This is interesting. I cannot see how realistically the summit of Everest can be split between Nepal side climbers and China side climbers. How could this be enforced up there?
The risk of Covid must seem small when climbers have already accepted the other larger risks that go with Everest.
Covid and high altitude is not a good mix.
The first Everest deaths of 2021 are reported. One after reaching the summit, and one after retreating and suffering snow blindness near an upper camp.
One climber made it to the Hillary Step, but had to turn back to the high camp in the South Col. The other climber summitted, and in their way down faltered at the South Col. The expedition is determining if they will mount s climb to retrieve their bodies.
I seriously doubt this will happen, unless they have spare climbers back at Base Camp. Which, I seriously doubt they have. Bringing bodies back from high on Everest is no simple feat. It is extremely difficult.
I read Into Thin Air at least 6x, it’s a favorite book. I remember Rob Hall’s words to Jon Krakauer:
“Any bloke can make it to the summit. But you have to make sure you have enough gas in the tank to haul your arse back down to Base Camp.”
Or words to that effect.
That’s what did Scott Fischer in.
Remember, kids: every corpse on Everest was once a highly motivated person.
And now this year’s China climbs are cancelled over concern the virus would be tranferred from Nepal-side climbers to China-side climbers on the summit.
I’m surprised that transfer between climbers is a concern. Climbers are wearing oxygen masks (except maybe for a quick photo), and there’s plenty of airflow.
There’s plenty of risk in the lead-up to the summit with people sharing tents, so it makes sense to cancel the season. But the planned dividing line at the summit seems more political than scientific.
It sounds like the Covid outbreak on the Nepal side is pretty bad. I am glad to see some are making the tough but proper decision to stand down.
Hadn’t read this thread previously but as it was bumped I did so and found the perspectives offered very interesting.
I don’t have anything personal to add or contentious points to make but as the thread touches upon the motivations and psychology of those participants, for anyone interested in that aspect I’d highly recommend picking up a copy of “The White Spider” by Heinrich Harrer.
It tellls the story of the various attempts on the north face of the Eiger and it is at the same time horrifically grim and incredibly inspiring. It is a classic peice of adventure writing and certainly helped me gain an insight into the mindset of those who seek out such incredibly risky challenges.
I say “insight” rather than “understanding” because after reading it I just had to content myself with accepting the fact that I am not wired that way and appreciating the inescapable drive of those that are.
Nepal asks climbers to bring down oxygen canisters which are normally left if they are empty. O2 is in short supply in Nepal due to Covid
My family in Colorado knew Charlotte Fox. She was on the summit that day and survived. Sadly she died in an accident at home about 5 years ago. Apparently she stumbled at the top of her 4 story staircase and fell down the open stairwell. Friends found her body.
(Not counting last year, when permits were unavailable due to Covid)
Ooh, oh no! I hadn’t heard that she had died back in 2018, and in that way. Finding reports now, she died in Telluride CO.
Charlotte Fox was an accomplished mountaineer.
In the 1996 Everest disaster (“Into Thin Air”) she was among the climbers returning from the summit back to Camp IV (their highest camp on Everest) that got caught in the sudden storm and huddled together on the South Col overnight. That is where Yasuko Namba perished, and where Beck Weathers had been left for dead, because it takes all your strength just to get yourself moving. You have no strength remaining to help the 100 to 200lbs of another climber.
Rest In Peace, Charlotte Conant Fox.
Pemba Tashi Sherpa died today from a fall.
I saw a special about this issue on “Real Sports” this past year. The problem is uncontrolled greed and a complete disregard for the lives of the Sherpa guides who lead the endless parade of climbers up the tired slopes of Mt. Everest. Not only do the Sherpas lead the climbs, they are valets who carry loads of climber equipment back and forth across a very dangerous icefall. The Sherpas say the icefall is the most dangerous part of what they do, and they are grossly overexposed.
Sherpas are certainly the unsung and heavily put upon heroes of the Everest climbing scene, but the jobs they fill are very well paying and highly sought after. A few seasons guiding on Everest can come with a life changing reward.
The Kumbu Icefall is certainly dangerous for everyone going through it. The fewer times you do so, the better. But that’s true for everyone climbing the mountain. Sherpas are hired to carry loads up to the higher camps because the Western climbers aren’t capable of doing so.
Exactly what @Telemark said. And the climbing sirdar positions are highly sought after. And they are well paid. Yes there is risk. The sirdars typically care for the Sherpas on an expedition, and train them.
Buried in the Sky, referenced above by @Biotop, focuses on the Sherpas more than the international climbers. I highly recommend it for a different perspective from Into Thin Air.
Yep. A few successful seasons on Everest and a man can pull his family out of poverty, send his kids to school - all of them, both boys and girls - and retire to a life of ease knowing that no one in his family will have to run those risks again.
And a bad season can leave a family with no breadwinner, or a father crippled for life, plunging all of them deeper into poverty.
The fact that working on Everest can be lucrative for a Sherpa does not erase that Sherpas runs risks and die on Everest, or come back missing bits and pieces, nor does it excuse exploitation and/or abuse of those who undertake such risks.
It’s roughly equivalent to the deal with the devil that minority professional football players make.