The dead on Mt. Everest

[P. Aaron]

http://www.altereddimensions.net/pla...t-everest.aspx

WARNING: Some tough pictures.

Francys Arseniev, an American women who fell while climbing with a group (that included her husband), pleaded with passerby's to save her. Climbing down the side of a steep section of the mountain, her husband noticed she was missing. Knowing that he did not have enough oxygen to reach her and return to base camp, he chose to turn back to find his wife anyway. He fell to his death in the attempt to climb down and reach his dying wife. Two other climbers did successfully reach her but knew carrying her out was not an option. They comforted her for a while before leaving her to die. Feeling great remorse, they returned eight years later vowing to find the body and enshrine it in an American flag.

[colcifer]

Yeah, it's some pretty darn heavy **** that happens up there. You know, the last stretch is so high that your body can not sustain itself. You are racing against the clock to finish the climb before your body finishes shutting itself down.

[MJ5150]

I remember starting to read about this before. I had to stop, too heartbreaking to think about for me.

-Mike

[bassistjoe93]

Wow. That is some crazy stuff.

[Ziltoid]

Wow.

[Downunderwonder]

Not your everyday expedition. The odd "tourist" might get there without being made fully aware of the facts and percentages but to be that fit, rich, delusional and ambitious would be special. An uncle of mine is RIP on K2.

[Bloodhammer]

It never occurred to me that the bodies can't be recovered. It's like a graveyard.

[tplyons]

Wow is right.

[bassbrad]

It's a part of high mountain climbing that it is perilous.
This past season was no exception, with a higher than usual body count
There are several climbers blogs that I have been following for a while...
Everest Blogs, my new addiction

[jrthebassguy]

Whoa. Heavy.


Since the site seemed a little sketchy I did a little bit of googling to determine how "true" it is, and indeed it all seems to match up. Wikipedia has entries on some of the people listed, as well as some of the macabre landmarks. "Green Boots" et. al.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

A friend of mine was sharing similar findings last year, before he went of traveling, though in the end they only went to base camp at Everest.

Scary stuff. Also why Is never do that kind of climb, my luck is terrible!

[Staredge]

Unfortunately, Everest is not that hard. It's been said in the climbing community that if it was a thousand metres lower it would be a fairly "easy" climb. The pictures of the lines at the Hillary step sicken me. It's become a tourist mountain.....hence the amount of deaths that continue to happen. People are not building their skills through years of expeditions.......they're buying their way onto teams, and aren't up to keeping themselves alive. When you're that high, you're on your own. There are no rescue teams. A lot of climbers die trying to rescue people.



K2, on the other hand........that's a whole different ball game. I love that mountain. Never be that good, but I'd love to take a shot. Technically EXTREMELY difficult. Altitude only makes it worse.

[Downunderwonder]

A NZ guide copped a lot of flak for leaving a client to die. His response roughly paraphrased: "He knew the risks, I did what I could but in the end it was him or both us dying and I chose not die". The client had run out of steam in the death zone.

[Solarmist]

Interesting thread - thanks. This hits close to home in a way. My Grandmother was an avid mountain climer, and got caught in an unexpected snow-storm on MT. Rainier for 2 days until she was found - OK, cold, and shook-up.

[Staredge]

This is one of the reasons that people keep dying. Too many people. Ed Viesturs is a good read on Everest. He was there (and helped rescue a few people) back in 96 when the

[Munjibunga]

Dying on Everest is a risk every climber understands before undertaking the climb. However, the death rate for climbers on Everest is "only" a little above 7 percent, so on average, about one in 14 climbers die. For comparison, the death rate for Annapurna is over 40 percent. So two of every five climbers die. K2? 27 percent, so a little more than one in four die. Climbing Everest has become a popular tourist activity, and many people who have no business on the mountain pay buku bucks to have somebody babysit them up the hill. It's pretty dumb, really.

I'm going to stick with bass playing, where everbody dies, but not as soon.

[Ziltoid]

Originally Posted by Staredge

K2, on the other hand........that's a whole different ball game. I love that mountain. Never be that good, but I'd love to take a shot. Technically EXTREMELY difficult. Altitude only makes it worse.

You have to be a bit nuts to attempt K2 or Annapurna.

I'd favor easier climb like the Kilimanjaro (most likely some other less touristy climb with similar difficulty level)

[bassbrad]

Originally Posted by Staredge

Unfortunately, Everest is not that hard. It's been said in the climbing community that if it was a thousand metres lower it would be a fairly "easy" climb.

But that extra 1000 meters is the whole allure of Everest, it's not the best, hardest, most beautiful only the tallest.

[JacoLesFlea]

Interesting

[Relic]

I've seen this one before, it's a real crazy thing. I personally don't understand the allure but to each their own I guess.