That 1 in 4 stat is wrong. Until 10-15 years ago there was about one death for every four who successfully summited, but even that has come way down as the quality of mountaineering gear has improved. Still, just the ice falls (the first section after base camp) would scare me off attempting it, not even factoring in the oxygen levels once you get up to the last camp and beyond. Especially considering that a successful trek will cross the ice falls probably 6-8 times.
Yeah its pretty shocking that they leave the bodies on the mountain.
Good Everest book to read is 'Into Thin Air'
although everyone probably already knows that
From Wikipedia:
By the end of the 2008 climbing season, there had been 4,102 ascents to the summit by about 2,700 individuals.[5] Climbers are a significant source of tourist revenue for Nepal, whose government also requires all prospective climbers to obtain an expensive permit, costing up to US $ 25,000 per person.[6] By the end of 2009 Everest had claimed 216 lives,[5] including eight who perished during a 1996 storm high on the mountain. Conditions are so difficult in the death zone (al udes higher than 8,000 m/26,246 ft) that most corpses have been left where they fell. Some of them are visible from standard climbing routes.[7]
apparently this one is the deadliest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annapurna
103 summits, 56 deaths
and K2 is second deadliest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2
302 summits, 77 deaths
crazy
Corpsi?
That's wild
Pretty chilling, too.
Only slightly. No one goes up there uninformed, and it would be terribly dangerous for others to go up there just for a recovery mission as opposed to some sort of rescue of a live person.
It's not like they can just fly a helicopter up there and pick them up. Everybody knows the score. Climbing there is a dangerous in the best of conditions. No sense wasting more lives trying to recover dead bodies.
True, but there are all sorts of recovery missions by climbers to retrieve empty oxygen canisters from camp 3.
I think leaving the bodies is just sort of a tradition, adds to the mystique.
I never knew about that. Everest is notorious for the huge amount of litter. Then again, don't most climbers who die have it happen above camp 4? e.g., the death zone, where no known being (other than possibly microbes) can live for more that a few hours? Above camp 4 you're just fighting like not to die yourself.
I think even getting a helicopter up to base camp around 18,000 feet is somewhat dangerous.
Read some article on Everest litter a while back. Can't remember if it's a requirement or some kind of financial incentive, but the Nepalese govt is pushing expeditions to bring down discarded empties to try and clean up the mountain.
I was obsessed with Everest and its tragedies in high school after reading Into Thin Air.
I don't know that I'd call any of those death tragedies. Anyone who attempts to scale an 8500+ meter mountain knows there is a reasonable chance he never comes back from it, and that it's totally unrealistic to depend on anyone other than one's self in those conditions.
So there is a hiker that has been left up there since 1924? Can’t they drag the bodies down in a ski patrol type basket or something?
Who are "they"? People that are fighting for their lives just to get down to high camp? That's basically everyone who gets that high.So there is a hiker that has been left up there since 1924? Can’t they drag the bodies down in a ski patrol type basket or something?
Walking itself is incredibly tiring at that al ude. Now you mix in a descent where your legs are pumping battery acid from the climb up, your knees are dead having to stabilize you on the steep hike down, not to mention the times when you have to rope up and rappel down a section that isn't hikeable. You're barely getting enough air from your oxygen tank to survive. Now you're going to drag a 200 pound hunk of meat too? You're going to move that thing every time it gets stuck on a rock? You're going to have something that big above you that could slide down and wipe you out at any time? You're going to carry that body down every step you cut in the ice on the way up? No chance; you'd die. No person in the world has the energy to do that.
I forgot to mention that you're also basically drunk at the time; the al ude has incredibly negative effects on your awareness and decision-making.
A group of people, just trying to summit through the death zone, BECOME those bodies. Do you really think anyone in their right minds would risk their own death to risk higher levels of exertion at that al ude to bring back bodies of those who knew the risks? The Death Zone is called that for reasons visible in this thread. Dead is dead, and if you don't want your body mummifying on Everest, don't attempt it.So there is a hiker that has been left up there since 1924? Can’t they drag the bodies down in a ski patrol type basket or something?
Yeah, half of those people were probably physically fine, but they were so al ude sick that they take of their masks, and either slowly suffocate or hallucinate and walk off a cliff.
I am wondering why they, “the various countries where these hikers are from” can’t have a helicopter drop off some stuff to wrap up the remains of the hikers & then roll it down the hill….Its not like the guy who has been up there since 1924 will complain about the rough ride down…
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