[dooflotchie]

There are almost 200 people whose lives have been claimed while trying to summit the highest mountain peak in the world. Although lots of us are aware how dangerous the climb can be, it is a lesser-known fact that most of the climbers and Sherpas who die on Sagarmatha (the Nepalese name for Mt. Everest, which means "Head of the Sky" and sounds much cooler than "Mt. Everest") are left on the mountain unburied.

As many as 2500 people have climbed Sagarmatha since the 1920's and it is common for them to see bodies of dead climbers in full view of the most-used routes up the mountain.









This climber's body has lain on the north face since 1996. He is believed to be an Indian man named Tsewang Paljor, but most people have simply referred to him as "Green Boots".


The body of George Mallory, who climbed Everest in the first 3 British expeditions. He was last seen only a few hundred meters from the summit and his fate was unknown until 1999 when his body was finally found. He has lain on the mountain since 1924.


From Wikipedia:

Francys Arsentiev (1958 - May 24/25 1998) became the first woman from the U.S.A. to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen, on May 24, 1998.

On this occasion she climbed together with her husband, Sergei Arsentiev. Francys had problems during the descent and eventually died about 350 metres below the summit. Her husband, who had gone to find help and was returning to her with oxygen and medicine, disappeared and is presumed dead.

During Francys' last hours she was encountered by two climbers, Ian Woodall and Cathy O'Dowd. They called off their own attempt to reach the summit and tried to help her for more than one hour but because of her condition, the location and the cold weather they at last decided to leave her and to start descending.

Ian Woodall initiated and led an expedition in 2007, "The Tao of Everest", with the purpose of burying the bodies of Francys Arsentiev and another climber nicknamed "Green Boots", who is also visible from the nearby climbing route. Bad weather delayed the attempt, and on May 23, 2007, Woodall was only able to locate, and after a brief ritual, drop Francys off the North Face to join others in their mountain grave, removing her body from view.

[FREAKYSCOTTISHDUDE]

Wonderful pictures and story.

[bl00dlust]

wow thats actually pretty interesting!

[brucefrommexico:)]

yupi

[Ghost1991]

wow, nice post

[dooflotchie]

I go to Wikipedia every day, especially when I'm bored. I usually start doing something I call "link hopping" there and it's led me to all sorts of interesting things. My husband just shakes his head and says, "You read some weird shit."

Finding out about the dead climbers left on Mt. Everest surprised me and seeing pictures of them makes me feel sad. There are plenty of stories out there that tell of people on their way to the summit finding others near death and just leaving them to die while they keep going on. One man, Beck Weathers, survived being left for dead during a 1996 climb which turned out to be the year with the most Everest deaths ever. In 2006 the first double amputee to reach the summit was also heavily criticised for leaving an English climber(David Sharp) to die.

A lot of people say it's just too dangerous to remove the bodies that are visible, but I have to wonder if it's more about the tens of thousands of dollars being spent by the climbers who would not want absolutely anything to ruin their chance at getting to the top of the highest mountain in the world. Just getting a permit to climb from the Nepalese or Chinese government costs between $25,000 and $50,000. Then there's the money for expensive climbing gear, transportation, food, oxygen and hiring Sherpas to mule all that stuff up to the base camps.

I guess all that is worth more than a person's life, huh?

[Maneater]

And they make it seem such an amazing thing on tv. I had no idea.

[nastylulz]

great post

[Nyckname]

At least they died doing what they love. Me, I want to die doing who I love. So's I can come and go at the same time.

[Mutilatedmind]

Nice!