Actually, he has some pretty neat artifical limbs. This news article has a good photo of them - it looks like instead of feet, the limbs end in crampons. Interestingly, the news article said that he lost his legs below the knee in 1982 due to severe frostbite when trapped in a blizzard on New Zealand’s Mount Cook.
Quick quibble. During dinner, we asked Ed about his safety record. He said he erred on the side of caution, but had at least crossed the line and jeopardized his life, during a risky climb. I can’t recall the mountain, but it was probably K2. He said he later was furious with himself for his negligence. This was all before he was married, of course.
He also once told my half-brother that he would not put his life on the line for another climber, if by doing so he might risk his. After the debut of Vertical Limit, he had changed his tune somewhat. 
He was able to “walk” down the mountain. The dead man Sharp couldn’t move. Big difference.
From a link above:
"Inglis said about 40 climbers walked past Sharp on May 15, the day Inglis went on to the summit of Everest.
McGuinness told ExplorersWeb that a Sherpa named Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to Sharp "and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour.
"But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too.
"Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below.
"Dawa, who did not summit because of giving his oxygen to David, told this to me less than 24 hours later when I met him on the fixed ropes. He was close to tears even then.
“At the time I thought the climber may be David Sharp, who had climbed with me twice, but it was only when I was on the way to the summit I had this confirmed when we passed him. A very sad moment. He was dead by then (May 18).”
I might buy that, except the socialite wasn’t on her first trip - she climbed mountains quite avidly and had summited on other Himalayan peaks. Just because she’s rich doesn’t mean she’s incompentant.
Both the “blind guy” and the “double amputee guy” have been rock and mountain climbing from early ages, both from prior to becoming disabled.
So I’d wager all three were in fantastic physical shape, as well as having considerable experience prior to going up Everest. They aren’t typical folks.
The highest successful Everest rescue was from Camp 2, at 21,000 feet or 6,400 meters. That was the rescue of Weathers and Makalu in '96. Each man had to be lifted individually from Camp 2 to Base Camp before both could be flown out together.
Technically, the 6,400 meters at Camp 2 is above the ceiling for helicopter operations, but with a small pilot, minimal fuel, stripping the interior down as much as possible, and favorable barometric conditions you might get away with it. And obviously, somebody did get away with it - on one particular day. No guarantee you could do the same on any other particular day.
Do keep in mind that the helicopter was not able to hover. The descent with each injured man was described by witnesses as more of a fall - the descent was extremely rapid and those watching could see the performance improve greatly as the altitude of the chopper descreased. The pilot really was operating on the absolute limit of the machine.
Ken Kamler, the doctor at Camp 2, reported he was having fits worrying about the affect of the altitude on the pilot, and wondering what the hell he would do if the thing crashed because, even uninjured, he didn’t think the pilot (unacclimatized to the altitude) would survive more than 3-4 hours.
The point is, no one is “normal” at that altitude.
As I mentioned before, even with 100% oxygen, the air pressure is so low that sufficient oxygen to function properly is not getting into your bloodstream. You are, basically, slowly suffocating once you get past Camp 2. It really does turn people into climbing automatons.
I actually saw the “blind guy” who climbed Everest at a book signing. Someone asked him why a blind man would climb Everest, it’s not like he could take in the scenery. The climber pointed out that sighted people don’t really take in the scenery either - they get up there, rest for a couple minutes, then start back down. They’re so out of it and hypoxic that they don’t really remember being up there - and that’s why everyone takes pictures, so they know what it was like up there.
So… due to the environment, people aren’t normal. They don’t make good decisions. They defer to people on the radio because the people lower down are still thinking coherently. The people on the radio are going to try to encourage a mobile, functioning climber to keep moving.
The accounts of the 1996 season are conflicting because the people up there were oxygen deprieved. They weren’t thinking clearly. It’s entirely possible one or more of the hallucinated part of what they remember. Krakauer wrote his account, Ken Kamler another, Beck Weathers wrote his story as he recalled it, and hte Russian guide wrote his. If you’re interested in finding out what happened over those couple days I suggest you read all four - you still won’t be certain what happened, but you will definitely come away with the sense that the top of Everest is NOT a normal or safe environment.
It wouild have made no difference to his injuries.
Beck Weathers spent a night on Mt. Everest in a howling blizzard with no oxygen. He lost his gloves. His hands were frozen solid before he stood up again and walked down the mountain. Giving him more oxygen or “treating him better” would have done nothing for meat that was already dead.
No, they couldn’t have done it that way.
First of all, in that location there’s not room for two people to travel side-by-side, much less three abreast.
Second, at that point on the mountain it’s all people can do to carry themselves - there is no strength or energy to carry another, even a short distance.
Nope - it’s been pretty consistently 20% per season since Hillary’s day.
One reason the death toll in '96 was so high was the sheer number of people on the mountain. If you only have 20 people go up, and one dies…well, that’s bad. If you 100 peopel go up and 20 die it’s OMIGOD! but it’s really the same percentage. The more who attempt the mountain, the more will die in absolute numbers even if the percentage stays the same.
Because, with modern prosthetics, “double amputee” is no longer synonymous with “helpless”. “One” does not “get a double amputee up and down the mountain”, the amputee gets himself up and down the mountain. Given that his normal-sized lungs no longer have to supply two legs with oxygen, he might even have a slight advantage over the able-bodied as far as oxygenating his remaining body mass is concerned. This will be offset, of course, by the fact artficial limbs still aren’t as good as the originals.
Just clearing up the math there. 20% of 20 is 4, not 1. Still, your point is clear.
My biggest issue with everyone here is that they are presuming that these climbers kept on going because they chose summiting over rescuing a guy. I don’t think it was ego and as more information gets out it’s pretty clear that everyone involved was very reluctant to leave the guy. Not a one of these guys chose glory over compassion, it’s simply a matter of rescue being so far out of the realm of what is practical or safe it would be foolish to try beyond what they did. Everyone there wanted to help, but when it became obvious they couldn’t they continued on. I have no issue with that.
Additionally, you all are completely misinformed on what the capabilities of the climbers are at this point. It takes them hours to go a 100 meters. Taking each step is a monumental undertaking. Carrying what would amount to 200 pounds of dead weight is simply impossible. It’s not that it’s just too dangerous to rescue the guy it’s simply impossible if he’s not able to bear his own weight. Climbers need both hands free at this altitude to climb at all, and adding an extra 15 pounds is the difference between making it back or not. Carrying a 200 pound man with gear isn’t something 2, 3 or even 8 people could manage. Find me an example of a case where an incapacitated man was rescued from over 8000 meters and then you can talk about what they should have done.
Stopping moving = Death
Being short of O2 = Death
Losing your balance = Death
Overexerting yourself = Death
Any of you really think trying to lug 200 additional pounds of dead weight off a icy mountain is simply a matter of not wanting to? Gimme a break.
I really don’t know what to add.
It’s so sad, this link at Mount Everest dot net describes the latest deaths, and concludes:
If climbers have symptoms have symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness but are able to push on anyways, that puts them at much higher risk of developing HAPE or HACE (high altitude pulmonary edema, or high altiutude pulmonary edema).
Should have previewed! That should read:
Whew, I just read all three pages of this…
OK, I think I have to call BS on people being totally non-functioning automotons at that height:
Not to mention that people can use cameras and all sorts of other equipment, including holding radio conversations. The sherpa seems to have been able to have had the mental acuity and energy to spend time, presumably by himself, trying to get the fellow in trouble on his feet. We also know that this team of 40 people had the energy to continue up to the peak and return, the return being touted on this thread as more difficult than the ascent.
Ironically Inglis was likely in the best shape of the team in some ways:
Link to story, which also indicates the best possible weather conditions at the time.
What conceivably is the point of going up the mountain with 40 people/sherpas if those people are of no practical use in saving you? If that’s true than you actually have 40 lone climbers who happen to be near each other and not a team at all, and Sharp wasn’t doing anything additionally risky; I don’t believe those assertions. This isn’t even logical. I’m afraid that I’m going to have to side with Sir Edmund on this one. The man should know.
I’m also inclined to believe people with the energy to climb and descend Everest have the energy to work a foot pump at lower altitudes.
I’m amazed/appalled that it’s possible in 2006 to book these attempts without solid Plan Bs which would involve the best possible rescue availability built in. But I’ve been to Nepal and know how poor it is, and that the powers that be are fine with letting people from richer countries take all sorts of unnecessary risks if it’ll pump some cash into the economy. If people had to pay for the best available rescue back-up on hand I imagine nearly all would cancel.
Incidentally the possibility exists that Norgay/Hillary were the first to the top of Everest and back safely but British climbers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine might have reached the summit first before dying.
I have read the “INTO THIN AIR” account of the everest 1996 disaster. What puzzles me is the fact that everybody (almost) complains of terrible headaches at high altitude-Krakauer describes them like having a nailk driven into your skull between your eyes. I guess I would not want to try this-the thought of having a headsplitting headached for 5+ days doesn’t appeal to me at all.
I am from Spain, lived in the US on several occasions, one of them '94-'98. That one time, I spent my last week in the US traveling to visit friends. On my way between Orlando and Carbondale (I know, I know, who wants to visit Carbondale? Well, I had friends there and the whole area was quite pretty) I had to change buses in Atlanta.
A guy started having convulsions. Who helped him? Two Italians (one of whom had fireman training) and a Spaniard. I didn’t come out with a very positive impression of the locals, but if we’d lost our trips we would have.
Another thing to consider about trying to carry Sharp down the mountain;
You would need at least two men to do this, that means that there would be a group of three (two carriers and Sharp) connected to the tether at one point. If any of those three were to fall, all three go down. That means that a mass of three bodies falling at once would probably cause a chain reaction bringing down any and all of the men on that tether.
Far fetched?
What may I ask are you supposed to do to help someone who cannot walk get off the top of Everest? IANAC but everything I’ve heard about Everest says that climbers near the summit can barely carry themselves much less another 200 lbs of person on their back.
There’s a reason a lot of people who died on those mountains are still there.
I don’t think the criticism is that the other hikers didn’t personally haul Sharp down the mountain on his back. It’s that they left a dying man alone on a mountain so that they could finish their trek to the summit. No matter how you spin it, that’s pretty damn calloused.
Having read the latest article on this, my new question is this. If the sherpa Dawa was willing and able to stop and try to help Sharp, then why didn’t any of the other people passing by stop also? According to the article, he stayed with Sharp for an hour. If the sherpa was able to give aid, I can’t understand why none of the rest of them could or at the very least attempt to do so. Unless there’s some aspect of the situation I’m not getting, Dawa was in the same danger as the rest of them and unless he possessed superhuman strength it makes no sense that he could do it and the rest apparently could not.