Still a brutal place though considering 11 people died up there this season.

Here's a good article relating to last weeks deaths when some 100 climbers got caught in that bottle neck you can see in Dave's photo. Sounds like humanity flies out the window when climbers ignore dying climbers to "carry on" to the top irrespective that they might be able to save someone's life. The Summit at all cost.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2149827/Mount-Everest-deaths-Teenager-Leanne-Shuttleworth-describes-walking-dead-climbers.html

One of my mates is a mountain guide in the Swiss Alps, He went there a few times. He left a couple of toes to frost bites there!
He told me that most peeps that died did it on the way down mainly because they refused to go by the experienced climbers advice and kept going for the summit when to late. When you enter the death zone you start dieing and it is not an if but a certainty........ Your time is counted......... your lungs start to fill with liquid.
On the way down there is very little you can do to help peeps in deep trouble......... doing so would most certainly kill you. Most peeps that died there did it by stupidity!
It is impossible to recover dead peeps from the dead zone, my mate was telling me there is 100 of bodies left there frozen for all to see as it is too cold for the cadavers to decompose.
Not my idea of a fun destination!

mineral1 said...

felixdcat said...

One of my mates is a mountain guide in the Swiss Alps, He went there a few times. He left a couple of toes to frost bites there!
He told me that most peeps that died did it on the way down mainly because they refused to go by the experienced climbers advice and kept going for the summit when to late. When you enter the death zone you start dieing and it is not an if but a certainty........ Your time is counted......... your lungs start to fill with liquid.
On the way down there is very little you can do to help peeps in deep trouble......... doing so would most certainly kill you. Most peeps that died there did it by stupidity!
It is impossible to recover dead peeps from the dead zone, my mate was telling me there is 100 of bodies left there frozen for all to see as it is too cold for the cadavers to decompose.
Not my idea of a fun destination!

100% correct
I was fortunate enough to sit in on a lecture from one who made the climb and summit. His exact comments as per yours are reason why when we asked, people do not assist, usually results in loss of life to two climbers, his/her and yours.

I saw a doco on this recently about a guy that made the summit but was left for dead by his sherpas. He made it but was reported dead. Some other climbers found him half naked thinking he was at the edge of the ocean

According to my mate the place is covered in rubbish, peeps just litter as it is too hard to take it back, the worst is the oxygen containers at base camp.... 1000 of them.... the new ones are easy to take back as they are kevlar fiber and light, but some have been there for years and are the heavy metal ones!

DunkO said...

should be a tax on all climbers that gets paid to a group of sherpers to do a clean up every so oftern.

The problem is how you get the rubbish back down.

glad bags?

Airlifted with what?
Helicopters have a very low service ceiling and the higher you go the less they can lift.
At the height of mt everest you would need a helium balloon to hold up the helicopter.

pweedas said...

Airlifted with what?
Helicopters have a very low service ceiling and the higher you go the less they can lift.
At the height of mt everest you would need a helium balloon to hold up the helicopter.

I was thinking chopper but I am aware of what you are saying, maybe doing it in small loads. The cost would be massive I would expect.

Maybe get the chopper to drop a sled and load it up. How do you get it back down without killing anybody?

felixdcat said...

Wounded peeps can't even be evacuated by choppers from base camp! They have now a small ER at base camp that has means to mend climbers as good as possible so they can walk back!
I have heard of some sort of program that is paying money for the sherpas to carry some of the rubbish from base camp, it is a very slow process...........

Very slow if thats the case. Poor sherpas must hate going up there all the time, I guess thats their job.

just build a bloody chair lift and get it over with

DunkO said...

the sherpers are flat out amazing in there abilities at high altitude.

I think Sherpa people actually have a genetic adaptation to assist with living at altitude. Many Sherpa Villages are at altitudes of 3,500m to 4,500m (above sea level), and some are even higher. Everest Base Camp is at about 5,500m. Then you have Camp 1, 2, 3 and 4 above that.

For Sherpa People, it's like climbing a 4,000m high mountain! But the "death zone" is still extremely dangerous for them too.

If you haven't been at altitude, this is what it feels like (for most sea level Aussies);
1500-2000m - no significant difference
2750m - most of us will notice a difference when you are walking around. You take a deep breathe, and it only feels like a 3/4 breathe... It just feels different.
3500m - same feeling, but more pronounced. Hollower breathes. You will notice that you feel much more "puffed" when walking up a hill. You will mostly feel the urge to stop walking up a hill, and just suck in some deep ones.
4000m - more pronounced again
4500m-5000m is the logical limit to stop at, for an average Sea Level Aussie, of average or just above average fitness.

Even at 5,000m, mountain sickness, or altitude sickness can easily set in. Western Walkers have died at these altitudes in the Himalayas. Storms can sweep over a mountain ranges very quickly, and the peaks are so tall on all sides, it blocks your view of a brewing storm. If extremely bad conditions set in, and you are alone on a minor peak, or even on descent at 5,000m, and you need to get back to 4,500... it's easy to visually lose your way, and if the light fades, and you are without a torch, etc... Things can turn sour very quickly! (Even at 5,000m)

Mountain Sickness Averages for Aussies at around 5,000m;
Up to 1/4 of us will develop effects at 5,000m and should descend immediately. Generally, the other 3/4's will be OK, but they will feel flat the next day, and be in denial that they have low level mountain sickness / mountain fatigue. If you "pop a magic pill" that night or the next morning, you will fell like your 6 cylinder engine (heart) is either firing on 8 cylinders, or running on a potent high octant mix!

Diamox is the magic pill!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamox

doggie said...
I was thinking chopper but I am aware of what you are saying, maybe doing it in small loads. The cost would be massive I would expect.

Maybe get the chopper to drop a sled and load it up. How do you get it back down without killing anybody?

Unfortunately even an empty chopper won't get that high. I'm not aware of any choppers with oxy regs onboard, and oxy is required above 10,000 feet in daylight. (4,000 feet at night).

If you get the chance, go and do some trekking in the Himal. It's beautiful.

I walked to 5000m up a mountain.
It was the hardest most gruelling walk i have done.
The downhill was good tho - 3 days going down from barren snow capped peak to lush hot jungle.
Didnt get sick but the lack of oxygen going up was hard to deal with.