Everest is, in the full sense of the word, the 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.

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 ...

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? Here 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 who conquered 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 passed by a frozen, but still alive woman. 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 even seen cats even in a photograph, helicopters land on the top ... The list is endless and not has nothing to do with mountaineering, but a lot to do 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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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 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 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.

Mira keeps not only piles of garbage, but also the remains of its conquerors. For many decades, the corpses of losers have been decorating the highest point on the planet, and no one intends to remove them from there. Most likely, the number of unburied bodies will only increase.

Attention, impressionable pass by!

The media in 2013 got hold of a photo from the very top of Everest. Dean Carrere, a famous climber from Canada, took a selfie against the background of the sky, rocks and a pile of garbage brought earlier by his predecessors.

At the same time, on the slopes of the mountain you can see not only various garbage, but also the unburied bodies of people who have remained there forever. The summit of Everest is known for its extreme conditions, which literally turn it into a mountain of death. Everyone to conquer the Chomolungma must understand that the conquest of this peak may be the last.

Night temperatures here drop to minus 60 degrees! Closer to the top, gale-force winds blow at speeds of up to 50 m/s: at such moments, frost is felt by the human body as minus 100! Plus, the extremely rarefied atmosphere at such a height contains very little oxygen, literally on the border of deadly limits. Under such loads, even the most enduring heart suddenly stops, equipment often fails - for example, the valve of an oxygen cylinder may freeze. The slightest mistake is enough to lose consciousness and, having fallen, no longer get up ...

At the same time, it is almost impossible to expect that someone will come to your rescue. The ascent to the legendary peak is fantastically difficult, and only real fanatics meet here. As one of the participants of the Russian Himalayan expedition, Alexander Abramov, master of sports of the USSR in mountaineering, put it:

“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.”

Among those who have been there, there are terrible stories ...

Local residents - Sherpas, naturally adapted to life in these harsh conditions, are hired as guides and porters for climbers. Their services are simply indispensable - they provide both ropes, equipment delivery, and, of course, rescue. But for them to come to
help need money...


Sherpas at work.

These people risk themselves every day so that even moneybags unprepared for difficulties can get their portion of the impressions that they want to get for their money.


Climbing Everest is a very expensive pleasure, costing between $ 25,000 and $ 60,000. Those who are trying to save money sometimes have to pay extra on this bill with their very lives ... There are no official statistics, but according to those who returned, no one is buried forever on the slopes of Everest less than 150 people, and possibly all 200 ...

Groups of climbers pass the frozen bodies of their predecessors: at least eight unburied corpses lie near the common paths on the northern route, ten more on the southern route, reminding of the serious danger that afflicts a person in these places. Some of the unfortunates rushed to the top in the same way, but fell off and crashed, someone froze to death, someone lost consciousness from a lack of oxygen ... And it is highly not recommended to deviate from the beaten routes - you stumble, and no one will come to your rescue risking his own life. The mountain of death does not forgive mistakes, and people here are as indifferent to misfortune as rocks.


Below is the alleged corpse of the very first climber to summit Everest, George Mallory, who died on the descent.

"Why are you going to Everest?" Mallory was asked. “Because he is!”

In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault on the great mountain. The last time they were seen only 150 meters from the top, they were seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds ... They did not return back, and the fate of the first Europeans who climbed so high remained a mystery for many decades.


One of the climbers in 1975 claimed that he saw someone's frozen body on the side, but did not have the strength to reach him. And only in 1999, one of the expeditions came across on the slope to the west of the main path to the accumulation of the bodies of dead climbers. Mallory was also found there, lying on his stomach, as if hugging a mountain, his head and hands were frozen into the slope.

His partner 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. Probably, Irving could move longer and, leaving a comrade, died somewhere down the slope.


The bodies of the dead climbers remain here forever, no one is going to evacuate them. Helicopters cannot reach such a height, and few people are capable of carrying the solid weight of a dead body ...

The unfortunate are left to lie unburied on the slopes. An icy wind gnaws at the bodies to the bone, leaving a completely eerie sight ...

As the history of recent decades has shown, thrill-seekers obsessed with records will calmly pass by not only past corpses, the real “law of the jungle” operates on the icy slope: those who are still alive are left without help.

So in 1996, a group of climbers from a Japanese university did not interrupt their climb to Everest because of Indian colleagues who were injured in a snow storm. No matter how they begged for help, the Japanese passed by. On the descent, they found those Indians already frozen to death ...


In May 2006, another amazing event occurred: 42 climbers, including the Discovery channel film crew, passed by the freezing Briton one after another ... and no one helped him, everyone was in a hurry to accomplish their own “feat” of conquering Everest!

Briton David Sharp, climbing the mountain on his own, died due to the fact that his oxygen tank failed at an altitude of 8500 meters. Sharpe was not new to the mountains, but abruptly left without oxygen, he felt ill and fell on the rocks in the middle of the northern ridge. Some of those who passed by say that it seemed to them that he was just resting.


But the media around the world glorified the New Zealander Mark Inglis, who climbed that day to the roof of the world on carbon fiber prostheses. He was one of the few who admitted that Sharpe was indeed left to die on the slope:

“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.

David Sharp did not have much money, so he went to the summit without the help of the Sherpas, and he had no one to call for help. Probably, had he been richer, this story would have had a happier ending.


Climbing Everest.

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 neither money nor equipment. If he had had someone left in the base camp who could order and pay for the evacuation, the Briton would have survived. But his funds were only enough to hire a cook and a tent at the base camp.

At the same time, commercial expeditions are regularly organized on Everest, allowing completely unprepared "tourists", very old people, the blind, people with severe injuries and other owners of thick wallets to be noted at the top.


Still alive, David Sharp spent a terrible night at an altitude of 8500 meters in the company of "Mr. yellow boots" ... This is the corpse of an Indian climber in bright boots, lying on a ridge in the middle of the road to the top for many years.


A little later, guide Harry Kikstra was assigned to lead a group that included visually impaired Thomas Weber, a second client, Lincoln Hall, and five Sherpas. They left the third camp at night under good climatic conditions. Swallowing oxygen, two hours later they stumbled upon the corpse of David Sharpe, walked around him with disgust and continued on their way to the top.

Everything went according to plan, Weber climbed on his own using the railing, Lincoln Hall with two Sherpas moved forward. Suddenly, Weber's eyesight fell sharply, and just 50 meters from the summit, the guide decided to end the climb and headed back with his Sherpa and Weber. They slowly descended ... and suddenly Weber collapsed, lost his coordination, and died, falling into the hands of a guide in the middle of the ridge.

Hall, returning from the top, also radioed Kikstra that he was not feeling well, and Sherpas were sent to help him. However, Hall collapsed at a height, and within nine hours he could not be brought to his senses. It began to get dark, and the Sherpas were ordered to take care of their own salvation and descend.


Rescue operation.

Seven hours later, another guide, Dan Mazur, who was following with clients to the top, stumbled upon Hall, who, surprisingly, was alive. After he was given tea, oxygen and medicine, the climber found enough strength to talk on the radio with his group at the base.

Rescue work on Everest.

Since Lincoln Hall is one of the most famous "Himalayans" of Australia, a member of the expedition that opened one of the paths on the north side of Everest in 1984, he was not left without help. All the expeditions that were on the north side agreed among themselves and sent ten Sherpas behind him. He escaped with frostbitten hands - the minimum loss in such a situation. But David Sharp, abandoned on the trail, did not have a big name or a support group.

Transportation.

But the Dutch expedition left to die - just five meters from their tent - a climber from India, leaving him when he whispered something else and waved his hand ...


But often many of those who died are to blame themselves. A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in 1998. Then a married couple died - Russian Sergey Arsentiev and American Francis Distefano.


They summited on May 22, completely without the use of oxygen. Thus, Francis became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to conquer Everest without oxygen. During the descent, the couple lost each other. For the sake of this record, Francis, already on the descent, lay exhausted for two days on the southern slope of Everest. Climbers from different countries passed by a frozen, but still alive woman. Some offered her oxygen, which she refused at first, not wanting to spoil her record, others poured a few sips of hot tea.

Sergei Arsentiev, without waiting for Francis in the camp, went in search. 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 climbed the peak, 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 did not return, most likely, he was 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, a total of 8 people! They approach the lying one - she has already spent the second cold night, but she is still alive! And again, everyone passes by, to the top.


British climber Ian Woodhall recalls:

“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, only 350 meters from the summit. 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 under water ...

We found her, 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 don't leave me… We dressed her for two hours,” 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 of 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. 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."


A year later, the body of Sergei Arsenyev was also found:

“We definitely saw him - I remember the purple puffy suit. He was in a kind of bowing position, lying ... in the Mallory area at about 27150 feet (8254 m). I think it is him,” writes Jake Norton, a member of the 1999 expedition.


But in the same 1999 there was a case when people remained people. A member of the Ukrainian expedition spent a cold night almost in the same place as the American. His own people lowered him to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. As a result, he easily escaped with the loss of four fingers.


Japanese Miko Imai, veteran of Himalayan expeditions:

“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.”

Alexander Abramov, master of sports of the USSR in mountaineering:

"You can't keep climbing between corpses and pretend it's okay!"

The question immediately arises, did 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 ...

Be interesting with

When Prince Siddhartha was born, it was prophesied that he would renounce all his vast inheritance and become a great teacher.
Fearing that the prophecy would come true, his father, the Raja of one of the Indian principalities, surrounded his son with care and comfort.
One of the orders of the raja was to clean the city streets from sick and infirm people, the sight and conversations with which could force Siddhartha to escape from the fate of the heir to the principality.

But nevertheless, the prince was concerned about the problems of commoners.
One day, in the thirtieth year of his life, Siddhartha, accompanied by the charioteer Channa, got out of the palace. There he saw "four spectacles" that changed his whole subsequent life: a poor old man, a sick man, a decaying corpse and a hermit.
Then he realized the harsh reality of life - that illness, torment, aging and death are inevitable and neither wealth nor nobility can protect against them, and that the path of self-knowledge is the only way to comprehend the causes of suffering.

This prompted him, in his thirtieth year, to leave his home, family and possessions and go in search of a way to get rid of suffering.

Today we know this great man by the name of Buddha.

At the heart of his teaching was the concept of impermanence, that we should live our lives as productively as possible and not be afraid of death.

Buddhists usually face death soberly. Many of them are also calm about the corpses. They make a distinction between the body of a person, a temporary refuge and his soul - an immortal essence, which is destined for eternal real life.

Perhaps because we, foreigners, lead a much more mundane lifestyle, it is very uncomfortable for us to be near dead bodies. As a rule, they make either a squeamish or disgusting impression on us. We are unable to distinguish between the earthly body and eternal life.
Many of us are afraid of dead bodies, but strangely enough, if the corpse becomes more and more difficult to identify, then the horror that arose for him is erased.
We are horrified when we see how a pathologist works with recently deceased people, but at the same time we can quite calmly observe the work of an archaeologist who dug up the skeleton of a person from the distant past.

One of the things that shocks and surprises the people I tell about my climb of Everest is that they think that I climb to the top by stepping over a huge number of corpses.
But why weren't these bodies lowered down and buried according to the canons of the Buddhist religion? they ask me.

But before I answer this question, I'm going to debunk the popular media myth that Everest is literally littered with the bodies of dead climbers.
Debunking this myth is very important, because it is on it that the proof that climbing Everest is inherently unethical rests. You won’t believe it, but many people even hold a grudge against climbers who climb Everest, believing that they are completely devoid of conscience, that they will stop at nothing to reach the summit of Everest, and that climbers are ready to go to the top even over the corpses of their comrades.

Returning to the theme of the myth - we can say with confidence that Everest is littered with the bodies of dead climbers exactly as much as Antarctica is littered with the bodies of the dead pioneers of the Shackleton era.

Yes, it is true that more than 200 people have died on Everest, and that the bodies of the vast majority of them are still on the mountain.
But on the other hand, Everest is a huge territory, and most of the bodies of the dead are hidden in the depths of the North Face, the Kangshung Wall and the Khumbu Glacier. These "burials" are as inaccessible as if the bodies were buried several hundred meters underground. And even more so, not a single climber will stumble or step over them when climbing to the top.

Perhaps the best example of this is on the North East Ridge of Everest in 1924.
Some people believe that if climbers can find Irwin's body, then he will also have a camera with him, which can reveal the century-old secret of Everest: whether Irwin and Mallory were on its summit in 1924.

However, for almost 100 years now, climbers have been looking for Irwin's body on the North Slope... For this, both a visual method and aerial photographs and satellite images are used. But all searches are in vain, and apparently Irwin's body will never be found.

There are many more corpses in our city cemetery, and they lie much denser .... Of course, not everyone is hidden from view, but at the same time, each tombstone marks these bodies, but there are also places where there are no tombstones .... which means, that when I walk with my relatives, I involuntarily step over or even step on the graves of other people who have long since rested.

So let's stop responding to tabloid headlines. Everest is not littered with corpses!
Over the past 100 years, less than 300 people have died in this mountain range. There are hundreds of other places on Earth that have had far greater casualties.
But what is it that shocks people so much when we talk about corpses on Everest? Perhaps the fact that these bodies remain on the side of the mountain and are not taken out to the valleys, where they could be buried in the ground.
So why is this happening?

The simple answer to this question is the fact that in most cases it is simply impossible to carry out such an operation.
Helicopters cannot operate at high altitude due to the rarefied atmosphere, and from the side of Tibet, their flights to the highlands are generally prohibited by the Chinese government!

Even if a person died in the arms of his comrades, the descent of the body from a great height will take all the climbers and Sherpas of the expedition, and in the pre-summit zone, even the coordinated work of the entire team may not help in the descent.
Most climbers, stepping above the "death zone" are aware of this fine line between life and death. And they consider their first priority to be their safety and not to reach the top at all costs.
In addition, a special operation to remove the body of the deceased from the mountain to the valley will cost more than tens of thousands of dollars to the family of the deceased, and it will also endanger the lives of other climbers participating in this operation.
Climber insurance usually covers search and rescue work, but these insurances do not work if a body removal operation is carried out.

The bodies of those climbers who died after falling off the route are often unattainable for the rescue team, and in such harsh conditions, these bodies freeze into ice very quickly.

The bodies of those climbers who died from exhaustion, located near the climbing route, are often on the border of the field of view, or after a while, they end up on the slopes of the Southwestern Wall or on Kangshung from Tibet.
A similar thing happened to David Sharp, a British climber who died on the northeast ridge in 2006. His body was removed from the climbing route at the request of his relatives.
A similar thing happened to the Indian climber Tsevan Paljor, who died in 1996, but his body remained in plain sight in a niche on the northeastern part of the ridge for almost 20 years: but now it is not there ... apparently it was removed from the route.

However, every year people die on Everest, and in most cases their bodies remain on the mountain. If you make an attempt to climb to the top and climb it, you will surely notice several bodies of the dead along the way.

I also walked near the bodies of the dead, but I did not dwell on them. I understood that these few bodies were only a small fraction of those dead who had remained here forever over the past decades.
I saw that some bodies lay on the route, they died from exhaustion, and I could understand how they died, I knew how they suffered and understood that I could not afford to leave my family and friends with such grief.


Please pay attention to this photo. It shows a view of a section of the Everest route from the third step. The photo was taken from a height of 8600 meters. With its detailed study, you can see four corpses on the slope of Everest.
The two bodies lying close to the route most likely died from exhaustion. One body is 50 meters below, partially covered in snow, and another hangs from the edge of a rocky area. These bodies were taken away from the trail by climbers, which was essentially the equivalent of a burial.

In general, in this area, at the third stage, there are a large number of bodies of the dead, this is due to the fact that from here, the top of Everest seems to be at arm's length, and this deceptive fact makes climbers move to the top, regardless of their condition, when the right decision was would turn down.

Let me remind you once again that this photo was taken at around 8600 meters and only about 100 people a year pass this section, and those who have the strength to reach such a height already find it hard to find more strength to fight for their own survival.
Only in this photo I found the bodies of two more dead climbers, because in fact, with my own eyes, I saw only two on this step ...
But as paradoxical as it sounds, these two bodies helped me survive my ascent.

I have since removed this photo from my blog to prevent inappropriate comments and conversations.
I left here only a low-resolution version of the photo, so that it would be very difficult to distinguish the bodies of the dead.

Some people who hear about the bodies lying on Everest say that the mountain should be closed for climbing, in memory of those who stayed there forever.
I do not quite understand this approach, but I think that such an opinion arises when people do not know at all what mountaineering is, what mountain climbing is.
Climbers who go to Everest understand and are aware of the risks, they themselves have chosen to take this risk, because climbing and victories enrich their lives.

Of course, not everyone believes that such a risk is worth the reward, but this is the choice of every climber. Climbing and mountains is not a place where it is wise to interfere with the choices of others.
I do not know a single climber who would like the mountain to be closed for climbing in memory of the dead, those who took the risk and their risk was higher than they could overcome.

Perhaps it would be easier if people took climbing Everest as a metaphor for life. And if you want to live life - you must admit that from time to time you will see corpses, because the dead are part of real life.
Perhaps this view will help to more soberly assess the situation with Everest and understand what the corpses on the mountainside mean.
Each death is a tragedy for the relatives and friends of the deceased, but death is an invariable part of our existence. Death accompanies all of us throughout life. And when someone dies, we can learn to be more merciful and become a better person.

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Everest is the highest point on planet Earth. Because of this unique distinction, people have climbed it constantly since Sir Edmund Hillary's first successful ascent in 1953. Everest Peak is located in Nepal and rises 29,035 feet (8850 meters) above sea level. The mountain itself shares a common border with both Nepal and Tibet. Due to the harsh weather conditions on the slopes, climbers rarely try to complete the hike in May-June. Even then, the weather is quite inhospitable. The average temperature is minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 27 degrees Celsius), the wind is 51 miles (81 km) per hour.
During the rest of the year, the cumulative jet of air flow passes directly on the slopes and winds can blow with hurricane force - 118 miles (189 km) per hour, and temperatures can drop to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 73 Celsius). Add to that the fact that there is less than one third of the amount of oxygen in the air compared to sea level and you can see why Everest easily takes the lives of adventurers.
However, this does not diminish the adventurous spirit. It is estimated that more than 2,000 people have successfully reached the summit of Everest, while 189 have died. If you're one of about 150 people trying to storm Mount Everest this year, be prepared to see corpses along the way.

Of the 189 people who died in their attempts, it is estimated that about 120 of them are still there. This is a terrible reminder for those trying to get to the top of how dangerous it can be. The bodies of dead climbers are strewn across Mount Everest and it is too dangerous and difficult to remove them. Reaching the summit of Everest is a physical challenge unlike any other point on Earth. This makes the rescue effort almost suicidal.
Most of the bodies are in the "Death Zone" above the base camp site at 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) in altitude. No one has ever studied the cause of death, but fatigue certainly plays a major role. Many bodies are frozen in moments of ascent, with a rope around the waist. Others are in various stages of decay. Because of this, in recent years some experienced Everest climbers have made efforts to bury some of the more accessible organs on the mountain. A climbing team from China will lead an expedition to clean up some of the scattered 120 tons of rubbish left behind each year. During these cleanups, it is planned to remove any remains that can be safely reached from the mountain and carried down.
In 2007, Ian, a British climber, returned to Everest to bury the bodies of three climbers he met on his way to the summit. One of the climbers, a woman named Francis Arsentieva, was still alive when Woodall reached her on his first ascent. Her first words were "don't leave me". The harsh reality, however, is that Woodall couldn't have done anything for her without endangering his own life or the lives of his team members. He was forced to leave her to die alone.
Climbing Mount Everest has become much safer over the past decade, thanks to advances in technology and climbing equipment. Satellite phones allow the climber to stay in touch with the base camp to receive constant updates from the weather systems in the area. A better understanding of what is happening around also caused a sharp drop in the death toll. In 1996, there were 15 deaths and a total of 98 successful summits. Just 10 years later, in 2006 there were only 11 deaths and about 400 summits. The overall death rate over the past 56 years is nine percent, but that percentage has now dropped to 4.4 percent.