Many people know that conquering peaks is deadly. And those who go up don't always go down. Both beginners and experienced climbers die on the Mountain.
But to my surprise, not many people know that the dead remain where fate has caught them. It is at least strange for us, people of civilization, the Internet and the city, to hear that the same Everest has long turned into a cemetery. There are countless corpses on it and no one is in a hurry to lower them down.
I recently told my friend about this, so he did not believe me.
He said that it could not be that people were left to lie where death overtook them.
But in the mountains, the rules are somewhat different. Good or bad - not for me and not from home to judge. Sometimes it seems to me that there is very little human in them, but even being at five and a half kilometers, I did not feel too good to, for example, drag something weighing about fifty kilograms. What can we say about people in the Death Zone - an altitude of eight kilometers and above.
Not too lazy, especially for those who still do not believe in the dead on the mountain, I found some memories of climbers and documentary evidence of the conquest of just one peak - Everest.
I want to warn you that I do not specifically put photos in LJ, but make them links. Not everyone is pleased and interested to look at the bodies thrown in the snow. There is nothing good and pleasant in this spectacle. Personally, when I looked at them, I felt the deepest pity. Unfortunate people left by everyone at the mercy of Sagarmatha.
Everest is the modern Golgotha. Anyone who goes there knows that he has a chance not to return. Roulette with Mountain. Lucky - no luck. Not everything depends on you. Hurricane wind, frozen valve on an oxygen tank, wrong timing, avalanche, exhaustion, etc.
Everest often proves to people that they are mortal. At least the fact that when you go up you see the bodies of those who are never destined to go down again.
According to statistics, about 1500 people climbed the mountain.
Remained there (according to various sources) from 120 to 200. Can you imagine? Here is a very revealing statistics until 2002 about the people who died on the mountain (name, nationality, date of death, place of death, cause of death, whether he reached the top).
Among these 200 people there are those who will always meet new conquerors. According to various sources, there are eight openly lying bodies on the northern route. Among them are two Russians. From the south is about ten. And if you move left or right...
I will tell only about the most famous losses:
“Yes, in the mountains there are hundreds of corpses frozen from cold and exhaustion, fallen into the abyss”. Valery Kuzin.
I am among those who believe that Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already on the descent. In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault. Last time they were seen with binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the top. Then the clouds converged and the climbers disappeared.
The mystery of their disappearance, the first Europeans who remained on Sagarmatha, worried many. But it took many years to find out what happened to the climber.
In 1975, one of the conquerors assured that he saw some body off the main path, but did not approach, so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years for in 1999, when traversing the slope from the 6th high-altitude camp (8290 m) to the west, the expedition stumbled upon many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He was lying on his stomach, sprawled, as if hugging a mountain, his head and hands were frozen into the slope.
On video it is clearly seen that the climber's tibia and fibula are broken. With such an injury, he was no longer able to continue the journey.
"They turned it over - the eyes are closed. So, he did not die suddenly: when they break, many of them remain open. They didn't lower them - they buried them there."
Irving was never found, although the harness on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and perhaps Irving could move around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.
In 1934, he made his way to Everest, disguised as Tibetan monk, an Englishman Wilson, who decided by prayers to cultivate in himself the willpower sufficient to climb to the top. After unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Col, abandoned by the Sherpas accompanying him, Wilson died of cold and exhaustion. His body, as well as the diary he wrote, were found by an expedition in 1935.
A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in May 1998. Then a married couple died - Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano.
Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights (!) at 8,200 m, climbed and reached the summit on 05/22/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Francis became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.
During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She is not.
The next day, five Uzbek climbers went to the top past Francis - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but for this they refused to climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, in this case the expedition is already considered successful.
On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Francis. He took oxygen tanks and went. But he disappeared. Probably blown away by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.
The next day, three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two from South Africa- 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but she is still alive! Again, everyone passes by - to the top.
"My heart sank when I realized that this man in the red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,– recalls the British climber. - Cathy and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging for money from sponsors ... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it lay close. Moving at such a height is the same as running underwater...
We found her, tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and muttered all the time: "I'm an American. Please don't leave me" ...
We dressed her for two hours. My concentration was lost due to a bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence, Woodhall continues his story. “I realized that Katie was about to freeze to death herself. We had to get out of there as soon as possible. I tried to lift Frances and carry her, but it was useless. My futile attempts to save her put Kathy at risk. We couldn't do anything."
Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to get to the top. We succeeded, but on the way back, we were horrified to notice the body of Francis, she lay exactly as we left her, perfectly preserved under the influence of low temperatures. No one deserves such an ending. Kathy and I promised each other to return to Everest again to bury Frances. For preparation new expedition gone 8 years. I wrapped Francis in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into a cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." Ian Woodhall.
A year later, the body of Sergei Arsenyev was found: "I'm sorry for the delay with photos of Sergei. We definitely saw him - I remember the purple puffy suit. He was in a kind of bow position, lying just behind Jochen's "implicit rib" in the Mallory area at about 27150 feet. I think it is - He." Jake Norton, member of the 1999 expedition.
But in the same year there was a case when people remained people. On the Ukrainian expedition, the guy spent almost the same place as the American, a cold night. His own people lowered him to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. He got off lightly - four fingers were removed.
"Such extreme situations everyone has the right to decide: to save or not to save a partner ... Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself and it is quite natural that you do not help another, since you have no extra strength. Miko Imai.
“It is impossible to afford the luxury of morality at an altitude of more than 8000 meters”
In 1996, a group of climbers from the Japanese University of Fukuoka climbed Mount Everest. Very close to their route were three distressed climbers from India - emaciated, ill people got into a high-altitude storm. The Japanese passed by. A few hours later, all three were dead.
I highly recommend reading the article by a member of the Everest expedition from the GEO magazine "Alone with Death". About the greatest catastrophe of the decade on Gor. About how, due to a bunch of circumstances, 8 people died, including two group commanders. Later, the film "Death on Everest" was filmed based on the author's book.
Terrifying footage of the Discovery Channel in the TV series Everest - Beyond the Limits. When the group finds a man freezing, they film him, but only ask for his name, leaving him to die alone in an ice cave
(Excerpt) Hide spoiler
“The corpses on the route are a good example and a reminder to be more careful on the mountain. But every year there are more and more climbers, and according to the statistics of corpses, it will increase every year. What is unacceptable in normal life is regarded as the norm at high altitudes.” Alexander Abramov.
Bodies on the way to the top:
“You can’t keep climbing between corpses and pretend that it’s in the order of things”. Alexander Abramov.
It is believed that, technically, climbing routes to Everest are not the most difficult. There are more serious mountains in the world. The main problem is the weather. At times, the speed of wind gusts on Everest reaches almost 200 km / h, the temperature drops to -40 °. After a height of 6000 meters, the climber is threatened with oxygen starvation; landslides and snow avalanches are common on Everest. These are the main causes of death of climbers. "There is no such branch of medicine that would study the problems of human survival in such conditions," the president says. Russian Federation basketball academician Valery Kuzin, whose expedition in 1997 conquered Everest along the same route as Mallory, the so-called North Face.
If you can not go to Everest - do not go ...
Everest has long been turned into a cemetery. There are countless corpses on it and no one is in a hurry to lower them down. It cannot be that people are left to lie where death overtook them. But at an altitude of 8000 meters, the rules are somewhat different. On Everest, groups of climbers pass by unburied corpses scattered here and there, they are the same climbers, only they were not lucky. Some of them fell off and broke their bones, some froze or simply weakened and still froze.
Many people know that conquering peaks is deadly. And those who go up don't always go down. Both beginners and experienced climbers die on the Mountain.
But to my surprise, not many people know that the dead remain where fate has caught them. It is at least strange for us, people of civilization, the Internet and the city, to hear that the same Everest has long turned into a cemetery. There are countless corpses on it and no one is in a hurry to lower them down.
In the mountains, the rules are somewhat different. Good or bad - not for me and not from home to judge. Sometimes it seems to me that there is very little human in them, but even being at five and a half kilometers, I did not feel too good to, for example, drag something weighing about fifty kilograms. What can we say about people in the Death Zone - an altitude of eight kilometers and above.
Everest is modern Golgotha. Anyone who goes there knows that he has a chance not to return. Roulette with Mountain. Lucky - no luck. Not everything depends on you. Hurricane wind, frozen valve on an oxygen tank, wrong timing, avalanche, exhaustion, etc.
Everest often proves to people that they are mortal. At least the fact that when you go up you see the bodies of those who are never destined to go down again.
According to statistics, about 1500 people climbed the mountain.
Remained there (according to various sources) from 120 to 200. Can you imagine? Here is a very revealing statistics until 2002 about the people who died on the mountain (name, nationality, date of death, place of death, cause of death, whether he reached the top).
Among these 200 people there are those who will always meet new conquerors. According to various sources, there are eight openly lying bodies on the northern route. Among them are two Russians. From the south is about ten. And if you move left or right...
No one keeps statistics of defectors there, because they climb mostly as savages and in small groups of three to five people. And the price of such an ascent is from $25t to $60t. Sometimes they pay extra with their lives if they saved on little things.
"Why are you going to Everest?" asked George Mallory, the first conqueror of the ill-fated summit. "Because he is!"
It is believed that Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already on the descent. In 1924, Mallory and his partner Irving began their ascent. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds converged and the climbers disappeared.
They did not return back, only in 1999, at an altitude of 8290 m, the next conquerors of the summit came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He was lying on his stomach, as if trying to hug the mountain, his head and hands frozen into the slope.
Irving's partner was never found, although the harness on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and perhaps Irving could move around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.
In 1934, the Englishman Wilson made his way to Everest, disguised as a Tibetan monk, who decided to prayerfully cultivate the willpower in himself sufficient to climb to the top. After unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Col, abandoned by the Sherpas accompanying him, Wilson died of cold and exhaustion. His body, as well as the diary he wrote, were found by an expedition in 1935.
A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in May 1998. Then a married couple died - Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano.
Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights on 8,200 m (!), climbed and reached the summit on 22/05/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Francis became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.
During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She is not.
The next day, five Uzbek climbers went to the top past Francis - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but for this they refused to climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, in this case the expedition is already considered successful. Some offered her oxygen (which she refused at first, not wanting to spoil her record), others poured a few sips of hot tea, there was even a married couple who tried to gather people to drag her to the camp, but they soon left, as put their own lives at risk.
On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Francis. He took oxygen tanks and went. But he disappeared. Probably blown away by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.
The next day there are three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two from South Africa - 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but she is still alive! Again, everyone passes by - to the top.
“My heart sank when I realized that this man in a red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,” recalls the British climber. “Kathy and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging for money from sponsors ... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it lay close. Moving at such a height is the same as running underwater...
When we found her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and muttered all the time: “I am an American. Please, do not leave me"...
We dressed her for two hours. My concentration was lost due to a bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence, Woodhall continues his story. “I realized that Katie was about to freeze to death herself. We had to get out of there as soon as possible. I tried to lift Frances and carry her, but it was useless. My futile attempts to save her put Kathy at risk. We couldn't do anything."
Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to get to the top. We succeeded, but on the way back, we were horrified to notice the body of Francis, she lay exactly as we left her, perfectly preserved under the influence of low temperatures.
Nobody deserves such an end. Cathy and I promised each other to return to Everest again to bury Frances. It took 8 years to prepare a new expedition. I wrapped Francis in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into a cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." Ian Woodhall.
A year later, the body of Sergei Arseniev was found: “I apologize for the delay with the photographs of Sergei. We definitely saw him - I remember the purple down suit. He was in a kind of bow position, lying just behind Jochenovsky (Jochen Hemmleb - expedition historian - S.K.) "implicitly expressed rib" in the Mallory area at about 27150 feet (8254 m). I think it's him." Jake Norton, member of the 1999 expedition.
But in the same year there was a case when people remained people. On the Ukrainian expedition, the guy spent almost the same place as the American, a cold night. His own people lowered him to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. He got off lightly - four fingers were removed.
“In such extreme situations, everyone has the right to decide: to save or not to save a partner ... Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself and it is quite natural that you do not help another, since you have no extra strength.” Miko Imai.
“It is impossible to afford the luxury of morality at an altitude of more than 8000 meters”
In 1996, a group of climbers from the Japanese University of Fukuoka climbed Mount Everest. Very close to their route were three distressed climbers from India - emaciated, ill people got into a high-altitude storm. The Japanese passed by. A few hours later, all three were dead.
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Above the mountains can only be mountains, not for the faint of heart.
Do you remember we discussed BEAUTIFUL POST ABOUT THE TOP OF THE WORLD?
You probably paid attention to such information that Everest is, in full sense words, mountain of death. Storming this height, the climber knows that he has a chance of not returning. Death can be caused by a lack of oxygen, heart failure, frostbite or injury. Fatal accidents also lead to death, such as a frozen valve of an oxygen cylinder. Moreover, the path to the summit is so difficult that, as Alexander Abramov, one of the participants in the Russian Himalayan expedition, said, “at an altitude of more than 8000 meters you cannot afford the luxury of morality. Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself, and in such extreme conditions you do not have extra strength to help a friend. At the end of the post there will be a video on this topic.
The tragedy that happened on Everest in May 2006 shocked the whole world: 42 climbers passed by the slowly freezing Englishman David Sharpe, but no one helped him. One of them was the television people of the Discovery channel, who tried to interview the dying man and, having photographed him, left him alone ...
And now readers WITH STRONG NERVES can see what a cemetery looks like on top of the world.
On Everest, groups of climbers pass by unburied corpses scattered here and there, they are the same climbers, only they were not lucky. Some of them fell off and broke their bones, some froze or simply weakened and still froze.
What morality can at an altitude of 8000 meters above sea level? It's every man for himself, just to survive.
If you really want to prove to yourself that you are mortal, then you should try to visit Everest.
Most likely, all these people who remained lying there thought that this was not about them. And now they are like a reminder that not everything is in the hands of man.
No one keeps statistics of defectors there, because they climb mostly as savages and in small groups of three to five people. And the price of such an ascent is from $25t to $60t. Sometimes they pay extra with their lives if they saved on little things. So, about 150 people remained on eternal guard, and maybe 200. And many who have been there say that they feel the gaze of a black climber resting on their backs, because there are eight openly lying bodies right on the northern route. Among them are two Russians. From the south is about ten. But climbers are already afraid to deviate from the paved path, they may not get out of there, and no one will climb to save them.
Terrible tales circulate among climbers who have visited that peak, because it does not forgive mistakes and human indifference. In 1996, a group of climbers from the Japanese University of Fukuoka climbed Mount Everest. Very close to their route were three distressed climbers from India - exhausted, icy people asked for help, they survived a high-altitude storm. The Japanese passed by. When the Japanese group descended, there was already no one to save, the Indians froze.
This is the alleged corpse of the very first climber to summit Everest, who died on the descent.
It is believed that Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already on the descent. In 1924, Mallory and his partner Irving began their ascent. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds converged and the climbers disappeared.
They did not return back, only in 1999, at an altitude of 8290 m, the next conquerors of the summit came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He was lying on his stomach, as if trying to hug the mountain, his head and hands frozen into the slope.
Irving's partner was never found, although the harness on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and perhaps Irving could move around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.
Wind and snow do their job, those places on the body that are not covered by clothes are gnawed to the bone by the snow wind, and the older the corpse, the less flesh remains on it. No one is going to evacuate the dead climbers, the helicopter cannot rise to such a height, and there are no altruists to carry a carcass of 50 to 100 kilograms. So the unburied climbers lie on the slopes.
Well, not all climbers are such egoists, they still save and do not leave their own in trouble. Only many who died are to blame themselves.
For the sake of the personal record of an oxygen-free ascent, the American Francis Arsentieva, already on the descent, lay exhausted for two days on the southern slope of Everest. Climbers from different countries. Some offered her oxygen (which she refused at first, not wanting to spoil her record), others poured a few sips of hot tea, there was even a married couple who tried to gather people to drag her to the camp, but they soon left, as put their own lives at risk.
The husband of an American, Russian climber Sergei Arsentiev, with whom they got lost on the descent, did not wait for her in the camp, and went in search of her, during which he also died.
In the spring of 2006, eleven people died on Everest - not news, it would seem, if one of them, Briton David Sharp, was not left in agony by a group of about 40 climbers passing by. Sharp was not a rich man and climbed without guides and Sherpas. The drama lies in the fact that if he had enough money, his salvation would be possible. He would still be alive today.
Every spring, on the slopes of Everest, both on the Nepalese and Tibetan sides, countless tents grow up in which the same dream is cherished - to climb to the roof of the world. Perhaps because of the motley variety of tents resembling giant tents, or because anomalous phenomena have been occurring on this mountain for some time, the scene was dubbed the “Circus on Everest”.
Society looked with wise calmness at this house of clowns as a place of entertainment, a little magical, a little absurd, but harmless. Everest has become an arena for circus performances, ridiculous and funny things happen here: children come to hunt for early records, old people climb without help, eccentric millionaires appear who have not seen cats even in a photograph, helicopters land on the top ... The list is endless and has nothing to do with mountaineering, but there is much in common with money, which, if not moving mountains, makes them lower. However, in the spring of 2006, the "circus" turned into a theater of horror, erasing forever the image of innocence that was usually associated with a pilgrimage to the roof of the world.
In the spring of 2006, on Everest, about forty climbers left the Englishman David Sharpe alone to die in the middle of the northern slope; faced with a choice, to help or continue climbing to the top, they chose the second, since reaching the highest peak in the world meant for them to accomplish a feat.
On the very day that David Sharp was dying surrounded by this pretty company and in utter contempt, the media around the world sang the praises of Mark Inglis, the New Zealand guide who, lacking legs to be amputated after an occupational injury, climbed to the top of Everest on prosthetics made of hydrocarbon artificial fiber with cats attached to them.
The news, presented by the media as a super act, as proof that dreams can change reality, hid tons of garbage and dirt, so that Inglis himself began to say: no one helped the British David Sharp in his suffering. The American web page mounteverest.net picked up the news and began to pull the string. At the end of it is a story of human degradation, which is difficult to understand, a horror that would have been hidden if it were not for the media that undertook to investigate what happened.
David Sharp, who climbed the mountain on his own, participating in an ascent organized by Asia Trekking, died when his oxygen tank failed at an altitude of 8500 meters. It happened on May 16th. Sharpe was no stranger to the mountains. At the age of 34, he had already climbed the eight-thousand-meter Cho Oyu, passing the most difficult sections without the use of railings, which may not be a heroic deed, but at least shows his character. Suddenly left without oxygen, Sharp immediately felt ill and immediately collapsed on the rocks at an altitude of 8500 meters in the middle of the northern ridge. Some of those who preceded him claim that they thought he was resting. Several Sherpas inquired about his condition, asking who he was and with whom he traveled. He replied: "My name is David Sharp, I'm here with Asia Trekking and I just want to sleep."
North ridge of Everest.
New Zealander Mark Inglis, a double amputee, stepped his hydrocarbon prostheses over David Sharp's body to reach the summit; he was one of the few who admitted that Sharpe had indeed been left for dead. “At least our expedition was the only one that did anything for him: our Sherpas gave him oxygen. On that day, about 40 climbers passed by him, and no one did anything,” he said.
Climbing Everest.
The first to be alarmed by Sharpe's death was the Brazilian Vitor Negrete, who, in addition, said that he had been robbed in a high-mountain camp. Vitor could not provide any more details, because he died two days later. Negrete made his way to the summit from the north ridge without the aid of artificial oxygen, but during the descent began to feel unwell and radioed for help from his Sherpa, who helped him get to Camp No. 3. He died in his tent, possibly due to swelling caused by being at altitude.
Contrary to popular belief, most people die on Everest during good weather, not when the mountain is covered in clouds. A cloudless sky inspires anyone, regardless of his technical equipment and physical capabilities, and this is where the edema and typical collapses caused by altitude lie in wait for him. This spring, the roof of the world knew a period of good weather, lasting for two weeks without wind and clouds, enough to break the record of ascents at this very time of the year: 500.
Camp after the storm.
Under worse conditions, many would not rise and would not die ...
David Sharpe was still alive after a terrible night at 8500 meters. During this time, he had the phantasmagorical company of "Mr. Yellow Boots", the corpse of an Indian climber, dressed in old yellow plastic Koflach boots, lying there for years, lying on a ridge in the middle of the road and still in a fetal position.
The grotto where David Sharpe died. For ethical reasons, the body is painted white.
David Sharp shouldn't have died. It would be enough for the commercial and non-commercial expeditions that went to the summit to agree to save the Englishman. If this did not happen, it was only because there was no money, no equipment, there was no one in the base camp who could offer the Sherpas doing such work a good amount of dollars in exchange for a life. And, since there was no economic incentive, they resorted to a false elementary expression: "you need to be independent at the height." If this principle were true, old people, the blind, people with various amputated limbs, completely ignorant, sick and other representatives of the fauna that meet at the foot of the "icon" of the Himalayas, knowing full well that something that cannot make their competence and experience, their thick checkbook will allow.
Three days after David Sharp's death, Peace Project leader Jamie McGuinness and ten of his Sherpas rescued one of his clients from a tailspin shortly after reaching the summit. It took 36 hours to do this, but he was evacuated from the summit on a makeshift stretcher, bringing him to the base camp. Can the dying person be saved or not? Of course, he paid a lot, and it saved his life. David Sharp only paid for having a cook and a tent at the base camp.
Rescue work on Everest.
A few days later, two members of the same expedition from Castile-La Mancha were enough to evacuate one half-dead Canadian named Vince from the North Col (at an altitude of 7000 meters), under the indifferent looks of many of those who passed there.
Transportation.
A little later there was one episode that will finally resolve the debate about whether or not to help a dying man on Everest. The tour guide Harry Kikstra was assigned to lead a group in which Thomas Weber, who had vision problems due to the removal of a brain tumor in the past, appeared among his clients. On the day of the summit of Kikstra, Weber, five Sherpas and a second client, Lincoln Hall, set out together from Camp Three at night under good weather conditions.
Abundantly swallowing oxygen, a little more than two hours later they stumbled upon the corpse of David Sharp, with disgust walked around him and continued on to the top. Despite the vision problems that height should have exacerbated, Weber climbed on his own using a railing. Everything happened as planned. Lincoln Hall with his two Sherpas moved forward, but at this time Weber's eyesight was seriously impaired. At 50 meters from the summit, Kikstra decided to finish the ascent and headed back with his Sherpa and Weber. Little by little, the group began to descend from the third step, then from the second ... until suddenly Weber, who seemed exhausted and uncoordinated, threw a panicked look at Kikstra and dumbfounded him: "I'm dying." And he died, falling into his arms in the middle of the ridge. Nobody could revive him.
Moreover, Lincoln Hall, returning from the top, began to feel bad. Warned by radio, Kikstra, still in a state of shock from Weber's death, sent one of his Sherpas to meet Hall, but the latter collapsed at 8700 meters and, despite the help of the Sherpas, who had been trying to revive him for nine hours, could not rise. At seven o'clock they reported that he was dead. The expedition leaders advised the Sherpas, worried about the onset of darkness, to leave Lincoln Hall and save their lives, which they did.
Everest slopes.
That same morning, seven hours later, guide Dan Mazur, who was following the road to the summit with clients, stumbled upon Hall, who, surprisingly, was alive. After being given tea, oxygen, and medicine, Hall was able to talk on the radio himself with his group at the base. Immediately, all the expeditions that were on the north side agreed among themselves and sent a detachment of ten Sherpas to help him. Together they removed him from the crest and brought him back to life.
Frostbite.
He got frostbite on his hands - the minimum loss in this situation. The same should have been done with David Sharp, but unlike Hall (one of the most famous Himalayans from Australia, a member of the expedition that opened one of the paths on the north side of Everest in 1984), the Englishman did not have a famous name and support group .
Sharpe's case is not news, no matter how scandalous it may seem. The Dutch expedition left one Indian climber to die on the South Col, leaving him only five meters from his tent, leaving him when he whispered something else and waved his hand.
A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in May 1998. Then a married couple died - Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano.
Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights (!) at 8,200 m, climbed and reached the summit on 05/22/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Francis became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.
During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She is not.
The next day, five Uzbek climbers went to the top past Francis - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but for this they refused to climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, in this case the expedition is already considered successful.
On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Francis. He took oxygen tanks and went. But he disappeared. Probably blown away by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.
The next day there are three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two from South Africa - 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but she is still alive! Again, everyone passes by - to the top.
“My heart sank when I realized that this man in a red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,” recalls the British climber. “Kathy and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging for money from sponsors ... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it lay close. Moving at such a height is the same as running under water ...
When we found her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and muttered all the time: “I am an American. Please, do not leave me"…
We dressed her for two hours. My concentration was lost due to a bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence, Woodhall continues his story. “I realized that Katie was about to freeze to death herself. We had to get out of there as soon as possible. I tried to lift Frances and carry her, but it was useless. My futile attempts to save her put Kathy at risk. We couldn't do anything."
Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to get to the top. We succeeded, but on the way back, we were horrified to notice the body of Francis, she lay exactly as we left her, perfectly preserved under the influence of low temperatures.
Nobody deserves such an end. Cathy and I promised each other to return to Everest again to bury Frances. It took 8 years to prepare a new expedition. I wrapped Francis in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into a cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." Ian Woodhall.
A year later, the body of Sergei Arseniev was found: “I apologize for the delay with the photographs of Sergei. We definitely saw him - I remember the purple puffy suit. He was in a sort of bowing position, lying just behind the Jochenovsky (Jochen Hemmleb - expedition historian - S.K.) "implicit rib" in the Mallory area at about 27150 feet (8254 m). I think it's him." Jake Norton, member of the 1999 expedition.
But in the same year there was a case when people remained people. On the Ukrainian expedition, the guy spent almost the same place as the American, a cold night. His own people lowered him to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. He got off lightly - four fingers were removed.
“In such extreme situations, everyone has the right to decide: to save or not to save a partner ... Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself and it is quite natural that you do not help another, since you have no extra strength.” Miko Imai.
On Everest, the Sherpas act like excellent supporting actors in a film made to celebrate unpaid actors silently playing their part.
Sherpas at work.
But the Sherpas, who provide their services for money, are the main ones in this business. Without them, there are neither fixed ropes, nor many ascents, nor, of course, salvation. And in order for them to help, they need to be paid money: Sherpas have been taught to sell for money, and they use the tariff under any circumstances. Just like a poor climber who is unable to pay, a Sherpa can find himself in a difficult situation, so for the same reason he is cannon fodder.
The situation of the Sherpas is very difficult, because they first of all take the risk of organizing a "spectacle" so that even the least qualified can snatch a piece of what they paid for.
Frostbitten Sherp.
“The corpses on the route are a good example and a reminder to be more careful on the mountain. But every year there are more and more climbers, and according to the statistics of corpses, it will increase every year. What is unacceptable in normal life is regarded as the norm at high altitudes.” Alexander Abramov, Master of Sports of the USSR in mountaineering.
"You can't keep climbing between corpses and pretending it's okay." Alexander Abramov.
"Why are you going to Everest?" asked George Mallory.
"Because he is!"
Mallory was the first to conquer the summit and died already on the descent. In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds converged and the climbers disappeared.
The mystery of their disappearance, the first Europeans who remained on Sagarmatha, worried many. But it took many years to find out what happened to the climber.
In 1975, one of the conquerors assured that he saw some body off the main path, but did not approach, so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years for in 1999, when traversing the slope from the 6th high-altitude camp (8290 m) to the west, the expedition stumbled upon many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He was lying on his stomach, sprawled, as if hugging a mountain, his head and hands were frozen into the slope.
“Turned over - eyes closed. This means that he did not die suddenly: when they break, for many they remain open. They didn’t lower it - they buried it there. ”
Irving was never found, although the harness on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and perhaps Irving could move around and left his comrade, died somewhere down the slope.
The question immediately arises, how is it: Didn't this remind anyone of Varanasi - the city of the dead?
Well, if you return all the same from horror to beauty, then look at the Lonely Peak of Mont Aiguille
More articles about Everest:
- Climbing Everest (30 photos)
- The first climber who conquered Everest without legs (5 photos + video)
- Hungry Spirits on Everest
- Nepal: the spirits of the climbers who died on Everest haunt the inhabitants
- Spirits of Everest
There are several reasons why those who die on Everest are not always collected.
Reason one: technical complexity
There are several ways to climb any mountain. Everest - the highest mountain in the world, 8848 meters above sea level, is located on the border of two states: Nepal and China. On the Nepalese side, the worst part is at the bottom - if only the starting height of 5300 can be called "down". This is the Khumbu Icefall: a giant "stream" consisting of huge blocks of ice. The path runs through cracks many meters deep along the stairs laid instead of bridges. The width of the stairs is just equal to the boot in the "cat" - a device for walking on ice. If the deceased is from Nepal, it is unthinkable to evacuate him through this segment on his hands. The classic climbing route passes through the spur of Everest - the eight-thousand-meter Lhotse ridge. There are 7 high-altitude camps along the way, many of them are just ledges, on the edge of which tents are molded. There are many dead people here...
In 1997, on Lhotse, Vladimir Bashkirov, a member of the Russian expedition, developed heart problems from overloads. The group consisted of professional climbers, they correctly assessed the situation and went down. But this did not help: Vladimir Bashkirov died. They put him in a sleeping bag and hung him on a rock. On one of the passes, a commemorative plaque was erected in his honor.
If desired, you can carry out the evacuation of the body, but this requires an agreement with the pilots regarding non-stop loading, since there is nowhere for the helicopter to land. Such a case was in the spring of 2014, when an avalanche descended on a group of Sherpas who were laying the track. 16 people died. Those who could be found were taken out by helicopter, putting the bodies in sleeping bags. The wounded were also evacuated.
Reason two: the deceased is in an inaccessible place
The Himalayas are a vertical world. Here, if a person breaks loose, he flies hundreds of meters, often along with big amount snow or rocks. Himalayan avalanches have incredible power and volume. The friction snow begins to melt. A person caught in an avalanche should, if possible, make swimming movements, then he has a chance to stay on the surface. If at least ten centimeters of snow remain above it, it is doomed. The avalanche, stopping, freezes in seconds, forming an incredibly dense ice crust. In the same 1997 on Annapurna, professional climbers Anatoly Boukreev and Simone Moro, together with cameraman Dmitry Sobolev, fell under an avalanche. Moro dragged about a kilometer to the base camp, he was injured, but survived. Boukreev and Sobolev were not found. The tablet dedicated to them is located on another pass ...
Reason three: the death zone
According to the rules of climbers, everything that is above 6000 above sea level is a death zone. The principle “every man for himself” applies here. From here, even the injured or dying, most often no one will undertake to pull out. Every breath, every movement is too hard. A slight overload or imbalance on a narrow ridge - and the savior himself will be in the role of a victim. Although most often to save a person it is enough just to help him descend to the height to which he already has acclimatization. In 2013, a tourist from one of the largest and most reputable Moscow travel companies died on Everest at an altitude of 6000 meters. He moaned and suffered all night, and by morning he was gone.
An opposite example - or rather, an unprecedented situation - occurred in 2007 in China. A couple of climbers: Russian guide Maxim Bogatyrev with an American tourist named Anthony Piva went to the seven-thousander Muztag-Ata. Already near the top, they saw a tent covered with snow, from which someone waved a mountain stick at them. The snow was waist deep, and digging a trench was hellishly difficult. There were three completely exhausted Koreans in the tent. They ran out of gas, and they could neither melt the snow for themselves nor cook food. They even went to the toilet for themselves. Bogatyrev tied them right in the sleeping bag and dragged them down, one by one, to the base camp. Anthony walked in front and traced the road in the snow. Even once to climb from 4000 meters to 7000 is a huge load, but here I had to do three.
Reason four: high cost
Helicopter rental is about 5000 US dollars. Plus - the complexity: landing is likely to be impossible, respectively, someone, and not alone, must rise, find the body, drag it to the place where the helicopter can hover safely, and organize loading. Moreover, no one can guarantee the success of the enterprise: at the last moment, the pilot may discover the risk of hooking the rock with propellers, or there will be problems with removing the body, or suddenly the weather will deteriorate and the whole operation will have to be curtailed. Even with a favorable set of circumstances, the evacuation will come out in the region of 15-18 thousand dollars - not counting other expenses, such as international flights and air transportation of the body with transfers. Since direct flights to Kathmandu are only in Asia.
Reason five: fuss with references
Let's add: international fuss. Much will depend on the level of dishonesty of the insurance company. It is necessary to prove that the person is dead and remained on the mountain. If he bought a tour from a company - take a certificate of death of a tourist from this company, and she will not be interested in giving such evidence against herself. Collect documents at home. Coordinate with the embassy of Nepal or China: depending on which side of Everest is in question. Find a translator: Chinese is still okay, but Nepalese is difficult and rare. If there is any inaccuracy in the translation, you will have to start all over again.
Get airline approval. Certificates from one country must be valid in another. All this through translators and notaries.
Theoretically, you can cremate the body on the spot, but in fact in China everything will get stuck trying to prove that this is not the destruction of evidence, and in Kathmandu the crematorium is in the open air, and the ashes are dumped into the Bagmati River.
Reason six: the state of the body
The high altitude Himalayas have very dry air. The body quickly dries up, mummifies. It is unlikely that it will be delivered in its entirety. And to see what a loved one has turned into, probably, few people want to. This does not require a European mentality.
Reason seven: he would like to stay there
We are talking about people who climbed on foot to the height of long-range aviation, met sunrises on the way to the top, lost friends in this snowy world. It is difficult to imagine their spirit enclosed between the numerous graves of a quiet cemetery or in a cell of a columbarium.
And against the background of all of the above, this is a very weighty argument.
There are several reasons why those who die on Everest are not always collected.
Reason one: technical complexity
There are several ways to climb any mountain. Everest - the highest mountain in the world, 8848 meters above sea level, is located on the border of two states: Nepal and China. From the Nepalese side, the most unpleasant section is located at the bottom - if only the starting height of 5300 can be called "bottom". This is the Khumbu Icefall: a giant "stream" consisting of huge blocks of ice. The path runs through cracks many meters deep along the stairs laid instead of bridges. The width of the stairs is just equal to the boot in the "cat" - a device for walking on ice. If the deceased is from Nepal, it is unthinkable to evacuate him through this segment on his hands. The classic climbing route passes through the spur of Everest - the eight-thousand-meter Lhotse ridge. There are 7 high-altitude camps along the way, many of them are just ledges, on the edge of which tents are molded. There are many dead people here...
In 1997, on Lhotse, Vladimir Bashkirov, a member of the Russian expedition, developed heart problems from overloads. The group consisted of professional climbers, they correctly assessed the situation and went down. But this did not help: Vladimir Bashkirov died. They put him in a sleeping bag and hung him on a rock. On one of the passes, a commemorative plaque was erected in his honor.
If desired, you can carry out the evacuation of the body, but this requires an agreement with the pilots regarding non-stop loading, since there is nowhere for the helicopter to land. Such a case was in the spring of 2014, when an avalanche descended on a group of Sherpas who were laying the track. 16 people died. Those who could be found were taken out by helicopter, putting the bodies in sleeping bags. The wounded were also evacuated.
Reason two: the deceased is in an inaccessible place
The Himalayas are a vertical world. Here, if a person breaks loose, he flies hundreds of meters, often along with a lot of snow or stones. Himalayan avalanches have incredible power and volume. The friction snow begins to melt. A person caught in an avalanche should, if possible, make swimming movements, then he has a chance to stay on the surface. If at least ten centimeters of snow remain above him, he is doomed. The avalanche, stopping, freezes in seconds, forming an incredibly dense ice crust. In the same 1997 on Annapurna, professional climbers Anatoly Boukreev and Simone Moro, together with cameraman Dmitry Sobolev, fell under an avalanche. Moro dragged about a kilometer to the base camp, he was injured, but survived. Boukreev and Sobolev were not found. The tablet dedicated to them is located on another pass ...
Reason three: the death zone
According to the rules of climbers, everything that is above 6000 above sea level is a death zone. The principle “every man for himself” applies here. From here, even the injured or dying, most often no one will undertake to pull out. Every breath, every movement is too hard. A slight overload or imbalance on a narrow ridge - and the savior himself will be in the role of a victim. Although most often to save a person it is enough just to help him descend to the height to which he already has acclimatization. In 2013, a tourist from one of the largest and most reputable Moscow travel companies died on Everest at an altitude of 6000 meters. He moaned and suffered all night, and by morning he was gone.
An opposite example - or rather, an unprecedented situation - occurred in 2007 in China. A couple of climbers: Russian guide Maxim Bogatyrev with an American tourist named Anthony Piva went to the seven-thousander Muztag-Ata. Already near the top, they saw a tent covered with snow, from which someone waved a mountain stick at them. The snow was waist deep, and digging a trench was hellishly difficult. There were three completely exhausted Koreans in the tent. They ran out of gas, and they could neither melt the snow for themselves nor cook food. They even went to the toilet for themselves. Bogatyrev tied them right in the sleeping bag and dragged them down, one by one, to the base camp. Anthony walked in front and traced the road in the snow. Even once to climb from 4000 meters to 7000 is a huge load, but here I had to do three.
Reason four: high cost
Helicopter rental is about 5000 US dollars. Plus - the complexity: landing is likely to be impossible, respectively, someone, and not alone, must rise, find the body, drag it to the place where the helicopter can safely hover, and organize loading. Moreover, no one can guarantee the success of the enterprise: at the last moment, the pilot may discover the risk of hooking the rock with propellers, or there will be problems with removing the body, or suddenly the weather will deteriorate and the whole operation will have to be curtailed. Even with a favorable set of circumstances, the evacuation will come out in the region of 15-18 thousand dollars - not counting other expenses, such as international flights and air transportation of the body with transfers. Since direct flights to Kathmandu are only in Asia.
Reason five: fuss with references
Let's add: international fuss. Much will depend on the level of dishonesty of the insurance company. It is necessary to prove that the person is dead and remained on the mountain. If he bought a tour from a company - take a certificate of death of a tourist from this company, and she will not be interested in giving such evidence against herself. Collect documents at home. Coordinate with the embassy of Nepal or China: depending on which side of Everest is in question. Find a translator: Chinese is still okay, but Nepalese is difficult and rare. If there is any inaccuracy in the translation, you will have to start all over again.
Get airline approval. Certificates from one country must be valid in another. All this through translators and notaries.
Theoretically, you can cremate the body on the spot, but in fact in China everything will get stuck trying to prove that this is not the destruction of evidence, and in Kathmandu the crematorium is in the open air, and the ashes are dumped into the Bagmati River.
Reason six: the state of the body
The high altitude Himalayas have very dry air. The body quickly dries up, mummifies. It is unlikely that it will be delivered in its entirety. And to see what a loved one has turned into, probably, few people want to. This does not require a European mentality.
Reason seven: he would like to stay there
We are talking about people who climbed on foot to the height of long-range aviation, met sunrises on the way to the top, lost friends in this snowy world. It is difficult to imagine their spirit enclosed between the numerous graves of a quiet cemetery or in a cell of a columbarium.
And against the background of all of the above, this is a very weighty argument.
