Posted on 07/22/2024 11:10:59 PM PDT by CFW
Tshiring Jangbu Sherpa cannot forget the dead body he saw just metres from the summit of Mount Lhotse in the Himalayas more than a decade ago. The Nepali was working as a guide for a German climber trying to scale the world’s fourth highest mountain in May 2012. The body blocking their path was thought to be Milan Sedlacek, a Czech mountaineer who’d perished just a few days earlier. Mr Sherpa was curious why the Czech climber had died so close to the top. One of the gloves on the frozen corpse was missing.
“The bare hand might have slipped away from the rope,” the guide says. “He might have been killed after losing his balance and crashing onto the rock.”
The body stayed where it was - and every climber scaling Mount Lhotse thereafter had to step past it.
Mr Sherpa, 46, had no idea then that he would return 12 years later to retrieve the climber’s body, as part of a team of a dozen military personnel and 18 sherpas deployed by the Nepali army to clean up the high Himalayas.
There have been more than 300 deaths in the Everest region since records of mountain climbing there began a century ago, and many of these bodies remain. The death toll has kept increasing: eight people have been killed so far this year; and 18 died in 2023, according to Nepal’s tourism department. The government first launched the clean-up campaign in 2019, which included removing some bodies of dead climbers. But this year was the first time that authorities set a goal to retrieve five bodies from the so-called “death zone”, above an altitude of 8,000m (26,247 feet).
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
The impulse that leads a boy to light a fart is the same impulse responsible for the wonders of the modern world.
In certain cultures, the last name commonly ends up describing the career. In the US, many, if not most, lower end and mid-range hotels are owned by Indians. Usually a family purchases one hotel, improves it and makes a profit, they then buy a better property and sell the older one to a relative.
The overwhelming majority of owners share the last name Patel. Patel is loosely transliterated as Innkeeper.
I do 100-150 hotel nights a year and have found that some of the Indians really understand the concept of hospitality, some truly don’t understand it and perform at their absolute minimum.
“It’s easier to get a spot to climb Everest than it is to play a round of golf at St. Andrews.”
That may be because it’s a bit warmer, flatter and has fewer dead bodies and discarded oxygen bottles. They also frown on setting up base camps on the fairways.
Nah, let 'em try it. The sheer number of climbers who summit Everest each year is so large now that the number who die trying looks high, but as a percentage has fallen a little bit.
Perhaps the best comparison is that a total of 355 (it sez here) flew on the Space Shuttle, of whom 14 died. They just didn't all fly during the same few weeks of one year.
He became a cancelled Czech.
PSA: lighting the fart is much cheaper and safer. You’re welcome.
My sister has a wooden sign in her house that says “Every dead body on Mt. Everest was once a highly motivated person. Stay lazy, my friends.”
Lolz ... "We"? ... This activity is not in the US; they can ban whatever they want.
It seems to me an easy solution is to require any climbers to take out body retrieval insurance. You die, you pay to have your corpsesicle removed.
“These tourist trips need to be shut down.”
It’s an important source of income for the Sherpas along with the Sherpa Guide Lodges.
I’m surprised that the “cost” of a climbing team doesn’t include someone who collects the trash and brings it back down.
They won't sink from poverty to absolute destitution simply to satisfy Western aesthetics.
I would add it's not just "tourists" who die: if you examine the history of Himalayan climbing there are many experienced climbers who die. It's simply inherently dangerous.
That’s just crazy.
Brings in hard currency for the Nepalese government too as they charge a lot for a climbing permit.
Back in the 90s guide companies were charging about $50K a head for Everest expeditions. Have no idea what it is today.
83k https://adventureconsultants.com/expeditions/seven-summits/everest
Does that include airfare to/from Katmandu?!
Website says Kathmandu is the departure site, so I'd say no.
There is always somebody quick to criticize others for what they consider foolish.
Life isn’t about insulating yourself from any danger your whole existence.
Some of us like to push the envelope, as they say. YOU may think it is too dangerous, but others aren’t content to simply EXIST in the world.
It is true, that I would NEVER want to even think about climbing Everest, but I do not criticize those that do, as I have done many, many things that many others would think as foolish.
Sherpas die, experienced climbers die, it is a world class challenge.
“About 100 sherpas have died on the Himalayas since records began, so many families have been waiting for years to perform the last Buddhist rites for their loved ones.”
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