Everest, how many people died trying to conquer it. Why don't they pick up the dead on Everest? Everest victims instead of navigation

Over the weekend, it became known about the death of three climbers on Everest. They died from altitude sickness. It is not known when the bodies of the dead will be returned to their relatives. Now there are more than 200 corpses on the highest point of the Earth. "Futurist" figured out how climbers die and why they are not buried.

When climbers try to conquer Everest, they must accept a painful truth: if a mountain takes a life, it will not give up a body to loved ones. Currently, more than 200 bodies of climbers remain on Everest. The highest peak of the Earth, fraught with a mystery and challenging the 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, approx. ed.) are hidden in cracks, they are buried under avalanche snow and rest on the catchment area of ​​the slopes - their mangled limbs burned out in the sun,” writes the BBC future.

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

The sad statistics continues to grow due to the increase in the number of people who want to climb to the top. Known this weekend about the death of three more climbers: Subhash Pavel from India, Eric Ary Arnold from Holland and Maria Strydom from Australia.

Everest has been climbed 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. According to statistics, most deaths on Everest are due to avalanches. In 2014, an avalanche buried 16 climbers under itself at a height of 5.8 km - after this, the ascent was temporarily banned. 2015 was the only year when Everest became truly inaccessible: not a single daredevil managed to conquer it. Only on May 11 of this year, an expedition of nine people led by a Sherpa conquered the highest peak of the Earth.

For those who nevertheless approached the cherished goal and boldly assert that the height of Everest is just the height above sea level, the danger lies elsewhere. In high-altitude mountaineering, there is a term "lethal zone" or "death zone". This is an altitude mark of 8000 meters, where a person can stay no more than 2-3 days. During this time, a person loses resistance to the action of altitude and falls ill with altitude sickness. Symptoms of this disease were observed in those who died this weekend, Pavel, Arnold and Strid. Mountain sickness is calledoxygen starvation (hypoxia), caused by a decrease in oxygen pressure in the inhaled air. It is difficult for climbers to adapt to the dry mountain air and gusts of wind that make breathing difficult. Hypoxia is exacerbated by physical fatigue, dehydration and ultraviolet radiation. Staying at high altitude for a long time, the climber becomes lethargic, his coordination is gradually disturbed, 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, struck with altitude sickness, is in a state of euphoria and actively resists the attempts of his comrades to interrupt the ascent and lower the patient down. He may be unable to act quickly in a dangerous situation.

When the bodies of the three dead climbers will be lowered from the mountain peak is still unknown. Returning the 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 pick up a candy wrapper on 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. “A dead body, which usually weighs 80 kg, weighs 150 kg under such conditions. In addition, you have to dig it out along with the surrounding ice.”

In addition, some climbers want their bodies to remain on Everest in the event of their death - such a tradition. However, their followers, who have to step over human remains, find this tradition creepy. Sometimes the bodies of the dead are piled into cracks or covered with stones, forming something like a barrow. Since 2008, the Nepalese Mountaineering Association has been sending expeditions to the peak that dispose of garbage, human waste and deal with burials.

The conquest of 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 in 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 is now showing the way to others. He hardly wanted such a fate for himself.

Everest is the Golgotha ​​of our time. Those who go there know that they have every chance not to go back. "Roulette with rocks": lucky - no luck.

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 the statistics of corpses, there will be more and more every year. What is unacceptable in ordinary life, on high altitudes regarded as the norm, - Alexander Abramov.

Far from everything depends on the person there: a strong chilly wind, a treacherously frozen valve of an oxygen cylinder, an incorrect calculation of the timing of the ascent or a belated descent, a break in the railing rope, a sudden snow avalanche or an icefall collapse, well, or exhaustion of the body.

In winter, the temperature at night drops there to minus 55 - 65°C. Closer to the apical zone, hurricane snowstorms blow at speeds up to 50 m/s. In such conditions, frost “feels like” - minus 100 - 130 ° C. In summer, the thermometer tends to 0°C, but the winds are still strong. In addition, at such a height there is an extremely rarefied atmosphere all year round, which contains the minimum amount of oxygen: on the border of the permissible norm.

No climber wants to end his days there, to remain a nameless reminder of the tragedy that happened.

In the 93 years that have passed since the first mountain expedition to the highest peak of the Earth, about 300 conquerors of Chomolungma died trying to reach its summit. At least 150 or even 200 of them are still there on the mountain - abandoned and forgotten.

Most of the bodies rest in deep crevices, among the stones. They are covered with snow and bound by age-old ice. However, some of the remains lie on the snow-covered slopes of the mountain within line of sight, not far from modern climbing routes, along which extreme tourists from all over the world make their way to the “head of the world”. So, at least eight corpses lie near the paths on the northern route, and a dozen more - on the southern one.

The evacuation of the dead on Everest is an extremely difficult task, due to the fact that helicopters practically do not reach such a height, and weakened people are physically unable to drag a heavy “load 200” to the foot of the mountain. At the same time, the bodies of the dead are well preserved there due to the constant extremely low temperatures and the almost complete absence of predatory animals.

Today, the new conquerors of Everest, as part of numerous commercial groups, overcoming the way up, pass by the corpses of fallen fellow climbers.

Often fallen climbers are still dressed in bright special clothes: windproof gloves on their hands; on the body - thermal underwear, fleece jackets and down sweaters, storm jackets and warm trousers; on the feet - mountain boots or felt shekeltons with "cats" attached to their soles (metal devices for moving on ice and compressed snow - firn), and on the head - polartek hats.

Over time, some of these unburied bodies have become "landmarks" or landmarks along shared trails - landmarks for living climbers.

One of the most famous "markers" on the northern slope of Everest is the "Green Shoes". Apparently, this climber died in 1996. Then the “May Tragedy” almost overnight claimed the lives of eight climbers, and in just a season 15 daredevils disappeared - 1996 remained the deadliest year in the history of climbing Everest until 2014.

The second similar incident occurred in 2014, when an avalanche led to another mass death of climbers, porter Sherpas and a pair of sirdars (the main among the hired Nepalese).

Some researchers believe that the "Green Shoes" is Tsewang Paljor - a member of the expedition, which consisted of Hindus or Dorje Morup - another member of the same group.

In total, in this group, which then fell into the strongest storm, there were about half a dozen climbers. Three of them, halfway to the peak of the mountain, turned back and returned to the base, and the other half, including Morup and Paljor, continued on their way to the intended goal.

After some time, the trinity got in touch: one of them told his colleagues in the camp by radio that the group was already at the top, and that they were starting to descend back, but they were not destined to survive in that “trouble”.

"Green Shoes"

It is noteworthy that in 2006, English climber David Sharp, who also used to wear green mountain shoes, froze to death while on the "roof of the world", in addition, several groups of his colleagues walked past the dying man, when he was still breathing, believing that before they are “green boots” of the 1996 model.

The film crew of the Discovery channel went even further - their cameraman filmed the dying David, and the journalist even tried to interview him. True, the TV people may not have known the true state of his health - a day later, when he was discovered by another group, he was still conscious. The mountain guides asked him if he needed help, to which he replied: “I need to rest! You need to sleep!"

Most likely, among the causes of David's death is the failure of gas equipment and, as a result, hypothermia and oxygen starvation. In general, a typical diagnosis for these places.

David was not a rich man, so he went to the top without resorting to the help of guides or Sherpas. The drama of the situation lies in the fact that if he had more money, he would have been saved.

His death revealed another problem of Everest, this time a moral one - harsh, mercantile, pragmatic, often even cruel customs that exist there among climbers and Sherpa guides.

There is nothing reprehensible in such behavior of climbers - Everest is no longer the same as a couple of decades ago, because in the era of commercialization there is every man for himself, and the Sherpas lower only those who have enough money to save themselves on a stretcher to the foot of the mountain.

How much does it cost to climb Everest?

Most of the expeditions are organized by commercial firms and take place in groups. Clients of such companies pay Sherpa guides and professional climbers for their services, because they teach amateurs the basics of mountaineering, as well as provide them with "equipment" and, as far as possible, ensure their safety throughout the route.

Climbing Chomolungma is not a cheap pleasure, which costs everyone from $25,000 to $65,000. The dawn of the era of commercialization of Everest - the beginning of the 1990s, namely 1992.

Then the now organized hierarchical structure of professional guides began to take shape, ready to make the dream of an amateur climber a reality. As a rule, these are Sherpas - representatives of the indigenous population of some regions of the Himalayas.

Among their duties: escorting clients to the “aclimatization camp”, arranging the infrastructure of the path (installing fixed safety ropes) and constructing intermediate stops, “wiring” the client and securing him throughout the entire journey.

Along with this, this does not guarantee that all of them will be able to reach the top, and meanwhile, some guides, in pursuit of the "big dollar", take clients who, for medical reasons, are a priori unable to make a "march" to the top of the mountain.

Thus, if in the early 1980s. an average of 8 people visited the summit in a year, and in 1990 about 40, then in 2012 235 people climbed the mountain in just a day, which led to many hours of traffic jams and even fights between annoyed mountaineering fans.

How long does the process of climbing Chomolungma take?

Climbing to the top of the highest mountain in the world takes about two to three months, which involves first setting up a camp, and then a rather long process of acclimatization in the base camp, as well as short trips to the South Col with the same goal - adaptation of the body to the unfriendly climate of the Himalayas . On average, during this time, climbers lose 10-15 kg in weight, or they lose their lives - as lucky.

To better understand what it's like to conquer Everest, imagine the following: you put on all the clothes that you have in your closet. You have a clothespin on your nose, so you have to breathe through your mouth. Behind you is a backpack containing an oxygen tank weighing 15 kg, and in front of you is a 4.5 km steep path from the base camp to the summit, most of which you will have to walk on your toes, resist the icy wind and climb up the slope . Represented? Now you can even remotely imagine what awaits everyone who dares to challenge this ancient mountain.

Who was the first to conquer Everest?

British expedition to Chomolungma (1924): Andrew Irvine - far left in the top row, George Mallory - leaned his foot on a comrade.

Long before the first successful ascent to the top of the “roof of the world”, which took place on May 29, 1953, thanks to the efforts of two daredevils - the New Zealander Edmund Hillary and the Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, about 50 expeditions to the Himalayas and Karakorum managed to take place.

The participants of these climbs managed to conquer a number of seven-thousanders located in these areas. They also tried to climb some of the eight-thousanders, but this was not successful.

Were Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay really the first? It may well be that they were not pioneers, because back in 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irwin began their journey to the top.

The last time they came into view of their colleagues, being only three hundred meters from the fatal peak, after which the climbers disappeared behind the clouds that enveloped them. Since then, they have not been seen again.

For a very long time, the mystery of the disappearance of pioneer explorers who disappeared among the stones of Sagarmatha (as the Nepalese call Everest) excited the minds of many curious people. However, it took many decades to find out what happened to Irwin and Mallory.

So, back in 1975, one of the members of the Chinese expedition assured that he saw someone's remains away from the main path, but did not approach that place so as not to "breathe out of breath", but then there were much fewer human remains, than in our time. It follows that it is quite likely that it was Mallory.

Another quarter of a century passed when, in May 1999, a search expedition organized by enthusiasts stumbled upon a cluster of human remains. Basically, they all died in the 10-15 years preceding this event. Among other things, they found the mummified body of Mallory: he was lying face down on the ground, sprawled, as if clinging to the mountain, and his head and hands were frozen to the stones on the slope.

His body was entangled with a white safety rope. It had been cut or slashed, a sure sign of a breakdown and subsequent fall from a height.

His colleague, Irwin, could not be found, although the rope harness on Mallory indicated that the climbers were together to the end.

Apparently, the rope was cut with a knife. Perhaps Mallory's partner lived longer and was able to move - he left a friend, continuing the descent, but also found his end somewhere down the steep slope.

When Mallory's body was turned over, his eyes were closed. This means that he died when he fell asleep, being in a state of hypothermia (many dead climbers who fell into a cliff have their eyes open after death).

Many artifacts were found with him: an altimeter, sunglasses hidden in a pocket on a half-decayed and wind-torn jacket. They also found an oxygen mask and parts of breathing equipment, some papers, letters, and even a photograph of his wife. And also - "Union Jack", which he planned to hoist on top of the mountain.

His body was not lowered down - it's difficult when you don't have additional strength to drag the weight from a height of 8.155 meters. He was buried there, overlaid with cobblestones. As for Andrew Irwin, Mallory's expedition partner, his body has not yet been found.

How much does it cost to evacuate a wounded or dead climber from Everest?

An operation of such complexity, frankly, is not cheap - from $10,000 to $40,000. The final amount depends on the height from which the injured or deceased is evacuated and, as a result, the man-hours spent on this.

On top of that, the bill may also include the cost of renting a helicopter or plane for onward transportation to a hospital or home.

To date, it is known about one successful operation to remove the body of a deceased climber from the slopes of Everest, although attempts to carry out such activities have been made repeatedly.

At the same time, there are not isolated cases of successful rescue of injured climbers who tried to conquer its summit, but got into trouble.

Tsewang Paljor, an Indian citizen, died while climbing the world's highest peak Everest in 1996. Since then, for more than 20 years, his body has been lying on the northern slope of the mountain at an altitude of 8500 meters. The climber's bright green boots became a reference point for other climbing groups. If you met "Mr. Green Shoes", then you are on the right track.

Use a corpse as a signpost? This is cynical. But they have not been able to take him out of there for many years, because any attempt to do this will result in a risk to life. A helicopter or a plane will also not rise to such a height. Therefore, at the top of the world, the corpses of former colleagues lying on the route are an ordinary thing.

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If it is not possible to lower the bodies down, then they should at least be covered, scientifically speaking, encapsulated so that they can rest on the mountaintop as humanly as possible. Initiator dangerous climb Russian climber, extreme traveler Oleg Savchenko, who told MK all the details of the operation, became the death zone.

perevodika

American Francis Arsenyeva fell and begged passing climbers to save her. Descending the steep slope, her husband noticed Francis's absence. Knowing that he did not have enough oxygen to reach her, he nevertheless made the decision to return to find a wife. He broke and died while trying to go down and get to his dying wife. Two other climbers successfully descended to her, but they did not know how to help the girl. She ended up dying two days later. The climbers covered her with an American flag as a sign of remembrance.

perevodika

Our operation is called Everest. 8300. Point of no return. On the northern slope of the peak, from the side of Tibet, we intend to encapsulate 10-15 corpses of climbers who died for various reasons in order to pay tribute to them.

They say that there are about 250 corpses on the mountain in different places, and new conquerors of the summit each time pass by dozens of mummies of the dead: Thomas Weber from the United Arab Emirates, Irish George Delaney, Marco Liteneker from Slovenia, Russians Nikolai Shevchenko and Ivan Plotnikov. Someone is frozen into the ice, there are completely naked corpses - distraught from oxygen starvation in a terrible frost, people sometimes begin to frantically throw off their clothes.

Climbers tell the incredible story of Briton David Sharp, who died on the northern slope of Everest in May 2006 at an altitude of more than 8500 meters. The conqueror of the mountains refused oxygen equipment. 40 (!) extreme travelers passed by the dying man, the journalists of the Discovery channel even interviewed the freezing man. But helping David would mean giving up the climb. No one began to sacrifice their dream and life. It turns out that at such a height it is normal.

You see, it is almost impossible to evacuate bodies from a height of more than 8300 meters. The cost of the descent can reach fantastic sums, and even this does not guarantee a positive result, since on the way death can overtake both the rescued person and the rescuers. Once in South America, where I was climbing the seven-thousander Aconcagua, my partner fell ill with altitude sickness and ... began to take off his clothes at -35 degrees, shouting: "I'm hot!" It cost me a lot of work to stop him, and then drag him down on me, never reaching the top. When we descended, the rescue rangers reprimanded me for what I had done wrong. “Only crazy Russians can do that,” I heard from them. There is a rule in the mountains: if someone has gone the distance, you must leave him, informing the rescuers if possible, and continue on your way, otherwise there may be two instead of one corpse. Indeed, in the best case, we could be left without limbs, like one Japanese who climbed at about the same time with us and decided to spend the night on the slope before reaching the intermediate camp. But I absolutely do not regret that act, especially since two years later I still took that peak. And the guy that I saved still calls me every holiday, congratulates and thanks.

So this time, having heard from the guide of the group, the champion of the USSR in mountaineering, master of sports Alexander Abramov about the terrible "pointers" on Everest, Savchenko decided to do everything humanly - to encapsulate the bodies of the dead. The group, which includes six of the most experienced climbers, including Lyudmila Korobeshko - the only Russian woman who has conquered seven the highest peaks world, will begin climbing the northern, relatively safer slope as early as Tuesday, April 18. The way, according to Savchenko, can take from 40 days to two months.

Despite the fact that each of us is an experienced climber, no one can give a 100% guarantee that it will go well at altitude. No doctor can predict behavior in such super-extreme conditions, when the reaction can be unpredictable. Fatigue, doom, fear are mixed with physical features during a real rise.

To wrap the bodies of the dead, we will use a timeless non-woven fabric made with state-of-the-art technology. It withstands from -80 to +80 degrees, is not destroyed, is not subject to decay. At least, as the manufacturers assured us, the bodies of climbers will lie in such shrouds for up to 100-200 years. And so that the fabric does not get ruffled by the wind, we will fix it with a special climbing mount - ice screws. There will be no nameplates. We are not going to organize a cemetery on Everest, we will just cover the bodies from the wind. Maybe sometime in the future, when technologies for safer descent from the mountains appear, their descendants will take them from there.

• Everest is the most high point on the planet. Height 8848 meters. Being here for a person is like going out into outer space. You can't breathe without an oxygen tank. The temperature is minus 40 degrees and below. After the mark of 8300 meters, the death zone begins. People die from frostbite, lack of oxygen or pulmonary edema.
• The cost of climbing is up to 85 thousand dollars, and the climbing permit alone, issued by the government of Nepal, costs 10 thousand dollars.
• Until the first ascent to the summit, which took place in 1953, about 50 expeditions were carried out. Their participants managed to conquer several seven-thousanders of these mountainous regions, but not a single attempt to storm the peaks of eight-thousanders was successful.

When Prince Siddhartha was born, it was prophesied that he would renounce all his vast inheritance and become a great teacher.
Fearing that the prophecy would come true, his father, the Raja of one of the Indian principalities, surrounded his son with care and comfort.
One of the orders of the raja was to clean the city streets from sick and infirm people, the sight and conversations with which could force Siddhartha to escape from the fate of the heir to the principality.

But nevertheless, the prince was concerned about the problems of commoners.
One day, in the thirtieth year of his life, Siddhartha, accompanied by the charioteer Channa, got out of the palace. There he saw "four spectacles" that changed his whole subsequent life: a poor old man, a sick man, a decaying corpse and a hermit.
Then he realized the harsh reality of life - that illness, torment, aging and death are inevitable and neither wealth nor nobility can protect against them, and that the path of self-knowledge is the only way to comprehend the causes of suffering.

This prompted him, in his thirtieth year, to leave his home, family and possessions and go in search of a way to get rid of suffering.

Today we know this great man by the name of Buddha.

At the heart of his teaching was the concept of impermanence, that we should live our lives as productively as possible and not be afraid of death.

Buddhists usually face death soberly. Many of them are also calm about the corpses. They make a distinction between the body of a person, a temporary refuge and his soul - an immortal essence, which is destined for eternal real life.

Perhaps because we, foreigners, lead a much more mundane lifestyle, it is very uncomfortable for us to be near dead bodies. As a rule, they make either a squeamish or disgusting impression on us. We are unable to distinguish between the earthly body and eternal life.
Many of us are afraid of dead bodies, but strangely enough, if the corpse becomes more and more difficult to identify, then the horror that arose for him is erased.
We are horrified when we see how a pathologist works with recently deceased people, but at the same time we can quite calmly observe the work of an archaeologist who dug up the skeleton of a person from the distant past.

One of the things that shocks and surprises the people I tell about my climb of Everest is that they think that I climb to the top by stepping over a huge number of corpses.
But why weren't these bodies lowered down and buried according to the canons of the Buddhist religion? they ask me.

But before I answer this question, I'm going to debunk the popular media myth that Everest is literally littered with the bodies of dead climbers.
Debunking this myth is very important, because it is on it that the proof that climbing Everest is inherently unethical rests. You won’t believe it, but many people even hold a grudge against climbers who climb Everest, believing that they are completely devoid of conscience, that they will stop at nothing to reach the top of Everest, and that climbers are ready to go to the top even over the corpses of their comrades.

Returning to the theme of the myth - we can say with confidence that Everest is littered with the bodies of dead climbers exactly as much as Antarctica is littered with the bodies of the dead pioneers of the Shackleton era.

Yes, it is true that more than 200 people have died on Everest, and that the bodies of the vast majority of them are still on the mountain.
But on the other hand, Everest is a huge territory, and most of the bodies of the dead are hidden in the depths of the North Face, the Kangshung Wall and the Khumbu Glacier. These "burials" are as inaccessible as if the bodies were buried several hundred meters underground. And even more so, not a single climber will stumble or step over them when climbing to the top.

Perhaps the best example of this is on the North East Ridge of Everest in 1924.
Some people believe that if climbers can find Irwin's body, then he will also have a camera with him, which can reveal the century-old secret of Everest: whether Irwin and Mallory were on its summit in 1924.

However, for almost 100 years now, climbers have been looking for Irwin's body on the North Slope... For this, both a visual method and aerial photographs and satellite images are used. But all searches are in vain, and apparently Irwin's body will never be found.

There are many more corpses in our city cemetery, and they lie much denser .... Of course, not everyone is hidden from view, but at the same time, each tombstone marks these bodies, but there are also places where there are no tombstones .... which means, that when I walk with my relatives, I involuntarily step over or even step on the graves of other people who have long since rested.

So let's stop responding to tabloid headlines. Everest is not littered with corpses!
Over the past 100 years, less than 300 people have died in this mountain range. There are hundreds of other places on Earth that have had far greater casualties.
But what is it that shocks people so much when we talk about corpses on Everest? Perhaps the fact that these bodies remain on the side of the mountain and are not taken out to the valleys, where they could be buried in the ground.
So why is this happening?

The simple answer to this question is the fact that in most cases it is simply impossible to carry out such an operation.
Helicopters cannot operate at high altitude due to the rarefied atmosphere, and from the side of Tibet, their flights to the highlands are generally prohibited by the Chinese government!

Even if a person died in the arms of his comrades, the descent of the body from a great height will take all the climbers and Sherpas of the expedition, and in the pre-summit zone, even the coordinated work of the entire team may not help in the descent.
Most climbers, stepping above the "death zone" are aware of this fine line between life and death. And they consider their first priority to be their safety and not to reach the top at all costs.
In addition, a special operation to remove the body of the deceased from the mountain to the valley will cost more than tens of thousands of dollars to the family of the deceased, and it will also endanger the lives of other climbers participating in this operation.
Climber insurance usually covers search and rescue work, but these insurances do not work if a body removal operation is carried out.

The bodies of those climbers who died after falling off the route are often unattainable for the rescue team, and in such harsh conditions, these bodies freeze into ice very quickly.

The bodies of those climbers who died from exhaustion, located near the climbing route, are often on the border of the field of view, or after a while, they end up on the slopes of the South-Western Wall or on Kangshung from Tibet.
A similar thing happened to David Sharp, a British climber who died on the northeast ridge in 2006. His body was removed from the climbing route at the request of his relatives.
A similar thing happened to the Indian climber Tsevan Paljor, who died in 1996, but his body remained in plain sight in a niche on the northeastern part of the ridge for almost 20 years: but now it is not there ... apparently it was removed from the route.

However, every year people die on Everest, and in most cases their bodies remain on the mountain. If you make an attempt to climb to the top and climb it, you will surely notice several bodies of the dead along the way.

I also walked near the bodies of the dead, but I did not dwell on them. I understood that these few bodies were only a small fraction of those dead who had remained here forever over the past decades.
I saw that some bodies lay on the route, they died from exhaustion, and I could understand how they died, I knew how they suffered and understood that I could not afford to leave my family and friends with such grief.

Please pay attention to this photo. It shows a view of a section of the Everest route from the third step. The photo was taken from a height of 8600 meters. With its detailed study, you can see four corpses on the slope of Everest.
The two bodies lying close to the route most likely died from exhaustion. One body is 50 meters below, partially covered in snow, and another hangs from the edge of a rocky area. These bodies were taken away from the trail by climbers, which was essentially the equivalent of a burial.

In general, in this area, at the third step, there are a large number of bodies of the dead, this is due to the fact that from here, the top of Everest seems to be at arm's length, and this deceptive fact makes climbers move to the top, regardless of their condition, when the right decision was would turn down.

Let me remind you once again that this photo was taken at around 8600 meters and only about 100 people a year pass this section, and those who have the strength to reach such a height already find it hard to find more strength to fight for their own survival.
Only in this photo I found the bodies of two more dead climbers, because in fact, with my own eyes, I saw only two on this step ...
But as paradoxical as it sounds, these two bodies helped me survive my ascent.

I have since removed this photo from my blog to prevent inappropriate comments and conversations.
I left here only a low-resolution version of the photo, so that it would be very difficult to distinguish the bodies of the dead.

Some people who hear about the bodies lying on Everest say that the mountain should be closed for climbing, in memory of those who stayed there forever.
I do not quite understand this approach, but I think that such an opinion arises when people do not know at all what mountaineering is, what mountain climbing is.
Climbers who go to Everest understand and are aware of the risks, they themselves have chosen to take this risk, because climbing and victories enrich their lives.

Of course, not everyone believes that such a risk is worth the reward, but this is the choice of every climber. Climbing and mountains is not a place where it is wise to interfere with the choices of others.
I do not know a single climber who would like the mountain to be closed for climbing in memory of the dead, those who took the risk and their risk was higher than they could overcome.

Perhaps it would be easier if people took climbing Everest as a metaphor for life. And if you want to live life - you must admit that from time to time you will see corpses, because the dead are part of real life.
Perhaps this view will help to more soberly assess the situation with Everest and understand what the corpses on the mountainside mean.
Each death is a tragedy for the relatives and friends of the deceased, but death is an invariable part of our existence. Death accompanies all of us throughout life. And when someone dies, we can learn to be more merciful and become a better person.

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According to climbers, Everest can be called the mountain of death. When trying to climb it, about 200 people died. The bodies of some have never been found, the frozen corpses of others still remain on mountain paths, in rock crevices as a reminder that luck is capricious, and any mistake in the mountains can be fatal.

There are quite a few reasons for the death of climbers - from the possibility of falling off a cliff, falling under a rockfall, an avalanche to suffocation and fatal changes in the body in the form of cerebral edema, which occur due to very rarefied air. Also unpredictable at altitude is the weather, which can change in a matter of minutes. Gusts of strong wind literally blow climbers off the mountain. In addition, the lack of oxygen causes people to do strange things that can lead to death: climbers feel very tired and lie down to rest, never to wake up again, or strip down to their underwear, feeling unprecedented heat, while the temperature during the ascent can drop to - 65 degrees Celsius.

The route to Everest has long been studied. The ascent to the mountain itself takes about 4 days. However, in reality, it takes much more time, considering the obligatory acclimatization to local conditions. First, climbers get to the Base Camp - on average, this transition takes about 7 days. It is located at the foot of a mountain on the border of Tibet and Nadas. After the Base Camp, climbers ascend to Camp No. 1, where, as a rule, they rest at night. In the morning they leave for Camp 2 or Advanced Base Camp. The next altitude is Camp 3. Oxygen levels are very low here and it is necessary to use oxygen tanks with masks to sleep.
From Camp No. 4 climbers decide whether to continue climbing or return back. This is the height of the so-called "death zone", in which it is very difficult to survive without excellent physical fitness and an oxygen mask. Mummified remains of the dead are found here and there along this route. The bodies become part of the local landscape. So, part of the Northern route is called "Rainbow" because of the colorful clothes of the dead. Those climbers who climb Everest not for the first time use them as a kind of markers, landmarks for climbing.

Francis Arsentiev

American, wife of Russian climber Sergei Arsentiev. A married couple of climbers climbed the mountain on May 22, 1998 without the use of oxygen. A woman became the first American to summit Mount Everest without using an oxygen mask. Climbers died during the descent. Frances' body is on the southern slope of Everest. Now it is covered with the national flag. Sergei's body was found in a crevice, where it was blown away by a strong wind while trying to get to the freezing Francis.

George Mallory

George Malory died in 1924 from a head injury from a fall. He was the first to attempt to reach the summit of Everest, and many researchers believe that he achieved his goal. His corpse, still perfectly preserved, was identified in 1999.

Hannelore Schmatz

The mummified corpse of this climber was located just above Camp No. 4 for a long time, and all climbers ascending the South Slope could see her. The German climber died in 1979. After a while, strong winds dispelled her remains near Mount Kangshung.

Tsewang Paljor

The corpse of this climber was located on the northeast route and served as one of the notable landmarks for climbers. Climbers called him "Green Boots". The man's cause of death was hypothermia. This body even gave its name to a point on the Northern Route called "Green Boots". Radio messages from the group to the camp that the climbers had passed the Green Shoes point was a good omen. This meant that the group was going correctly, and only 348 meters vertically remained to the top.
In 2014, "Green Shoes" was lost from sight. Irish climber Noel Hanna, who visited Everest at that time, noted that most of the bodies from the northern slope disappeared without a trace, some of them were moved by the wind for a considerable distance. Hanna said that he was sure - "he (Paljor) was moved or buried under stones."

David Sharp

A British climber who froze to death near Mr. Green Boots. Sharpe was not a wealthy climber, and undertook the ascent of Everest without the funds for a guide and without the use of oxygen. He stopped to rest and froze to death, so he did not reach the coveted peak. Sharpe's corpse was discovered at an altitude of 8500 meters.

Marko Lihteneker

A Slovenian climber died while descending Everest in 2005. The body was found just 48 meters from the summit. Cause of death: hypothermia and oxygen starvation due to problems with oxygen equipment.

Shriya Shah-Klorfine

Canadian climber Shriya Shah-Klorfin climbed Mount Everest in 2012, died on the descent. The body of the climber rests 300 meters from the top of Everest.

In addition to the identified bodies, while climbing or descending Everest, there are corpses of unknown climbers.

Bodies rolled down the mountain are often covered with snow and become invisible.
Snow and wind turn clothes into tatters

Many corpses lie in crevices between the rocks, which are difficult to reach.
Corpse of an unknown climber at Advance Base Camp

The evacuation of corpses is associated with significant financial, time and physical costs, so most of the relatives of the victims cannot afford it. Many climbers are considered missing. Some of the bodies were never found. Despite these facts, which are known to all who attempt to climb the mountain, every year hundreds of climbers from all over the world come to Base Camp to try to reach their height again and again.