You make good points; have you read Jon Krakauer's book, Into Thin Air, about the 1998 Everest disaster? The Russki climber was up there on his own and safely at base camp several thousand feet below the summit; despite this, he left his secure position to rescue several of the climbers who were trapped on the summit in a howling storm (I imagine there aren't many types of storms on Everest that don't qualify as "howling"). Compare him to this bunch: now, I don't know what I would have done in this situation but I do know I have too much common sense to have been there in the first place.
The Russian climber Anatoli Boukreev was superhuman in his capacity to handle altitude sickness. When everyone else was disoriented, mentally and physically fighting for their own survival, he had his energy and wits.
But he is the exception to the rule.