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3022 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 12:51 PM
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Every year there are deaths on some of Earth's highest peaks, Himilaya's Mt Everest this time. I've heard as many as 8-12 percent never return from these attempts.
Most of these victim's bodies remain there for a variety of reasons.
I'd like to think that when new adventurers pass by these mummified bodies that the thought may occur to them that this is a 'sign' to pay heed to and should they or shouldn't they proceed and perhaps turn around now according to conditions and stamina?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/22/mount-everest-climber-shah-klorfine.html |
Edited by - cambium on 05/22/2012 12:51 PM
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Vancouver, BC
Canada
877 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 1:08 PM
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| Don't give BC Parks any ideas - they might try festooning trailheads with corpses that neglected to pay the overnight extortion. You know, just as a warning. |
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Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
112 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 3:17 PM
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I believe the death rate for Everest attempts is 10%, not including this season. It is extremely difficult to bring down the bodies above 8000m, as proven by an expedition in 2010 led by Namgyal Sherpa that had identified 5 bodies for recovery but only manged to bring down two. That leaves another 148 or so. I've seen people with target fixation and nothing, not even their own physical pain, will stop them until its too late. LOL, reminds me of Montana drinking-and-driving laws; its legal to drink while driving, but not to drive while drunk! But...at some point you lose the facilty to determine you are too drunk to drive ;-0
Anyone remember the film about Andrew McAuley who attempted to solo-kayak across the Tasman Sea in 2007. His first attempt ended when he scared himself silly and turned around, blubbering like a baby for his wife and child. Next year he went back to try again and never returned. |
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Satirical photoshop junkie who frolics in the mountains of the Chilliwack River Valley
Chilliwack, BC
Canada
6944 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 4:54 PM
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| Reminds me of Highway 93 in Arizona from Wickiup to Wickenburg. Many fatalities along that windy highway and there are little white crosses posted at each place where a fatality occured. Some spots have quite a few crosses. People see them but after awhile don't take heed anymore, if they ever even did in the first place. |
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double-double seeking, snow-chasing, short-cutting, vertical feet collector
4523 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 7:16 PM
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in Chile, they leave the wrecks on the highway. horrible, wrangled messes of wrecks.
(the bodies are, of course, removed and properly buried)
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1078 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 7:41 PM
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Based on accounts I've read, doubt it makes much difference. They already know what to expect when they're up there...it may well be a reminder to some, but the ones who make bad decisions....they probably will still make them anyways, in certain circumstance. I don't thik these completely inexperienced....white-whale quest "tourist" types help matters. They don't have the experience to know their limits or the environmental limits, and their quest for "glory" blinds them. That seems to clearly have been the case for this latest woman...zero experience, and refused to turn around even though everyone was telling her she should.
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Edited by - DCIPHER on 05/22/2012 7:54 PM |
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Utah's canyon trekking,deck chair packing desert explorer who dreams of visiting Canada someday
3988 Posts |
Posted - 05/22/2012 : 8:56 PM
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Down here, we lose people in Zion's Narrows slot canyon and Angel's Landing hike. But, the stats as to how many people do the hike successfully, is very very low. Like BillyGoat said the highways in Arizona/Utah go on for unforgiving straight distances. They don't use signs, lighted billboards, or those road hashmarks that vary in length and sometimes include dots and reflectors intermittently at random to keep the eyes from being "hypnotized" from repetitive night vision.
Hikers are so spent and tired and will NOT pull over and car camp for even a nap. Gotta make it home. I throw down three Monster drinks and hang in there to get home to my nice warm, bed. Now, with age, I am wiser and stop and rest. Plus, with cell phones, I can talk to my family to keep me awake on the ride home.
Some people die from falling off of cliffs because they turn their back to the cliff.
Start talking to friends, and not be aware of their surroundings. All it takes is a minute to forget where you are standing and listen to someone's joke or story and take a casual step or two back and over the edge, you go. One climber was in Zion giving a tour and I think she got distracted by her guests and fell to her death by stepping off.
I solo hike. But, when I hike with someone, I know I am out of my element. I even have trouble staying in my lane, whilst driving. Anyone that has ridden with me knows I am a
crappy driver. But, if I am alone, I am right on....
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1078 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2012 : 03:40 AM
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[quote]Originally posted by Rented Mule
Down here, we lose people in Zion's Narrows slot canyon and Angel's Landing hike. But, the stats as to how many people do the hike successfully, is very very low. Like BillyGoat said the highways in Arizona/Utah go on for unforgiving straight distances. They don't use signs, lighted billboards, or those road hashmarks that vary in length and sometimes include dots and reflectors intermittently at random to keep the eyes from being "hypnotized" from repetitive night vision.
Hikers are so spent and tired and will NOT pull over and car camp for even a nap. Gotta make it home. I throw down three Monster drinks and hang in there to get home to my nice warm, bed. Now, with age, I am wiser and stop and rest. Plus, with cell phones, I can talk to my family to keep me awake on the ride home.
[/quote
Be careful with that. Talking to family, your reactions WILL be slowed, perhaps only for fractions of a second, but at highway speeds, that could be huge!
I also know the value of pulling over for naps, though earlier in life, I risked death many times with night driving half asleep. I also had a few fascinating hallucinations while driving due to pure exhaustion! Terrible. |
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3022 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2012 : 12:10 PM
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updated quote from another canadian..."A Canadian woman who was climbing Mount Everest the same weekend four others died provided a chilling description of her own perilous journey, saying the mountain seemed "like a morgue."
The tweets from Sandra Leduc come as another 200 climbers attempt to scale the 8,850-metre peak between Friday and Sunday, and Nepalese officials say there is little they can do to control the rush.
Leduc began to summit the southern route up Everest by leaving the last camp on the evening of May 19, the same day fellow Canadian climber Shriya Shah-Klorfine of Toronto and three others died during their descent, apparently from exhaustion and altitude sickness.
Leduc said she could see lightning and estimated winds were gusting to 100 km/h.
In the early-morning hours of May 20, and just a few hours from the summit, her Sherpa guide told her they needed to return immediately, adding it was the worst weather he had ever seen.
Sandra Leduc said Mount Everest seemed like "a morgue" after she was forced to turn back during her summit attempt last weekend. (www.sandraleduc.com)
Leduc said there were "lots of dead or dying bodies" in a Twitter post. "Thought I was in a morgue."
Her regulator froze on the descent so she travelled for three hours to the camp immediately below the summit without any oxygen, saying that she could barely stand during the last 30 minutes.
Leduc, who works as a lawyer for the government of Canada, said she would to try to reach the summit again, probably on Saturday. Based on her energy level, however, she said it was likely she would turn back.
"But at least I'm going to try," she posted on Twitter. |
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Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
112 Posts |
Posted - 05/23/2012 : 5:38 PM
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Even the term "successful summit" needs a re-think, especially for the 8000m peaks. Its not successful if you don't come back, yet names of people that have died on descent are included on summit lists. While it may give some comfort to kin, the example set for others is that glory is found on top and what occurs afterwards isn't considered thoughtfully enough. According to the Globe and Mail, Shriya Shah's favorite saying was "nothing is impossible, even the word really means I'm Possible". F*ck!
A friend did successfully summit Everest on May 19th and I'm looking forward to his blog on the situation. |
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2421 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 06:24 AM
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Starting the climb.(Seriously?) |
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over the hills and far away
Canada
725 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 08:58 AM
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| Holy they look like prospectors seeking gold. Where'd you find that pic? |
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chilliwack, bc
Canada
134 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 12:43 PM
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| Actually, I think they are heading back to camp for flapjacks! |
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Kootenay Bud
2695 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 7:34 PM
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| That pic has been bumping around on FB for a coupla weeks. Can't remember the source, some UK climber dude I think. |
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Edmonton, Alberta
Canada
112 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 8:06 PM
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| The photo of climbers queueing on the Lhotse Face is from the German climber Ralf Dujmovits, taken May 18th this season. |
Edited by - Trail Talk on 06/01/2012 8:08 PM |
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Happy go lucky, plaid wearin, postholin, safeway gaitor sportin, old-school film shootin, giver of many regards
Abbotsford, B.C.
Canada
13598 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2012 : 8:17 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Trail Talk
The photo of climbers queueing on the Lhotse Face is from the German climber Ralf Dujmovits, taken May 18th this season.
They look like a black thin string smear on this slope.
K |
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Trail blazin', backcountry bushwackin', pine huntin', photo takin', long winded story teller
3841 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2012 : 11:02 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by peter1955
Starting the climb.(Seriously?)
Tilted! |
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canine loving, machete-toting bushwhacking lake seeker, Indiana Jones hat-wearing off-road 4x4 guru
Surrey Hole, BC
Canada
6871 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2012 : 9:13 PM
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I'd never pay$ or give up weeks-months of my live to be in that situation  |
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Bodies on the Trail, positive or negative thing?
