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Life & death on Everest


Beerball

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i'm unclear, but did mazur and team summit or did they forego that save this guy....either way, what a story and i imagine if you are climbing everest, that must be one of the toughest personal tests to step over fallen climbers. I could/would never do this but I am very envious of people with that kind of drive....

 

never mind...there it is in the final paragraph....that is one hell of a sacrifice for someone who is a climber, maybe not a big decision for the normal person but the normal person doesn't climb everest....

Edited by The Poojer
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i'm unclear, but did mazur and team summit or did they forego that save this guy....either way, what a story and i imagine if you are climbing everest, that must be one of the toughest personal tests to step over fallen climbers. I could/would never do this but I am very envious of people with that kind of drive....

 

never mind...there it is in the final paragraph....that is one hell of a sacrifice for someone who is a climber, maybe not a big decision for the normal person but the normal person doesn't climb everest....

 

Yeah, there's no possibility of reaching the summit after they burned the whole morning waiting for the Sherpas. That's basically what killed all those guys in '96; several of them didn't summit until well into the afternoon. By then it was too late to get back down before the late day weather rolled in. But IIRC, in that case there was also one guy that was left for dead, spent the night unconscious on the mountain and lived.

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never mind...there it is in the final paragraph....that is one hell of a sacrifice for someone who is a climber, maybe not a big decision for the normal person but the normal person doesn't climb everest....

 

That's kind-of key: to even seriously contemplate summitting Everest, you have to not only be extremely driven, but experienced enough that you've likely seen climbers die before and aware of the risks enough that your attitude towards stranded/dead climbers is completely different that in the normal world.

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http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bodies-on-mount-everest/

 

There are over 200 bodies on the trail up to the summit which every climber must step over or around. It's part of the climb that everyone is aware of, going into it. And if someone goes down, you already know you're going to have to leave them. Ugh...

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http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bodies-on-mount-everest/

 

There are over 200 bodies on the trail up to the summit which every climber must step over or around. It's part of the climb that everyone is aware of, going into it. And if someone goes down, you already know you're going to have to leave them. Ugh...

Unless you choose not to like this team.

 

I'm not passing judgement here because this situation is too far outside of my reality. I don't know what I would do in the same circumstances and I suppose that's why I posted the article. I do know that this team is to be commended for their actions.

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Unless you choose not to like this team.

 

I'm not passing judgement here because this situation is too far outside of my reality. I don't know what I would do in the same circumstances and I suppose that's why I posted the article. I do know that this team is to be commended for their actions.

 

Which is probably the most realistic position to take.

 

I was under the impression that, above 26k feet or so, if you're injured, you're pretty much a dead man. It's not like climbers are stepping over a hit and run in a Manhattan crosswalk.

 

I do know that it's a major undertaking to put just one person above 25k feet...multiple base camps up the mountain slope acting as "supply dumps" and maintaining a constant flow of supplies, carried on people's backs. The planning alone is stupid-involved, even before anyone even goes up the mountain. "Rescue mission" in that situation is largely synonymous with "pipe dream" - again, it's not like calling the EMTs for a hit and run in a Manhattan crosswalk.

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  • 2 months later...

Amid the story in the past week about 4 climbers dying on the descent from the summit because of clustering that impeded movement (~150-200 climbers went during a window of 'good' weather), there is this story... which seems to refute Tom's notion that any hope of rescue at/near the summit is a "pipe dream."

 

Then again, it required a young guy probably at peak fitness carrying another (impressive itself, given the givens of Everest) who abandoned his own quest to save someone he'd only recently met, and of nationality/heritage that aren't exactly on the best terms. After all the above stuff in this thread, gotta say this is pretty inspiring.

 

Everest climber skips summit, rescues friend

 

"Aydin, wake up! Wake up!" Ben-Yehuda recalled saying when he found his friend in the darkness. The American, he said, had been returning from the summit but collapsed in the extreme conditions, without an oxygen supply, a flashlight and a rucksack. Ben-Yehuda, who developed a friendship with Irmak before the climb, had delayed his own ascent by a day in hopes of avoiding the bottleneck of climbers heading for the top.

 

The Israeli carried Irmak for hours to a camp at lower elevation. Both suffered frostbite and some of their fingers were at risk of amputation. Ben-Yehuda lost 20 kilograms (44 pounds) in his time on the mountain, and Irmak lost 12 kilograms (26 pounds), said Hanan Goder, Israel's ambassador in Nepal.

Edited by UConn James
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