MT. EVEREST MORALITY
Recently, approximately 40 people climbing Mt. Everest came upon another climber near death. Rather than try and help the man, they continued climbing. In an interesting article in the LA Times, climbers defend their decision not to help the man. Thankfully, not all climbers share this opinion. Myles Osborne, a climber who helped save another climber, offers this
"I could not help but wonder how in any way is a summit more important than saving a life? The answer is that it isn't. But in this skewed world up here, sometimes you can be fooled into thinking that it might be.
But I know that trying to sleep at night knowing that I summited Everest and left a guy to die isn't something I ever want to do. The summit's always there, after all."
posted by mjm @ 8:45 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Maybe I'm ice cold (pardon the pun), but to me, this sounds like the media using their wonderful talent for twisting stories to make people outraged.
What about the rest of the story?
"One of the sherpas attempted to revive him with oxygen, but it was ultimately determined that he was beyond help."
From Inglis, the one that first noticed the dying man:
"I did nothing at all to help David because I wasn't in a position to. Some of our sherpas and other team members were far more qualified and capable and did what they could, but to no avail.
"There were simple facts that determined whether someone was going to live or not. We had those facts..."
You know I was watching nightline last night about this...
The guy pretty much said he was dying and there was nothing they could do, so they left him there. The double amputee from New Zealand is catching most of the flack for this, but they said over 40 people passed this guy dying by. All the folks they were talking to were saying something to the extent that..."Oh, well he [the guy that died] didn't have enough oxygen...wasn't prepared...didn't have a party." Well, "Yes," he didn't, but they could have helped him! Did all 40 people that passed him try this too?
Also...one guy last year was dying so his sherpas left him for dead. The next day at the summit they found the guy and they didn't think there was anything they could do, but they put together a rescue operation, and he is alive today.
They ended the broadcast by saying he [the guy that died] was talking to his mother before he left for India and she was worried that he was going alone. He told her something to this effect, "don't worry mom you're never alone on Mount Everest."
I believe this is the rest of the story...if someone is alive...it is never to late to attempt a rescue operation.
this quote..."I did nothing at all to help David because I wasn't in a position to. Some of our sherpas and other team members were far more qualified and capable and did what they could, but to no avail." I would question the intentions of the sherpas after what happened last year when they left a man for dead at the summit. Also, how exactly was he not in a position to help?
Also, what exactly were the facts that were determined whether or not someone was going to live or not?
This story is fishy. I question if all the men are sharing the full truth of the matter.
The media may be blowing out of proportion, but they also might be reporting correctly...I don't know it's hard to trust them:)
In Christ
Noah
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