew Harris, 32, of Queenstown, died trying to reach Hall. "

[King Moonracer]

Most of these people (the climbers) are arrogant and selfish. and wealthy. Outfitting a trip for 3-4 months to Tibet aint cheap.....

[robertpaulsen]

"but $35k or "he's not in our group" or "He was stupid"

Years of training, years of conditioning, saving up $35,000+, being lucky enough to get a permit to climb on a certain day in a very narrow window, possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- and you're going to throw all that away to MAYBE save some stupid jagoff at 28,000 feet who didn't properly prepare, risking your own life in the process?

Rent the movie Into Thin Air.

[JoeSixPack1]

Gee, lets all jump off a bridge.
But we all could die.
OK, but survivors can just swim away and try to die again tomorrow.

Let's go mountain climbing.
But we all could die.
OK, but survivors can just climb down and try to die again next year.

Lets ride motorcycles in traffic.
But we all could die.
OK, but survivors can come back and try to die again later.

Right or wrong, Mountain Climbing is about to be tear jerked into oblivion.

[Slicksadick]

Large thread on this...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1636848/posts

[Ichneumon]

What have we become.....?

What do you mean, "we"?

[Shimmer128]

That grabbed me right off. To summit.
I summit
You summit
He summits
She summits
We all summit.
gag

I know it's unimportant in the big scheme of things, but it seems so pompous.

[Ichneumon]

excuses? brain deprived of oxygen? so they must push on? right.

See post #24

[marron]

I think the key pieces of information are "40 people" and "two hours from camp". Maybe another key piece of information is that most of the climbers in question are accompanied by several sherpas.

I hope if I'm kicking around in the boonies, and I find someone dying there, that I'll find it in myself to stop what I'm doing and either evacuate him, or stay with him and nurse him until he's gone.

[Ichneumon]

[Mrs Arnold recalled the moments when her husband Rob called her from the summit shortly before he died.]

You can't breathe or eat or drink, but you can make a phone call.

...and then die.

[Enchante]

"That altitude is called the zone of death and for a good reason. It takes a superhuman effort to get yourself up and down. Having the strength to bring someone else down is not in the cards."

Exactly - anyone climbing above 26,000 feet knows (or should know) that there is virtually no possibility of rescue there. We can argue about whether the activity itself is stupid or irrational, etc. but once you put yourself in those circumstances you have put yourself beyond all hope of rescue. Though the article does not provide all the info needed to judge, I very much doubt that any of the other climbers, alone or together, could have moved the weight of a human body down from the upper reaches of that mountain, in that kind of terrain. They were in "survival mode" themselves......

[Darkwolf377]

"but $35k or "he's not in our group" or "He was stupid" Years of training, years of conditioning, saving up $35,000+, being lucky enough to get a permit to climb on a certain day in a very narrow window, possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity -- and you're going to throw all that away to MAYBE save some stupid jagoff at 28,000 feet who didn't properly prepare, risking your own life in the process? Rent the movie Into Thin Air.

No thanks, read the book.

Yeah, silly me, I DO think rescuing a human life is more important than climbing a hill. I don't have a lot of sympathy for anyone who can blow $35k on a mountain climb, and I value even a stupid jagoff's life. But then, I'm pro-life.

[Darkwolf377]

That altitude is called the zone of death and for a good reason. It takes a superhuman effort to get yourself up and down. Having the strength to bring someone else down is not in the cards. If they had tried there'd have been one or two more dead on the mountain.

Sure, I'm not blind to that. But 40 people pass him and they couldn't figure out a way to help him? FORTY people?

I'm not buying that. It's not like we're talking one man trying to help another dying man. We're talking 40 people who passed a man.

[Restorer]

Summit is widely used as a verb, and can be found as such in many dictionaries. It's mostly used by climbers, but then they're the ones who mostly have need for the verb, aren't they?

BTW, as a long-time climber I'm utterly disgusted by this story. Every climber I've ever known took it for granted that you always helped those in trouble as your first priority. I've participated in rescues even of the idiots who think $500 of brand-ndw equipment makes them climbers.

The idea that they left him to die not to save themselves but to finish their climb is appalling!