Double Amputee climbs everest...and passes by dying man w/o helping.

[Kaak]

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/everest-climber-passed-dying-briton/2006/05/23/1148150233168.html

"We came across a chap sheltering under a rock, who was perhaps hours from death. That was probably only two and a half hours into the climb. He had made a mistake the day before. He started too late and couldn't get off the mountain."

[Imran Siddiqui]

Selective quoting is not your friend:

Today Inglis told TVNZ's Close-up program: "We couldn't do anything. He had no oxygen, he had no proper gloves -- things like that."

Told that it had been suggested in New Zealand that Inglis' party should have stopped their ascent and rescued the man, Inglis replied: "Absolutely, that's a very fair comment.

"Trouble is, at 8,500 metres it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive -- let alone keep anyone else alive," he said.

"On that morning, over 40 people went past this young Briton -- I was one of the first."

In radio calls, his party was told that if the man had been there any length of time without oxygen, there was nothing that could be done for the climber.

"He was effectively dead ... so we carried on," said Inglis.

"Of those 40 people that passed this young Briton, no one helped him except for people from our expedition."

The idiot went up without Sherpas and was going to die no matter what. What, do you stop every time you see an accident on the side of the road to help?

[Kaak]

Both of those things are justifications for them leaving him on the side of the mountain. If they were 2.5 hours into the climb, and they had chosen to help him and take him down, they would have had plenty of oxygen to share. As for gloves? I'm not sure how that is relavent to saving a man's life.

[Imran Siddiqui]

"Trouble is, at 8,500 metres it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive -- let alone keep anyone else alive," he said.

Everest is not a walk in the park. You want them to grab him, take him down a significant way, while sharing oxygen in a part of the world that has the thinnest air you'll ever see.

As for gloves, you may have heard of frostbite.

Anyway, you didn't answer me. Do you stop at every accident on the side of the road?

I got no problems with the climbers leaving him. None at all.

[Donegeal]

Um... yes. I try to stop at all accidents I see. Obviously, on duty, I do stop, but off duty, perhaps my First Responder and CPR can come in handy.

What kind of monster doesn't stop?

[Kontiki]

To be clear, they were 2.5 hours into that particular day's climb and not 2.5 hours from base camp.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Kaak
Both of those things are justifications for them leaving him on the side of the mountain. If they were 2.5 hours into the climb, and they had chosen to help him and take him down, they would have had plenty of oxygen to share. As for gloves? I'm not sure how that is relavent to saving a man's life.

You forgot to mention one thing :

On the way up the mountain, about two and a half hours into the final climb from camp four, the Inglis party passed Sharp, who had climbed without Sherpas the previous day, on May 14.

Wich means that they are way above 8 km. At that stage they have their own security to look for and not someone that breaks all rules.

[Kaak]

Imran, that's a bad comparison. Every accident is not a man dying on the side of the rode. And if i see an accident that is not a fender bender, and there are no first responders there, of course I stop. Who doesn't stop?

Black Cat...I didn't forget to mention it, that's why I linked to the article. It's a short article, and I think most people here can read. I'm not claiming to be an expert on everest, but i'm assuming they have medical supplies and equipment at camp four, and other people who might have been able to help this man.

[Jaguar]

At that height, everyone who is up there is dying. The human body just can't handle it. The idea of summiting Everest is to get to the top and then get down to a safer altitude quickly, before you become completely physically incapacitated.

I saw a video where they conducted IQ tests on people at various heights on Everest. By the time one of them reached camp three, he couldn't repeat a seven word sentence that was spoken to him.

[Dauphin]

Whilst at a gut reaction level I would say they should have tried to help the guy, I'm sure that the situation as they experienced it - and we too if we were there - simply procluded any means of helping him. I don't believe they were doing it because they were heartless or malicious.

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Kaak
Imran, that's a bad comparison. Every accident is not a man dying on the side of the rode. And if i see an accident that is not a fender bender, and there are no first responders there, of course I stop. Who doesn't stop?

Black Cat...I didn't forget to mention it, that's why I linked to the article. It's a short article, and I think most people here can read. I'm not claiming to be an expert on everest, but i'm assuming they have medical supplies and equipment at camp four, and other people who might have been able to help this man.

Camp four is at 26,000 feet. Someone dying of altitude problems won't do much better there.

They don't have much equipment up there because everything has to be brought up by climbers, and you can only lug so much stuff up five vertical miles.

[Sandman]

So, Everest climbers are psychopaths. I suppose the fact that the climb is littered with dead bodies tends to numb one's moral judgement.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Kaak
Black Cat...I didn't forget to mention it, that's why I linked to the article. It's a short article, and I think most people here can read. I'm not claiming to be an expert on everest, but i'm assuming they have medical supplies and equipment at camp four, and other people who might have been able to help this man.

Camp four may have some reserves, but they are supposed to get the team down again - not support others. Mt Everest isn't a walk in the nearest park - it's a killer. You carry everything on your back and you don't carry anything that isn't nessecary such as reserves for other climbers in distress.

Another thing - it's not just 2 hours back to camp four - it's also the remaining 8 km down.

That guy did a mistake in one of the places on the earth where mistakes kills you without mercy.

[Jaguar]

For what it's worth, the double amputee guy is a moron, still, but for reasons unrelated to this decision.

Guess how he lost his legs.

[Sandman]

A slightly different account.