During an ascent they noticed Sharp just off the trail, barely alive and offering responsive moaning when queried. But my advice to anyone who wishes to climb Everest would be to not only be as fully aware as they could be of the personal risks that they take on when doing so, but to also to be fully aware of how their tragic misfortune on Everest could affect the day to day lives of the people they love. People being dragged down. Wind and UV damage… it’s like looking at an old flag that’s been up a while… torn and tattered from the elements…. I am a avid scuba diver and I always tell everyone that is just getting into it. When you are referring to a person than it is “THEIR”, i.e. Very well said my friend! A young climber from my country died few days ago. And the person is panicking let them drown. There are Sherpas who carry and set hundreds of pounds of rope, foods, Os, and tons of other equipment. David was an English mountaineer who attempted ascent in 2005. When I was a sixteen-year-old idiot (I’m now a 68-year-old one) I attempted to climb one of Chamonix’s aiguilles and found it impossible. These bodies are the most enviable fitting monument to the climbers posible. Families who lose their loved ones in these situations are of the same mindset, and accept the make-up and ambitions and insatiable drive that these people have. A strategically placed sled? They all have my admiration. Although there´s no help for the nealry frozen person, as long as he is still alive i can stay at him for a while to help him, so he/she has not do die alone. To pay $75,000 and then to be wasted at 28,000 feet, die and remain as a pathetic reminder of the silly decision they made to climb Everest. To me, riding is a huge, fulfilling part of my life. Than there is “THEY’RE”, which is a compound of the words “THEY ARE”! They were residing in New Zealand. Made me Laugh Jon!!!! Swiss helicopter teams are working at Everest nowadays and they have saved hundreds of lives. For a lot of us who might otherwise have a sense of humor, it’s totally impossible to make any jokes about this when you imagine the horror that they went through knowing while his body just stayed up on the mountain, within literally a couple feet of the gawkers. Leave their passion alone and check yours please. The end result of life is but one, death. Liz : Finally, another point worth noting is that many families of Everest victims request their loved ones be left exactly where they died. Get to the top. Just because one person has a different opinion from your own, doesn’t mean they’re incorrect. First to risk others to retrieve my body is not right. Similarly, attempting to rescue a victim in the Death Zone on Everest greatly increases the chance that the rescuer becomes a victim as well. A fabricated story if there ever was one. i feel a great deal of respect for the preserved bodies scattered about. 3rd.-if you want to do stupid things,you have every right to do so.there are a lot of people who are very wealthy,but that doesn’t make them knowledgeable,but they can still do what they want based on what they can afford. I skydive, scuba dive, whitewater kayak, rock climb, and drive super fast car for fun. Rachel Nuwer investigates the sad and little-known story behind its most prominent resident, ‘Green Boots’. but as usual it is close to impossible to bring the body back through the carnice and the balcony to the the 4th camp, then again they ( sherpas) have to bring the body back all the way to the base camp where helicopters can reach. An F1 driver’s body doesn’t stay on the track because it’s easy to get to! Isn’t it sad that some people just don’t get it? I’ll take old age over suffering from hypothermia in a cave while climbers climb around you and reaffirm the fact that your are utterly hopeless and helpless, but I won’t pretend my choice is any more valid than anyone else. If you screw up or have bad luck, you’re dead and that’s just the way it is. I hate to say this, but anyone that gets into that situation cannot expect someone else to die for them. “Pointlessly climb a mountain”…only the highest mountain in the world (or K2, depending on who’s measuring), the highest accomplishment for a climber…like pointlessly playing a football game which happens to be the Super Bowl or pointlessly playing a baseball game which happens to be the World Series…what an ignorant comment. Hoping to learn even more about Mt. For others who become hypothermic and delusional, they may remove their clothes unaware of where they are or what is happening to them…. Much like the Vietnam Memorial in washington, d.C., memorials can be necessary precatutions to future generations of mankind’s folly, regardless of his noble spirit, that sometimes, things that seem safe to do sometimes are sometimes quite hazardous. Shame the nepal gov can’t leave the bodies they reach as I can’t anymore fitting for a mountaineer to be at rest where they fell as as sleep. Every time i see this story on the web, there are different details that people who wrote it(not saying that’s the case here), or people who complain about the situation, leave out. I suppose, over the course of 50 years, we might expect there to be numerous fatal accidents on a busy road. The only people that knew he was up there were down in ABC but with no radio and no idea where DS was on the mountain. In 1996, Anatoli Boukreev was capable of helping others after he reached himself the summit without oxygen in the same day, so we can assume another climber could, at least, have moved David Sharp a few meters down, then return to the camp. Some one is drowning, so another person dives in to help – now there are two people drowning. So you climbed Everest? That doesn’t change the fact that the business of climbing has allowed onto Everest climbers who probably shouldn’t be there. OK, let me rephrase that: Helicopters couldn’t safely fly in that attitude. These photographs are a good reminder of just how brave and fearless these climbers are and we are here at sea level watching sportscenter. I don’t want to judge anyone, but we should ask the question: if, instead of Sharp, was the child, friend or spouse of one of the other 40 climbers, they would have done the same? it’s brutal up there!! Enjoy the view. In 1924, Mallory fell to his death during a storm while attempting to be the first to reach the summit of Everest. There is nothing pretty about it. Paradoxical undressing, the body constricting as they freeze. I’m not sure of the wisdom of thinking one is truly just above that and would really be concerned about their own trash under those circumstances. Everyones well aware before hand and the mountain wasnt put there to climb – not its purpose. You know that people have eaten people to survive right? Sacrifice. Ppl die of car accidents, burglary, in theme park accidents, natural disasters (i lived in tornado alley for almost 20yrs). You just either have it or you don’t. I don’t get it either. To quote the article: “The Nepalese consider Mount Everest sacred, and do not want it to become a graveyard. Despite her Sherpa’s warning, she set up camp within the death zone. Your friend is very rude. During a 1933 Everest expedition climbers found Andrew Irvine’s axe and rope. Rebel, that was my take a while back when I stumbled on this story. Walking over bodies. I will never understand leaving anyone behind so I may complete my schedule. Its. at some point, we will all lay to Rest….RIP my fellow Climbers…. The northwest ridge looks pretty sweet. And as I see, some bodies are like somebody has eaten them and somebody has stolen their boots and clothes. These people think they’re superhuman, and they crave the adrenaline rush. seriously. The mountain makes them. Some people just have a thrill seeking attitude for life. At the time of Francys’ death in 1998, no one knew what had happened to her husband and climbing partner Sergei. Some takes the challenge, some don’t — and latter might not understand the other kind, maybe not even themselves. David Sharp was a classic example… 30 people passed him, and many agreed that they had to keep moving on. ANYONE! Then move on. If you pull it off, Naive people will respect your bravery while wiser people will question your motives and be put off by your undeserved inflated ego. Every climber should be taxed $1000) every climber will then be safe with the knowledge that if they get into trouble their rescue is paid for, an insurance policy of sorts. Their company, Adventure Consultants, was incorporated in 1992, and quickly became a premier expedition guiding company. Why don’t potential climbers think about what they are really doing instead of waiting until the last moments when they are begging to be helped, to be saved, to live and they are passed by or cannot be helped? CLIMBERS have been photographed queuing past a frozen dead body as they battle past crowds to reach the summit of Mount Everest. or “I enjoyed the party over THERE”!.. Immerse yourself in nature. They just want to be able to say they climbed it. By the time they returned with help, David was dead.The sherpas were heroic in the inclement weather, brave enough to return while others retreated – but it was already too late when they first found him. Just know that ur fortunate enuff to have the fortunes, but i hope some of u use it for philanthropic means as well. RIP to all those who passed doing what they loved. Her potential climb is at least five to seven years away. That’s the sick one, I’d say. HOWEVER, starve me of food and / or oxygen and I’m bound to think differently. His end game at the end was “I just want to sleep” and so he did. Obviously they don’t realize that it’s undefeated. Not to mention, again, the weather conditions, the lack of oxygen, the exhaustion, etc…. I guess I’m boring and just too practical. As for your rather personal comments about me let me justsay that there are all sorts of risks in life. So others wait, pressing their luck, hoping they won’t be forced to turn back when they are so close to the top. The point is to get to the top. I think that heroin loved him more than he loved heroin. if the animal was small enough it would freeze completely solid like a furry little beefsicle….and it would stick to the ground/snow/ive/whatever and you would have to hack it into pieces to move it, or wait until it started to thaw…. Read “Into Thin Air”. Irvine was a fellow English Mountaineer who had attempted the ascent of Everest with Mallory, and perished in the same storm. Above 26,000 feet there is no acclimation – if you or I were put up at even 20,000 feet as we are now, we’d pass out, or hemorrhage, and could possibly die just from standing there. Course, I’m not famous. What gives anyone the right to proclaim a place “sacred” and exclude the rest of the human race? “PLEASE don’t leave me,” the dying woman cried. Fernando Vidal :… I hope you are joking because that comment was to your immense discredit and even if intended as a joke. Later, I learned it had been climbed by Mallory using no aids—-“free-climbed” in other words. And there are fools, climbers who know they shouldn’t be climbing, because they are in less than peak form. In October 1993, Ball died of cerebral edema,[3] leaving Hall to run Adventure Consultants on his own. We still considered it foolish. Especially in an instance where it was faulty equipment that served as the impetus for their eventual demise. 37 is far from over the hill dear. 15 minutes and all your fingers and toes are at risk, an hour and you are going to need rescuing yourself. What mattered to them was the moments of being alive. If you don’t make it back its a double promise you will not be forgotten. Now we know why your a DESPERATE house wife. Second this – i’m usually far from broadcasting my U.S. nationality when i’m abroad (because of both this sort of prejudice and because, i admit, i am embarrassed by it’s frequent substantiation), but your sweeping generalization is really just about as indecent as the behavior which you are remonstrating. A look at the website reveals that the person probably comes from Belgium. Without Him we are not. After this success, they realized that, in order to retain their sponsorship, each successive climb would have to be more risky and spectacular, increasing the risk of an accident. Station the teams in rescue camps at multiple elevations. I should think covering them with rocks like they diid for Sharp would suffice. If they did, it was a conscious choice to take their chances. It is nearly impossible for recovery of a body off the mountain. The air there is so thin. The money spend on this bored rich mans sport is the saddest thing of all. Place 1000 Sherpas and professional climbers on this detail every season. Not once but twice you made a boo-boo that makes you look totally foolish, Mr. English Professor Hates Dummies. But the ego gets in the way. He eventually reached a small cave and stopped for a rest. I salute to the courage and fearless spirits of all of them burried under the snow. I really loved this. What about the many climbers that go there and help with construction projects and such in the poor high altitude villages along the way? Gotta take exception there. They should have thought about that before risking their lives climbing up a mountain for no reason. For some people that ‘need’ is to be physically and mentally challenged by doing something like climbing big mountains. Everest. And he does so with less regard for other members of his team, both climbers and Sherpas, than for his need to gratify his ego. I’ve read that climbers have to “step over” Green Boots, but I don’t know if this is literal or figurative. Everest do it to prove it to themselves that they can. It may be difficult,it may cost a lot of money but the Nepalese people should be respected in their wish of non existing dead bodies in their sacred mountain. Purchase high powered light rescue choppers for retrieval at lower elevations. Does anybody know, why they leave bodies this way? . Go dig a well if you’re so upset… and stop hobnobbing with the hoi polloi at cocktail parties ! And they were two of the best Alpinists ever. 4) Why not go find something ur passionate about. the cases where they just roll the body out of sight. The problem is the physical removal of the bodies. Then, later in the season, Brice had his Sherpas move the body and inter it on the mountain. Learn how your comment data is processed. Would you jump into a hot pot at Yellowstone to save a person that made the poor choice to take a “swim” in a pool of BOILING water? Thanks for such an interesting article. ….. wow. Cortney, Thank you; very well said.