Death on Everest

[Lou Girardin]

So what do you all think?
At least 40 people including Inglis, passed David Smart as he lay dying about 300 metres from the summit.
There has been much toing and froing on whether anyone could have helped him. But I'm on Hillaries side, whether you can save him or not, simple human compassion says you do not leave someone to die alone. You stay and see them through.
He made a significant comment that it works out to around $75,000 per person to make an attempt on the summit. It seems that that is too much money to forgo and help someone.

[Big Dave]

So what do you all think?
At least 40 people including Inglis, passed David Smart as he lay dying about 300 metres from the summit.
There has been much toing and froing on whether anyone could have helped him. But I'm on Hillaries side, whether you can save him or not, simple human compassion says you do not leave someone to die alone. You stay and see them through.
He made a significant comment that it works out to around $75,000 per person to make an attempt on the summit. It seems that that is too much money to forgo and help someone.

I'm with Ed. you don't walk past.
I think they have to be a bit fucked in the head to want to go up there anyway. 40 of them walking past a man and leaving him to die just confirms it.

[crashe]

Inglis gave his reason on tv the other night as to why he didnt stay to help. But then he went on to say that all the others up there walked past the dying man. Now as he said he was the first of 40 to go past him. How did he know the other 40 didnt stop to offer help.

Inglis did say that he offered oxygen to the dying man.


But surely with the help of the sherpa's that they have with them, they could have brought him down...
The Sherpa's are constantly going up and down that mountain so they are used to the climate etc..
The Sherpa's are employed to carry all their heavy packs etc.


Ok he probably would have died but still get him down and get his body returned to his family.


RIP David Sharp and all the others in the past that never made it back home.

[madboy]

I haven't read all the stories on this one, so I'm providing a very ill-informed opinion here. But as I understand the idea of this mountain climbing lark, particularly at those extremes, it's hard enough to get yourself up there and back alive, let alone dragging a seriously ill person back. To try and help someone else puts your own safety at risk, a bit like at an accident scene I liken it to. You take all reasonable precautions to protect yourself first before offering assistance. In saying that, I don't know if I'd be callous enough to walk past a dying person.

[Str8 Jacket]

I dunno. I think it'd be really hard to walk past someone that was gonna die but I havent been in that situation so I really dont know what I would do. It's really chilling to think that 40 people walked past him and left him though! It makes me wonder if it was a case of "the next person along will do something"? It seems very selfish to me?

[Str8 Jacket]

Its also very hard to imagine what emotions every one was feeling too...

[Grumpy]

I think I am like most people and would like to think that I would stop to offer aid, but thats probably an easy thing to say sitting at my computer at sea level. Probably a different mindset at 8000 plus feet.

[Karma]

well... 75k to make the attempt would mean that most of the people up there are businessmen, and business is business...

Saying that... when I crashed on the coro a while back, no less than 3 cars drove past me while I was lying on the road... some people just don't care.

[SwanTiger]

I think the interview given by Sir. Edmund Hillary would summarise the general opinion of most New Zealanders not living in Suburban or City areas.

My opinion too for that matter.

Every person who failed to show any compassion for another human being deserves public redicule and demise.

That faggot Inglis is just another Show-Pony using a disability to his advantage - I've never liked his attitude or person and he has never really acheived anything worth raising an eyebrow over.

As for those climbing the mountain, $75,000 is a correct estimate, I was quoted $35,000 USD for a guided climb from an American based tourism company. What a waste of fucken money. As Sir. Edmund Hillary said, the whole mountain is too commercialised now and any appeal it once had is quickly fading.

[bladez]

why dont we all start up a oxy bar near the top and charge them to use it but i think that is crap a human should never leave someone if they can help

[Paul in NZ]

But surely with the help of the sherpa's that they have with them, they could have brought him down...
The Sherpa's are constantly going up and down that mountain so they are used to the climate etc..
The Sherpa's are employed to carry all their heavy packs etc.

Not that high up.. Sherpas are only human and no one could carry a man at that altitude.. Sad...

[Two Smoker]

I think I am like most people and would like to think that I would stop to offer aid, but thats probably an easy thing to say sitting at my computer at sea level. Probably a different mindset at 8000 plus feet.

20000+ feet.... and i would have stopped... if i knew i could help to try and save a life, i would...

[oldrider]

I am going to present a different view, not to start an argument but just to present a different view.
I remember when Ed climbed Everest and as a young New Zealander, I was very proud of him.
Later I began to hear some very differing stories about "who" got there first?
I felt "Ed" would only be honorable and all else would be false.
There were negative stories about Ed's behaviour down in the Antarctic too?
Then when Peter Hillary climbed Everest, I was surprised at Ed's negative response when he was first asked on TV about Peters accomplishment.
Then when Ed comes out with this BS about Mark Inglis behaviour on the mountain.
I can't help hearing a little voice that says: "Me thinks you protest too much ED!"
My question is, "Does Ed feel threatened by others achievements" on "his" mountain!
Just expressing another point of view, "the older you get the better you was," is Ed being just a bit too precious? Cheers John.

[Big Dave]

I have looked a situation where someone was going to die if i didn't act - fair in the eyes. 16 years on I still feel good and have the confidence that i did the right thing without a moments hesitation.

And OK - i don't know the exact circumstances up there either - but i know i would have tried.

But then I wouldn't have knowingly walked ito the 'dead zone' either - to prove what? - something that hundreds have already done at a really high mortality rate. pahleese.

[James Deuce]

Everyone is blaming the altitude for poor judgement, but may that not also have contributed to an incorrect diagnosis by a bunch of people walking past him?

Mark Inglis was brought down off a mountain in hostile conditions, though much less hostile than Everest, however significant resources, much more than $75000 was expended to help him and his partner. He's no longer the inspiration to me that he once was, whatever the reasons, altitude fuddled or not. "Max" deserves a medal for giving a shit, and that Brice fella shouldn't be on Everest if he can't be bothered turning an expedition around to help a "dying" man. Oxygen deprivation is an insidious thing, and you can look worse than you really are, and as was mentioned in the article oxygen may have given him 80% functionality, certainly enough to help his own descent.