NOTE: if youre not much of a gore fan or are skirmish in any way over blood or anything dead for that matter just exit this ~~~
Mount Everest has claimed the lives of over 216 known mountain climbers in recorded history. The area above 26,000 feet is called “the Death Zone”, where breathing fresh oxygen from canisters is necessary for all but the most experienced climbers. The atmospheric pressure is about a third of that at sea level, so there is about one third the amount of oxygen to breathe. The air is so thin, recovery of bodies is impossible. As such, many victims lay where they took their last breath.
“PLEASE don’t leave me,” the dying woman cried. Two climbers heard the screams of Francys Arsentiev, an American woman who had fallen after succumbing to snow blindness and found herself separated from her husband. They were in the “death zone,” low on oxygen, and the woman was on the side of a steep cliff; carrying her was not an option. The trip just to get down to her would be a risk for their own lives. The two climbers, Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd, climbed down to her and did what they could to keep her company, but it was too late. They administered oxygen and tried to tend to Fran, but there was nothing they could do. Ian and Cathy returned down to base camp to ask for help and report their findings.
Eight years later the two climbers would return (above), and in an attempt to give Francys a proper burial, they would place an American flag on her along with a note from her family. At the time of her death, no one knew what had happened to her husband Sergei; all that was found was his pick axe and rope nearby. On the date of her death, other climbers had last seen Sergei far ahead of Francys on the descent after the two had accidentally become separated. Sergei later had backtracked up toward the summit, despite knowing he did not have enough Oxygen to last. His own exposure levels to the climate on Mount Everest were nearing the maximum recommendation, and he was already beginning to suffer from frostbite. Still, Sergei would not leave his wife behind.
It was later discovered that Sergei had made his way back and located Francys, and descended toward the cliff she lay on as she screamed for help. Sadly, he fell to his death trying to reach his dying wife.
Possibly the most famous body on Everest is that of “Green Boots,” an Indian climber named Tsewang Paljor. Paljor was a Constable with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police who took his last breath on the 10th of May during the famous 1996 Mount Everest Disaster. Paljor was part of a three-man group that was attempting to be the first Indian team to ascend Mt. Everest from the Northeastern route. The weather that season was worse than other years and 1996 proved to be one of the deadliest seasons for Mount Everest climbers. When the storm rolled in, visibility went to zero and the temperature dropped considerably. Separated from the climbers in his group and suffering from the cold, Paljor found a small cave and huddled inside for protection from the elements. Little did he know that would be his resting place for the next 15 years. (below)
The morbidity of seeing hundreds of bodies along one’s ascent up Mount Everest is only trumped by the fascination of the levels of preservation of many of the bodies. The temperatures are ideal for long-term preservation, and perhaps some of these corpses will serve as studies for generations thousands of years from now.
Or maybe not?
The Nepalese consider Mount Everest sacred, and do not want it to become a graveyard. Many parents of those who have perished have asked for the bodies to be left as they were when they died, but this is against Nepalese law. As soon as a body can be reached for retrieval, it is and then is brought down for identification and burial. Those too high for retrieval will have stone tombs (called cairns) constructed around the corpses to shield them from the elements and the view of other climbers. A few corpses located on shallow ledges were rolled off to be buried in the snow below, away from the trail.
Some died peacefully in their sleep, while others (who fell and/or became injured) were left to die slowly of hypothermia. Until recently, the statistics were nearly one in four climbers dies attempting to reach the summit. Advancements in technology and experience have led to a better survival rate of climbers. Currently about 1,000 climbers a year attempt to reach the summit, and on average 15-20 perish. Expeditions are the primary source of income for Nepal, and licenses to ascend start at around $25,000. If you have lesser experience and want to ascend with an experienced group, several companies will lead you to the top with a team of sherpas for prices starting around $40,000 per person.
Yeah I would probably not climb that and I have done shark dives, and sky dived many times... nothing about freezing to death as you can not breath sounds fun.
Comments
On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 1:26 PM, SKANKTANK said:
top ones the best
On Sun, Jul 8, 2012 at 1:26 PM, SKANKTANK said:
nice...
On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 7:21 PM, Jesse24 said:
Yeah I would probably not climb that and I have done shark dives, and sky dived many times... nothing about freezing to death as you can not breath sounds fun.
On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 4:17 PM, v. hrndz said:
Yeah,its definately overlooked I guess some are too excited about reaching the top, just this May some went missing and others passed away.
On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 3:56 PM, MandyStroyer said:
damn. my best friend is planning that climb for her birthday next year. i sent her the link.
On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 11:26 AM, Phillip said:
This was pretty fascinating and frightening, at the same time.
On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 12:49 AM, BonnieBlowtorch said:
Yeah, because there's nothing ominous about seeing 200 dead bodies on a climb that would make you not want to do it. No thanks.