Thread: Everest: ethics and mountain climbing

i heard the ladie fell down a cravase or how ever you spell it,

and the family said that she said if she ever died on a mountain she wanted her body to remain there........

i bet she is regreting that remark if she is still in the cravase hoping to be rescued.......

as when it's not easy to find someone it is easy to presume they are dead in that unforgiving environment.

dullbird

You need to read a couple of books:

Touching the void.
Clouds from both sides.

Unless you're a mountaineer, it's VERY difficult for a lay person to understand why we climb mountains & the way we feel about all things related to mounaineering... Including death.

M

I don't mountaineer, but do a lot of bushwalking, I'd climb a mountain because it's there and to prove that I could, but, for 60k I reckon you could hire a lear jet and fly over everest sipping champa's and still be home that night to watch the footy

i have seen the film touching the void it's a great film hence my comment as everyone thought those guys were dead but that guy survived

great little article Mahn and one that articulates sentiments I've expressed in the last few years, not on climbing per se, but as Tina suggests, society and life in general.

Mark, you're obviously a climber. Would it be fair to say that Everest attracts the 'corporate climber', those with huge $ and even larger ego's, who aren't climbing to climb, but climbing to summit and this creates a situation where decisions may be compromised ?
I totally understand the situation with Linc Hall and why the Sherpas were pulled off the mountain, and it is remarkable he survived. The team that found him didn't hesitate to give him oxygen and food, even though conditions were perfect and it totally screwed their ascent. As one of them said afterwards, along the lines of "it wsn't even discussed, we just looked after him...."

Originally Posted by rick130

Mark, you're obviously a climber. Would it be fair to say that Everest attracts the 'corporate climber', those with huge $ and even larger ego's, who aren't climbing to climb, but climbing to summit and this creates a situation where decisions may be compromised ?
I totally understand the situation with Linc Hall and why the Sherpas were pulled off the mountain, and it is remarkable he survived. The team that found him didn't hesitate to give him oxygen and food, even though conditions were perfect and it totally screwed their ascent. As one of them said afterwards, along the lines of "it wsn't even discussed, we just looked after him...."

Guilty as charged.

Everest does attract the "Corporate Climber", as you put it. This did reach a bit of a head in '96 when there were multiple deaths on the mountain. Many felt that it was the 'lady of the mountain' taking her revenge for being taken for granted. Things slowed down for a few years after (partly because some of the 'tour' guides died in '96) but I suspect it's only going to be a matter of time before something similar happens again. In fact, one of these guys died just below the 'Hillary Step' (and very much in the 'Death Zone') but before he died, the support crew at Base Camp managed to patch through his radio so he could say his 'goodbyes' to his pregnant wife back home!

BTW - The 'Death Zone' is anywhere above 8000m. There, the air is soooo thin that even doing nothing isn't an option as your body is quite literally dying.

What most people don't realise is just how dangerous it is even just being at that altitude. HAPE & HACE (the 2x different forms of altitude sickness) has claimed many victims even on the approach path to get to Everest Base Camp (You can actually detect the first signs as low as 3000m....)! This is before you even start climbing!!!!

M

Call me old fashioned but I don't beleive there is ANY excuse for stepping over a dying innocent man, be he fool-hardy or otherwise, and failing to render assistance just so you get to climb a hill. Or a mountain. Or THE mountain.




Heck, just think even how you feel when your wife breaks down in traffic and people don't stop to help.

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Call me old fashioned but I don't beleive there is ANY excuse for stepping over a dying innocent man, be he fool-hardy or otherwise, and failing to render assistance just so you get to climb a hill. Or a mountain. Or THE mountain.




Heck, just think even how you feel when your wife breaks down in traffic and people don't stop to help.

An unfortunate sign of the times

People just have got the wrong priorities, life and it's preservation is No 1