Mountains occupy one third of the Earth's land surface. The Himalayas have 11 peaks over eight kilometers high. The highest point on the planet rises 8848 meters above sea level - a peak called Chomolungma in Tibetan, or Sagarmakhta in Nepali, which means “forehead of heaven”.

And the British named it Everest, in honor of the head of the cartographic service, George Everest, who devoted more than 30 years of his life to filming this area of ​​the former British colony.

Conversation with the mountains

On the way to famous mountain, on passes five kilometers high, prayer flags are tied to branches folded into a pyramid. People spend hours talking with the mountains, looking at the peaks stretching into infinity. Everest opens from the Dzha-Tsuo-La pass. Base tourist camp Qomolangma is located a stone's throw from Rongbuk Monastery. The famous artist Vasily Vereshchagin, traveling in those places, wrote: “Whoever has not been in such a climate, at such an altitude, cannot form an idea of ​​​​the blueness of the sky - it is something amazing, incredible...”.

But high mountains are a cruel element, complex and unpredictable, and climbers have no time to admire the beauty of the skies. Each step on a deadly path requires utmost attention and caution. For climbers, climbing Everest is often the achievement of a lifetime and the potential to become... an unusual mummy.

They were the first

The British expedition of 1921 chose the route to storm the summit. General Charles Bruce first proposed the idea of ​​recruiting porters from the Sherpa tribes living in the surrounding area. In May 1922, the British established an assault camp at an altitude of 7600 meters. George Mallory, Edward Norton, Howard Somervell and Henry Morshead climbed to 8000 meters. And George Ingle Finch, Bruce Jr. and Tezhbir made the first attempt at an assault with oxygen cylinders - “English air,” as the Sherpas mockingly called it. The expedition had to be abandoned because seven Sherpas, the first victims of Everest, were killed in an avalanche.

In 1924, during an expedition, the Norton-Somervell pair first went up, but Somervell soon felt ill and returned. Norton rose to 8570 meters without oxygen. A team of Mallory and Irwin launched an assault on June 6. The next day they were seen in a break in the clouds, like two black dots on a snow field at the top. No one saw them alive again.

In 1933, Win-Harris found Irwin's ice ax near the northern ridge. And on May 1, 1999, Konrad Anker saw a shoe sticking out of the snow. It was Mallory's body. According to experts, they could have conquered Everest on June 8, 1924 and died during the descent, falling off the ridge during a snowstorm. A wallet and documents were found in Mallory's pockets, but there was no photograph of his wife and a British flag - he promised to leave them at the top. It remains a mystery whether the researchers climbed Everest?

After a series of unsuccessful expeditions, on May 26, 1953, Henry Hunt and Da Namgyal Sherpa brought a tent and food to an altitude of 8,500 meters. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who climbed a day later, spent the night in it and at nine o’clock in the morning on May 29 climbed to the top of Everest! But the Western media for a long time claimed that the first conqueror was a white man from New Zealand, Sir Hillary, and the native Sherpa Norgay was not even mentioned. Only many years later was justice restored.

"Death Zone" and moral principles

Altitudes above 7,500 meters are called the “death zone.” Due to the lack of oxygen and cold, a person cannot stay there for a long time. And in acute cases of mountain sickness, climbers develop swelling of the brain and lungs, coma and death occur.

In 1982, 11 Soviet climbers climbed Everest. At the beginning of the 1990s, the era of commercial mountaineering began, and its participants did not always have proper training. Sir Hillary said that “human life was, is and will be higher than the top of the mountain.” But not everyone agrees with this. Many believe that one climber should not risk his climb and his life because of the poor preparation and exaggerated ambitions of another.

Climbers heading to Everest may abandon a dying colleague, and few of them will risk their lives to help him. The Japanese group indifferently walked past the dying Indians. As one of them stated later:

We are too tired to help them. An altitude of 8000 meters is not a place where people will allow themselves moral considerations.

We also passed by the dying Englishman David Sharp. Only one Sherpa porter tried to help him and put him on his feet for an hour. In 1992, while descending from the peak, Ivan Dusharin and Andrei Volkov saw and saved a man lying in the snow, abandoned by his companions to die; as it later turned out, he was the guide of an American commercial expedition. He told them:

I recognized you, you are Russian, only you can save me, help!

In the spring of 2006, with excellent weather, 11 more people remained forever on the slopes of Everest. The unconscious Lincoln Hall was brought down by Sherpas and survived with frostbite on his hands. Anatoly Bukreev saved the lives of three members of his commercial group at an altitude of 8000 meters.

Passing by dying people, climbers are sometimes simply unable to help them. The problem is the physical impossibility of saving them if there is no iron health. At altitudes of 7500-8000 meters, a person is forced to simply fight for his life, and he decides for himself what to do in this case. Sometimes trying to save one can lead to the death of several people. And when a climber dies at an altitude of more than 7,500 meters, evacuating his body is often an even more risky undertaking than climbing.

"Rainbow" way

On one of the most popular climbing routes, here and there, multi-colored clothes of the dead peek out from under the snow. To date, more than 3,000 people have visited Everest and more than 200 bodies remain forever on its slopes. Most of them have not been found, but some are in plain sight. The bodies of dead, frozen or crashed climbers have become an everyday part of the landscape on the classic routes to the summit. Several points along the route are named after them, and they serve as eerie landmarks as you climb the peak. Climatic conditions- dry air, scorching sun and strong winds - lead to bodies becoming mummified and preserved for decades.

All the conquerors of Everest pass by the corpse of the Indian Tsewang Palchor, called Green Shoes. Nine years after her death, Frances Arsentiev's body was only lowered down a little, where it lies, covered with an American flag. In 1979, while descending from the summit, the German woman Hannelore Schmatz died from hypoxia, exhaustion and cold in a sitting position on the southeastern ridge of the mountain at an altitude of 8350 meters. While trying to lower it, Yogendra Bahadur Thapa and Ang Dorje fell and died. Later, a strong wind blew her corpse onto the eastern slope of the mountain.

In the spring of 1996, due to a blizzard, frost and hurricane winds, 15 people died at once. It was only in 2010 that Sherpas found Scott Fisher's body and left it in place, in accordance with the wishes of the deceased's family. Brazilian Victor Negrete wished in advance to remain at the top in case of death, which happened from hypothermia in 2006. Canadian Frank Ziebarth climbed without oxygen and died in 2009. In 2011, Irishman John Delairy died literally a few meters from the top. On the last leg of the thorny path in 2012, on May 19, German Eberhard Schaff and Korean Son Won Bin died, and on May 20, Spaniard Juan Jose Polo and Chinese Ha We-nyi died. On April 26, 2015, after an earthquake and avalanches, 65 climbers died at once!

There's money everywhere

Climbing Everest requires money, and a lot of it. Only a permit for an individual climb costs 25 thousand dollars, 70 thousand for a group of seven people. You have to pay 12 thousand for cleaning garbage from the slopes, 5-7 thousand for the services of a cook, three thousand for the Sherpas for laying a path along the Khumbu Icefall. And another five thousand for the services of a personal Sherpa porter and five thousand for setting up a camp. Plus payment for the ascent to the base camp with the delivery of cargo and equipment, for food and fuel. And also three thousand each - to the officers of the People's Republic of China or Nepal, who monitor compliance with the lifting rules. All amounts shown are in dollars.

A climber can save on some expense items by refusing some services. If one paid twice as much to climb as another, does that mean he should have twice the chance of survival? It turns out that payment matters.

It is estimated that more than 200 people died trying to reach the summit of Everest. The reasons for their death are as varied as the weather at the top. Climbers face a variety of hazards - falling off a cliff, falling into a crevice, asphyxiation due to low oxygen levels at high altitudes, avalanches, rockfalls and weather that can change radically in a matter of minutes. Winds at the summit can reach hurricane force, literally blowing climbers off the mountain. Low level oxygen levels cause climbers to suffocate, while oxygen-deprived brains leave them unable to make rational decisions. Some climbers who stop for a short rest fall into a deep sleep, never to wake up. But ask any climber who has conquered the mountain and reached the 29,000-foot summit, and they will tell you that apart from all these dangers, the most memorable and most disturbing part of the climb was the many perfectly preserved bodies of those who died on the way to the summit. .

Apart from the seven-day trek to Base Camp and the two-week acclimatization period there, the ascent to Everest itself lasts 4 days. Climbers begin their four-day climb to Everest at Base Camp, located at the foot of the mountain. Climbers leave Base Camp (located at 17,700 feet), which demarcates Tibet and Nadas, and ascend to Camp No. 1, located at 20,000 feet. After a night of rest at Camp 1, they then go to Camp 2, also known as Advanced Base Camp (ABC). From Advanced base camp they ascend to Camp 3, where, at 24,500 feet, oxygen levels are so low that they must wear oxygen masks while sleeping. From Camp 3, climbers 3 attempt to reach either the South Col or Camp 4. Having reached Camp No. 4, climbers reach the border of the “death zone” and must decide whether to continue climbing, then stop and rest a little longer, or return back. Those who decide to continue climbing face the most difficult part of the journey. At 26,000 feet, in the “death zone,” necrosis begins and their bodies begin to die. During the climb, climbers are literally in a race against death, they must reach the top and return before their bodies shut down and they die. If they fail, their bodies will become part of the mountain landscape.

Corpses are perfectly preserved in such a low-temperature environment. Considering that a person can die literally in two minutes, many dead are not recognized as such for some time after death. In an environment where every step of the climber is a struggle, rescuing the dead or dying is practically impossible, as is the evacuation of corpses. The bodies become part of the landscape, and many of them become "landmarks", later climbers using them as "markers" during their ascent. There are approximately 200 bodies lying at the summit of Everest.

Some of them:

David Sharp's body still sits near the summit of Everest, in a cave known as Green Shoe Cave. David was climbing in 2006 and near the top he stopped in this cave to rest. Ultimately, he became so cold that he could no longer get out of it.

Sharpe was no stranger to the mountains. At the age of 34, he had already climbed the eight-thousander Cho Oyu, passing the most difficult sections without the use of fixed ropes, which may not be a heroic act, but at least shows his character. Suddenly left without oxygen, Sharpe immediately felt ill and immediately collapsed on the rocks at an altitude of 8500 meters in the middle of the northern ridge. Some of those who preceded him claim that they thought he was resting. Several Sherpas inquired about his condition, asking who he was and who he was traveling with. He replied: “My name is David Sharp, I’m here with Asia Trekking and I just want to sleep.”

A group of about forty climbers left Englishman David Sharpe alone to die in the middle northern slope; Faced with the choice of providing assistance or continuing to climb to the top, they chose the second, since reaching the highest peak in the world for them meant accomplishing a feat.

On the very day that David Sharp died, surrounded by this pretty company and in utter disdain, media around the world sang the praises of Mark Inglis, the New Zealand guide who, without legs amputated after a professional injury, climbed to the top of Everest using hydrocarbon prosthetics. artificial fiber with cats attached to them.

His body still sits in the cave and is used as a guide for other climbers climbing to the top

The body of “Green Shoes” (an Indian climber who died in 1996) is located near the cave, past which all climbers ascending the peak pass. The "Green Shoes" now serve as a marker that climbers use to determine the distance to the summit. In 1996, Green Shoes broke away from his group and found this rock overhang (actually a small, open cave) to use as protection from the elements. He sat there, shivering with cold, until he died. The wind has since blown his body out of the cave.

The bodies of those who died at the Advanced Base Camp are also left to lie where they froze.

George Mallory died in 1924, the first person to attempt to reach the top of the world's tallest mountain. His corpse, still perfectly preserved, was identified in 1999.

Details: Mallory was the first to reach the summit and died on the descent. In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds moved in and the climbers disappeared.
The mystery of their disappearance, the first Europeans remaining on Sagarmatha, worried many. But it took many years to find out what happened to the climber.
In 1975, one of the conquerors claimed that he saw some body off to the side of the main path, but did not approach so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years until in 1999, while traversing the slope from high-altitude camp 6 (8290 m) to the west, the expedition came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Mallory was found among them. He lay on his stomach, spread out, as if hugging a mountain, his head and arms frozen into the slope.

Climbers often place rock debris and compacted snow around their bodies to protect them from the elements. Nobody knows why this body was skeletonized.

The bodies lie on the mountain, frozen in the position in which death found them. Here a man fell off the path and, not having the strength to get up, died where he fell.

The man is supposed to have died sitting, leaning on a snowdrift, which has since disappeared, leaving the body in this strange elevated position.

Some die falling from cliffs, their bodies left in places where they can be seen but cannot be reached. Bodies lying on small ledges often roll down, out of sight of other climbers, only to be later buried under fallen snow.

American Francis Arsenyeva, who was descending with a group (which included her husband), fell and begged passing climbers to save her. While walking down a steep slope, her husband noticed her absence. Knowing that he did not have enough oxygen to reach her and return to base camp, he nevertheless decided to return to find his wife. He fell and died while trying to go down and get to his dying wife. Two other climbers successfully descended to her, but they knew that they could not carry her off the mountain. They consoled her for a while before leaving her to die.

Details: Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights at 8,200 m (!), set out to climb and reached the summit on 05/22/1998 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Frances became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.
During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She is not.
The next day, five Uzbek climbers walked to the top past Frances - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but to do this they would have to give up the climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, and in this case the expedition is already considered successful.
On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Frances. He took the oxygen cylinders and left. But he disappeared. Probably blown by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.
The next day, three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two of South Africa— 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but is still alive! Again everyone passes by - to the top.
“My heart sank when I realized that this man in the red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,” recalls the British climber. “Katie and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging money from sponsors... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it was close. Moving at such a height is the same as running under water...
When we discovered her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and kept muttering: “I’m an American.” Please, do not leave me"…
We dressed her for two hours. “My concentration was lost due to the bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence,” Woodhall continues his story. “I realized: Katie is about to freeze to death herself.” We had to get out of there as quickly as possible. I tried to pick Frances up and carry her, but it was no use. My futile attempts to save her put Katie at risk. There was nothing we could do."
Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to reach the top. We succeeded, but on the way back we were horrified to notice the body of Frances, she was lying exactly as we had left her, perfectly preserved under the influence low temperatures.

"No one deserves such an end. Katie and I promised each other that we would return to Everest again to bury Frances. It took 8 years to prepare a new expedition. I wrapped Frances in American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into the cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." - Ian Woodhall.

Unfortunately, even with modern mountaineering technology, the list of climbers who have died on Everest is growing. In 2012, the following climbers died while attempting to climb Everest: Doa Tenzing (collapsed due to thin air), Karsang Namgyal (collapsed), Ramesh Gulve (collapsed), Namgyal Tshering (fell into a glacier crevasse), Shah -Klorfine Shriya (loss of strength), Eberhard Schaaf (cerebral swelling), Song Won-bin (fall), Ha Wenyi (loss of strength), Juan Jose Polo Carbayo (loss of strength) and Ralph D. Arnold (broken leg led to loss of strength ).

Deaths continued in 2013; The following climbers met their tragic end: Mingma Sherpa (fell into a crevice in the glacier), DaRita Sherpa (loss of strength), Sergey Ponomarev (loss of strength), Lobsang Sherpa (fall), Alexey Bolotov (fall), Namgyal Sherpa (cause of death unknown) , Seo Sung-Ho (cause of death unknown), Mohammed Hossain (cause of death unknown), and one unknown person (died on descent).

In 2014, a group of approximately 50 climbers preparing for the season was caught in an avalanche at an altitude of over 20,000 feet (just above base camp on the Khumbu Ice Cascade). 16 people died (three of them were never found).

Scary footage from the Discovery Channel in the series “Everest - Beyond the Possible.” When the group finds a freezing man, they film him, but are only interested in his name, leaving him to die alone in an ice cave:

The question immediately arises: how is this possible?

based on the materials of the article.

Everest is the highest point on planet Earth. Because of this unique distinction, people have climbed it continuously since Sir Edmund Hillary's first successful ascent in 1953. Everest Peak is located in Nepal and rises 29,035 feet (8,850 meters) above sea level. The mountain itself has common border as with Nepal and Tibet. Due to harsh weather conditions on the slopes, climbers rarely attempt to complete the trek in May-June. Even then, the weather is quite inhospitable. average temperature— minus 17 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 27 degrees Celsius), wind 51 miles (81 km) per hour.
The rest of the year, the cumulative air flow passes directly onto the slopes and winds can blow at hurricane force levels of 118 miles (189 km) per hour and temperatures can drop to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 73 Celsius). Add to this the fact that there is less than one-third the amount of oxygen in the air compared to sea level and you can understand why Everest easily takes the lives of adventurers.
However, this does not diminish the adventurous spirit. It is estimated that more than 2,000 people successfully reached the summit of Everest, while 189 died. If you're one of the 150 or so people attempting to scale Everest this year, be prepared to see dead bodies along the way.

Of the 189 people who died in their attempts, it is estimated that about 120 of them remain there today. It's a terrible reminder for those trying to get to the top just how dangerous it can be. The bodies of dead climbers are scattered across Mount Everest and are too dangerous and difficult to remove. Reaching the top of Everest is a physical challenge unlike any other point on Earth. This makes rescue efforts almost suicidal.
Most of the bodies are in the "Death Zone" above the base camp parking lot at 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) in altitude. No one has ever studied the cause of death, but fatigue certainly plays a major role. Many bodies were frozen in moments of ascent, with a rope around their waist. Others lie in various stages of decay. Because of this, in recent years some experienced Everest climbers have made efforts to bury some of the more accessible organs on the mountain. A climbing team from China will lead an expedition to clear up some of the scattered 120 tonnes of rubbish left behind every year. During these cleanups, the plan is to remove any remains from the mountain that can be safely reached and carried down.
In 2007, Ian, a British climber, returned to Everest to bury the bodies of three climbers he met on his way to the summit. One of the climbers, a woman named Frances Arsentieva, was still alive when Woodall reached her on his first ascent. Her first words were “don’t leave me.” The harsh reality, however, is that Woodall couldn't do anything for her without endangering his own life or the lives of his team members. He was forced to leave her to die alone.
Climbing Mount Everest has become much safer over the past decade, thanks to advances in technology and climbing equipment. Satellite phones allow the climber to remain in contact with base camp to receive constant updates from weather systems in the area. A better understanding of what was happening around them also caused the death toll to plummet. In 1996, there were 15 fatalities and a total of 98 successful summit encounters. Just 10 years later, in 2006 there were only 11 deaths and approximately 400 sightings. top level. The overall mortality rate over the past 56 years is nine percent, but this percentage has now dropped to 4.4 percent.

This article was written not to intimidate beginners to climb mountains, but so that climbers of any qualification know and remember that any climb in the mountains is dangerous, and climbing the most difficult mountains in the world is deadly. Let's consider one example: climbing the highest Peak of the world, and the most desirable for many climbers - (Chomolungma), 8844 m.

Chomolungma(Tib. Everest, or Sagarmatha(from Nepali - the highest peak of the globe, with a height according to various sources from 8844 to 8852 meters, is located in the Himalayas. Located on the border of Nepal and China (Tibetan autonomous region), the peak itself lies in China. Has the shape of a pyramid; the southern slope is steeper. Glaciers flow from the massif in all directions, ending at an altitude of about 5 thousand m. On the southern slope and edges of the pyramid, snow and firn are not retained, as a result of which they are exposed. Partially included in national park Sagarmatha (Nepal).

This mountain does not forgive pride and vanity. She kills those who underestimated or overestimated their strength. The mountain has no sense of pity or justice, it kills according to the principle - surrender - die, fight - survive. According to statistics, about 1,500 people have climbed Everest. From 120 to 200 remained there (according to various sources). Among these 200 people there are those who will always meet new conquerors. According to various sources, there are eight openly lying bodies on the northern route. Among them are two Russians. From the south there are about ten.

WHO FIRST CONQUERED EVEREST?

The message that spread around the world in early May 1999 left none of the climbers indifferent. According to ITAR-TASS, the body of Mallory, the leader of the English expedition of 1924, was found 70 meters from the summit of Everest. In accordance with this information, the Russian press, based on comments from specialists, including mine, clearly concluded that Mallory had reached the summit. And therefore it is necessary to rewrite the history of conquest highest mountain Earth. (Until now, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Norgay Tenzing, who climbed Everest on May 29, 1953, were considered the first climbers). However, as it turned out later, the body was found much lower - at an altitude of 8230 m; It is not clear where ITAR-TASS received other information.

“Yes, in the mountains there lie hundreds of corpses frozen from cold and exhaustion, who fell into the abyss.” Valery Kuzin.
“Why are you going to Everest?” asked George Mallory.
“Because he is!”

I am one of those who believe that Mallory was the first to reach the summit and died on the descent. In 1924, the Mallory-Irving team launched an assault. They were last seen through binoculars in a break in the clouds just 150 meters from the summit. Then the clouds moved in and the climbers disappeared.
The mystery of their disappearance, the first Europeans remaining on Sagarmatha, worried many. But it took many years to find out what happened to the climber.
In 1975, one of the conquerors claimed that he saw some body off to the side of the main path, but did not approach so as not to lose strength. It took another twenty years until in 1999, while traversing the slope from high-altitude camp 6 (8290 m) to the west, the expedition came across many bodies that had died over the past 5-10 years. Found among them. He lay face down, spread out, as if hugging a mountain, his head and arms frozen into the slope.
The climber's tibia and fibula were broken. With such an injury, he was no longer able to continue his journey.
“They turned it over - the eyes were closed. This means that he did not die suddenly: when they break, many of them remain open. They didn’t let me down - they buried me there.”
Irving was never found, although the bandage on Mallory's body suggests that the couple were with each other until the very end. The rope was cut with a knife and, perhaps, Irving could move and, leaving his comrade, died somewhere lower down the slope.

In 1934, the Englishman Wilson made his way to Everest, disguised as a Tibetan monk, and decided to use his prayers to cultivate willpower sufficient to climb to the top. After unsuccessful attempts to reach the North Col, abandoned by the Sherpas accompanying him, Wilson died of cold and exhaustion. His body, as well as the diary he wrote, were found by an expedition in 1935.

A well-known tragedy that shocked many occurred in May 1998. Then a married couple, Sergei Arsentiev and Francis Distefano, died.

Sergey Arsentiev and Francis Distefano-Arsentiev, having spent three nights at 8,200 m (!), set out to climb and reached the summit on 05/22/2008 at 18:15. The ascent was made without the use of oxygen. Thus, Frances became the first American woman and only the second woman in history to climb without oxygen.

During the descent, the couple lost each other. He went down to the camp. She is not.
The next day, five Uzbek climbers walked to the top past Frances - she was still alive. The Uzbeks could help, but to do this they would have to give up the climb. Although one of their comrades has already ascended, and in this case the expedition is already considered successful.
On the descent we met Sergei. They said they saw Frances. He took the oxygen cylinders and left. But he disappeared. Probably blown by a strong wind into a two-kilometer abyss.
The next day there are three other Uzbeks, three Sherpas and two from South Africa - 8 people! They approach her - she has already spent the second cold night, but is still alive! Again everyone passes by - to the top.

“My heart sank when I realized that this man in the red and black suit was alive, but completely alone at an altitude of 8.5 km, just 350 meters from the summit,” recalls the British climber. “Katie and I, without thinking, turned off the route and tried to do everything possible to save the dying woman. Thus ended our expedition, which we had been preparing for years, begging money from sponsors... We did not immediately manage to get to it, although it was close. Moving at such a height is the same as running under water...
Having discovered her, we tried to dress the woman, but her muscles atrophied, she looked like a rag doll and kept muttering: “I am an American. Please, do not leave me"…
We dressed her for two hours. “My concentration was lost due to the bone-piercing rattling sound that broke the ominous silence,” Woodhall continues his story. “I realized: Katie is about to freeze to death herself.” We had to get out of there as quickly as possible. I tried to pick Frances up and carry her, but it was no use. My futile attempts to save her put Katie at risk. There was nothing we could do."

Not a day went by that I didn't think about Frances. A year later, in 1999, Katie and I decided to try again to reach the top. We succeeded, but on the way back we were horrified to notice the body of Frances, she was lying exactly as we had left her, perfectly preserved under the influence of low temperatures. No one deserves such an end. Katie and I promised each other that we would return to Everest again to bury Frances. It took 8 years to prepare the new expedition. I wrapped Frances in an American flag and included a note from my son. We pushed her body into the cliff, away from the eyes of other climbers. Now she rests in peace. Finally, I was able to do something for her." Ian Woodhall.

A year later, the body of Sergei Arsenyev was found: “I apologize for the delay with photographs of Sergei. We definitely saw it - I remember the purple puffer suit. He was in a bowing position, lying just beyond Jochen's "subtle rib" in the Mallory area at approximately 27,150 feet. I think it's him." Jake Norton, member of the 1999 expedition.

But in the same year there was a case when people remained people. On the Ukrainian expedition, the guy spent a cold night almost in the same place as the American woman. His team brought him down to the base camp, and then more than 40 people from other expeditions helped. Got off easy - four fingers were removed.

“In such extreme situations, everyone has the right to decide: to save or not to save a partner... Above 8000 meters you are completely occupied with yourself and it is quite natural that you do not help another, since you have no extra strength” . Miko Imai.
“It is impossible to afford the luxury of morality at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters”
In 1996, a group of climbers from the Japanese University of Fukuoka climbed Everest. Very close to their route were three climbers from India in distress - exhausted, sick people caught in a high-altitude storm. The Japanese passed by. A few hours later, all three died.

“The corpses on the route are a good example and a reminder to be more careful on the mountain. But every year there are more and more climbers, and according to statistics, the number of corpses will increase every year. What is unacceptable in normal life is considered normal at high altitudes.” Alexander Abramov.

“You can’t continue climbing, maneuvering between corpses, and pretend that this is in the order of things.” . Alexander Abramov.

The mountain kills in different ways, sometimes sophisticated, but every year an increasing number of climbers travel to its foot to test their fate and their strength.

Common causes of death at such altitudes:

– cerebral edema (paralysis, coma, death) due to lack of oxygen,
– pulmonary edema (inflammation, bronchitis, rib fractures) due to lack of oxygen and low temperatures,
– heart attacks due to lack of oxygen and high stress,
– snow blindness,
– frostbite, the temperature at such altitudes drops to -75,
– but the most common thing is exhaustion from exertion, because... At such an altitude, the human digestive system almost does not work; the body eats itself, its muscle tissue.

Frostbite:

Tina Sjogren

Climber Beck Withers was twice abandoned on the mountainside, believing he was frozen to death, but he survived, remained disabled and wrote the book Left for Dead (2000).

As early as 1924, Everest climbers noted that after nine weeks spent at intermediate altitudes, a person can rise to 8530 m and sleep two or three nights at an altitude of up to 8230 m. Ascents in free balloons were first shown in the seventies of the last century An unacclimatized aeronaut, having risen to such heights, quickly lost consciousness and died. If people are exposed to reduced pressure in a pressure chamber at sea level, then at a pressure corresponding to an altitude of 7620 m, they lose consciousness after 10 minutes, and at a pressure corresponding to an altitude of 8230 m, after 3 minutes.

Greatest known height, at which there is a permanent population, is 5335 m. In the Andes at this altitude there is a village near a mine called Aconquilcha. They say that the miners prefer to rise from this height to 455 m every day and not live in a special camp built for them by the mine administration at an altitude of 5790 m.

Everest climbers also noted that during the process of acclimatization, their physical condition improved up to a height of 7000 m. Above that, rapid and serious exhaustion of the body occurred, manifested in progressive weakness, drowsiness, the inability to restore lost strength and gradual muscle atrophy.

At altitudes of 6500-7000 m there is a slow depletion of the body, but this is smoothed out by the process of acclimatization, so that headaches and other symptoms of mountain sickness disappear, and for some time the climber’s health improves. But over time, appetite disappears, tissues begin to deplete, energy and performance decrease. The table below shows the longest stays of climbers on Everest at various altitudes:

Climbing to a height of more than 8000 m requires such colossal stress that it is unlikely that anyone is able to repeat it during the same expedition. Full recovery after such an ordeal takes many weeks.

Many ordinary people ask the question with horror: “Why aren’t the corpses removed from the mountain and buried?” But how can you explain to a person who has not been there what kind of mountain it is? That from a height of more than 8,000 thousand there are not many chances to descend on your own, and to remove a corpse you need to organize an entire expedition, which will cost a lot of money. But the main problem is that the whereabouts of most of these corpses are unknown.

Rescue work on Everest

Camp after the storm:

Many books have been written on the topic of Everest, many films have been shown. And yet, NS statistics do not decrease every year.

In 2006, there were 11 fatal accidents out of 450 successful ascents (2.4% mortality), and the overall (1922-2006) mortality rate is 6.74%.

Division by year:

1922-1989; 285/106 (37.19%)
1990-1999; 882/59 (6.69%)
2000-2005; 1393/27 (1.94%)
1922-2006; 3010/203 (6.74%)

Despite such chronological data, there were quite a lot of successful expeditions to Everest. Thus, the first successful ascent of a group of two people took place on May 5, 1982. The leader of the expedition, Evgeny Tamm, identified the first assault group consisting of V. Balyberdin and E. Myslovsky. Phenomenally resilient and resistant to oxygen starvation, Balyberdin led a relatively weak participant. Myslovsky’s ascent was difficult: to some extent, the doctors’ conclusions were justified. He dropped his oxygen equipment, suffered severely from the cold, and was suffocating. His partner gave him his oxygen mask and supported him psychologically in a dramatic moment. The assault on the top of the world by this first group was successful.

Somewhat later, nine members of the expedition climbed Everest. And their rise was dramatic. Very serious help had to be provided to the climber V. Onishchenko: at an altitude of 7500 meters he had an attack of acute mountain sickness with a sharp drop in blood pressure. He needed resuscitation. Myslovsky with frostbite on his fingers and toes, and V. Khreshchaty, who made a night climb to the summit with frostbitten feet, had to be urgently taken out of the base camp by helicopter. Climber Moskaltsev fell into a crack and received a traumatic brain injury. Everest was reluctantly conquered by athletes. Nevertheless, this mass ascent took place.

The 1982 expedition was an outstanding achievement in world mountaineering. The participants were awarded government awards. Balyberdin and Myslovsky received the Order of Lenin. But, unfortunately, later the record-breaking conquest of Everest was completely forgotten.

Summit 8844 m

And despite everything, Everest remains one of the most beautiful eight-thousanders in the world. But we must always remember that we cannot conquer the mountain, it can either let us in or not. And we can conquer our weakness and cowardice. And I immediately remembered the words from V. Vysotsky’s song...

If a friend suddenly turns out to be
And neither friend nor enemy, but so...
If you don't understand right away,
Whether he is good or bad,
Pull the guy to the mountains - take a risk,
Don't leave him alone
Let him be in conjunction with you -
There you will understand who he is.

If a guy is in the mountains - no,
If you immediately become limp - and down,
Stepped onto the glacier - and wilted,
I stumbled and screamed
This means there is a stranger next to you,
Don't scold him, drive him away:
They don’t take people like that up here either
They don't sing about people like that.

If he didn’t whine, didn’t whine,
Even though he was gloomy and angry, he walked
And when you fell off the cliffs,
He moaned, but held on
If I followed you as if into battle,
Standing at the top, drunk,
So, as for yourself,
Rely on him.

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Over the weekend it became known about the death of three climbers on Everest. They died from altitude sickness. It is unknown when the bodies of the victims will be returned to their relatives. Now on the most high point There are more than 200 corpses on the ground. “Futurist” figured out how climbers die and why they are not buried.

When climbers attempt to conquer Everest, they must accept a painful truth: if the mountain takes a life, it will not give up a body. Currently, more than 200 bodies of climbers remain on Everest. The highest peak on Earth, fraught with mystery and challenging daredevils, is now turning into a cemetery. To reach the summit, climbers are forced to step over the bodies of their predecessors.

“The bodies of climbers and Sherpas (representatives of the indigenous Nepalese people who often become guides in the mountains, editor’s note) are hidden in cracks, they are buried under avalanche snow and rest on the drainage area of ​​​​the slopes - their distorted limbs are bleached by the sun,” writes the BBC Future.

The main landmark for climbers is the “Green Shoes Cave”. In 1995, an Indian climber climbed there to shelter from a snowstorm, but the stone vaults of the cave could not save him, and he froze. Since then, his body has shown the way to other summit conquerors.

The sad statistics continue to grow due to an increase in the number of people wishing to climb to the top. This weekend it became known about the death of three more climbers: Subhash Pavel from India, Erik Ary Arnold from Holland and Maria Strydom from Australia.

Peak Everest has been summited so many times that it's easy to forget how dangerous it is. Many climbers die during storms or fall down while climbing to the top. Statistically, most deaths on Everest are due to avalanches. In 2014, an avalanche buried 16 climbers at a 5.8-kilometer altitude - after which climbing was temporarily banned. 2015 was the only year when Everest became truly inaccessible: not a single daredevil was able to conquer it. Only on May 11 this year, an expedition of nine people led by Sherpa conquered highest peak Earth.

For those who have nevertheless approached their cherished goal and boldly claim that the height of Everest is just an altitude above sea level, the danger lies elsewhere. In high-altitude mountaineering there is a term “lethal zone” or “death zone”. This is an altitude of 8000 meters, where a person can stay for no more than 2-3 days. During this time, a person loses resistance to the effects of altitude and develops altitude sickness. Symptoms of this disease were observed in Pavel, Arnold and Strydom who died this weekend. Mountain sickness is calledoxygen starvation (hypoxia), caused by a decrease in oxygen pressure in the inhaled air. Climbers find it difficult to adapt to dry mountain air and gusts of wind that make breathing difficult. Hypoxia is aggravated by physical fatigue, dehydration and ultraviolet radiation. Staying at high altitude for a long time, the climber becomes lethargic, his coordination is gradually impaired, and speech disorders are observed. The mind and body seem to turn off: at this moment a person can make an ill-considered decision, overestimating his physical capabilities. The climber, stricken by altitude sickness, is in a state of euphoria and actively resists the attempts of his comrades to interrupt the ascent and bring the patient down. He may be unable to act quickly in a dangerous situation.

When the bodies of the three dead climbers are lowered from mountain peak, not yet known. Returning a body to the family of the deceased costs tens of thousands of dollars and requires the efforts of six to eight Sherpas, whose lives are at great risk.

“Even picking up a candy wrapper for high mountain very difficult because it is completely frozen and you have to dig around it,” says Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. " Dead body, which usually weighs 80 kg, in such conditions weighs 150 kg. In addition, it has to be dug out along with the surrounding ice.”

In addition, some climbers wish that if they die, their bodies remain on Everest - this is a tradition. However, their followers, who have to step over human remains, find this tradition creepy. Sometimes the bodies of the dead are placed in cracks or covered with stones, forming something like a mound. Since 2008, the Nepal Mountaineering Association has been sending expeditions to the peak to dispose of garbage, human waste and deal with burials.

Conquering Everest is no longer a conquest in the truest sense of the word. There are few corners left on Earth that can be conquered. You can climb Everest to scatter the ashes of a loved one to the wind, draw the name of your beloved girl on the ice, and feel omnipotent.

The main thing is to remember the person whose body now shows the way for others. He hardly wanted such a fate for himself.