Mount Everest death sparks outrage

[HN]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: HN

Originally posted by: notfred

More than 1,500 climbers have reached the summit of Mount Everest in the last 53 years and some 190 have died trying.

Damn. You have greater than a 1/10 chance of dying if you try to climb that mountain.

there's something wrong with this math.

Not really, those numbers give a 12% chance of dying, that's greater than 1/10...

chances of dying is #people who died/total #people who attempted, not just people who succeeded.

 

[Goosemaster]

39 of them need to be shot in the shins and 1 needs to lose an arm:|

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: DonVito

Originally posted by: Skiddex
im no expert, but ive done a fair amount of reading on everest climbers and there is a kind of unwritten code of ethics for people that attempt the climb. everyone is so focused on their own survival that it isnt expected, or physically possible to tend to the fallen.

It seems to me Sir Edmund Hillary has total credibility to comment on this, and he feels the climbers' behavior was unacceptable.

Yeah, I saw where the amputee guy wants a 'private meeting' with Hillary to discuss what happened.

 

[z42]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

They did try to give him oxygen. The article says so.

I think you all vastly underestimate a Mt Everest climb. Those conditions are harsh. Taking him to safety would have risked the lives of the entire party. You have to try and imagine the difficulty in making that decision before you judge these people. The one guy was a double amputee for christ's sake

The article says that they tried giving him some oxygen, then radio'd, then continued to the summit. Meaning they had enough oxygen to climb and descend another 1,000 ft. And why did they radio when they said it would be impossible to carry him down? Because they didn't want to have to stop their ascent. If they couldn't carry him down, how could someone else. There was a group there. Over 40 people passed by him. They might have saved him if they really tried. If they were willing to not make the summit.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Yeah, I saw where the amputee guy wants a 'private meeting' with Hillary to discuss what happened.

The desire for a clear conscience can be a powerful thing. You'd like to think a guy who has himself suffered so much from climbing would have learned some perspective, but apparently not.

 

[mobobuff]

Was it the gay, I mean gay- I mean blind guy?

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
i also heard that once prestine mount everest is now littered by thousands thousands of discarded oxygen bottles and campsites...people are just idiots

It's not like anyone actually has the strength to carry them down, you know.

If you pack it in, you pack it out, IMO.

 

[Mo0o]

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
i also heard that once prestine mount everest is now littered by thousands thousands of discarded oxygen bottles and campsites...people are just idiots

It's not like anyone actually has the strength to carry them down, you know.

If you pack it in, you pack it out, IMO.

Easier said than done on Mt. Everst... this isn't a boyscout camp retreat

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Some people need to read up on what its actually like to climb Everest. Any body who tried to help him probably would have died also. Its not as simple as walking him down a path. Also, even with O2 being used, your running on about 50% brain power.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge
Some people need to read up on what its actually like to climb Everest. Any body who tried to help him probably would have died also. Its not as simple as walking him down a path. Also, even with O2 being used, your running on about 50% brain power.

So you're telling me that a group of people (multiple climbers) who were well enough to pass the guy and continue up the mountain, could not have found a way to take him down the mountain?

Hell no.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge
Some people need to read up on what its actually like to climb Everest. Any body who tried to help him probably would have died also. Its not as simple as walking him down a path. Also, even with O2 being used, your running on about 50% brain power.

I don't think Sir Edmund Hillary needs to read up on what it's like to climb Everest.

I wouldn't have been offended if they had left him behind while descending, if they tried in vain to help him first, but to me continuing on to the summit with him lying there dying is tough to excuse.

 

[OdiN]

Originally posted by: Mo0o

Originally posted by: OdiN

Originally posted by: Kalvin00

Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
i also heard that once prestine mount everest is now littered by thousands thousands of discarded oxygen bottles and campsites...people are just idiots

It's not like anyone actually has the strength to carry them down, you know.

If you pack it in, you pack it out, IMO.

Easier said than done on Mt. Everst... this isn't a boyscout camp retreat

If you can climb the damned thing, you ought to be able to pack out your gear. Or you don't belong there.

 

[BooGiMaN]

i wonder if they recovered the body....i thought i read soemwhere that if you die on that climb thats where you stay no body recovery.

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge
Some people need to read up on what its actually like to climb Everest. Any body who tried to help him probably would have died also. Its not as simple as walking him down a path. Also, even with O2 being used, your running on about 50% brain power.

He was passed by 40 people. I think between them they could have got him down, but no. They continued to the summit like pricks. And I think Sir Edmund Hillary knows more about climbing Everest than you.

 

[Coquito]

I remember watching the documentary "Touching the Void" where one of their crew fell & broke his leg. They asserted that the risk was too great to the team to try & save their friend, so they cut him loose. He survived the fall & eventually crawled back to base camp. When you're completely vertical on the side of a rock, thousands of feet high, with little air & terrible weather, it would be both your deaths to strap someone on take responsibility for them.

 

[Buck Naked]

The movie Touching the Void is about this subject.
Awesome movie BTW
edit: beat to it

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: Falcon39

Originally posted by: Antisocial Virge
Some people need to read up on what its actually like to climb Everest. Any body who tried to help him probably would have died also. Its not as simple as walking him down a path. Also, even with O2 being used, your running on about 50% brain power.

He was passed by 40 people. I think between them they could have got him down, but no. They continued to the summit like pricks. And I think Sir Edmund Hillary knows more about climbing Everest than you.

And it happens every year and the only reason people are making a fuss about it is because Sir Edmund Hillary is talking about it People get left to die because they are too far up and too far gone to get down safe. Sir Edmund Hillary was just the first to climb Everest, just like the 1500 people since, he's not god on the subject.

Jon Krakauer has a book called Into Thin Air thats good.

Lets see what his mother has to say.

"Sharp's mother, Linda, was quoted in the Evening Gazette newspaper in Britain as saying that she did not blame other climbers for her son's death.

"Your responsibility is to save yourself - not to try and save anybody else."
"

 

[drinkmorejava]

They should have tried to bring him down, but keep in mind, if the temp was around minus 100, and skin freezes almost instantly at -40 (C and F), to say the conditions sucked or were harsh is an extreme understatement. They're already carrying multiple 20-30lb oxygen tanks in addition to the normal climbing gear...dragging, much less carrying anyone down is next to impossible.

 

[JS80]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

...gently down bannage...

 

[RCN]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

What explanation is needed? I would have left him for the same reasons they did........

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

What explanation is needed? I would have left him for the same reasons they did........

Oh, because it was more important to make it to the top. Real class act you are.

 

[RCN]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

What explanation is needed? I would have left him for the same reasons they did........

Oh, because it was more important to make it to the top. Real class act you are.

Hey....whatever you want to think..........

I may have considered putting him out of his misery but idiots like you would just call me a murderer.....

I'm not going to further endanger myself or crew to save a lost cause who knew the risk nor would I put off my chance to summit because I felt bad........

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: RCN
nor would I put off my chance to summit because I felt bad........

Exactly my point

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: RCN
I would have left him too...........

Posting an inflamatory comment with no explanation...

Troll, troll, troll your boat...

What explanation is needed? I would have left him for the same reasons they did........

Oh, because it was more important to make it to the top. Real class act you are.

Hey....whatever you want to think..........

I may have considered putting him out of his misery but idiots like you would just call me a murderer.....

I'm not going to further endanger myself or crew to save a lost cause who knew the risk nor would I put off my chance to summit because I felt bad........

So if you were dying on a mountain and people just continued onward, you wouldn't have a problem with that? You need serious help if you think that's okay.