After Everest bodies return, climbers ask if risk acceptable
The Indian man wept as a helicopter landed in Kathmandu carrying the body of his brother, one of hundreds of climbers who have died while attempting to climb Mount Everest. The body had been left on the mountain for a year until last week, when a team of Sherpa climbers managed to recover it along with two others. But the highrisk expedition, financed with about $92,000 from the Indian state of West Bengal, has sparked heated debate in the mountaineering community about the morality of risking more lives to retrieve bodies from one of the most unforgiving places on Earth.
“It was a very dangerous operation,” West Bengal state official Sayeed Ahmed Baba acknowledged. “It was difficult to find Sherpas who were willing to go. But we had to do it for the families.” On the helipad Sunday, Debashish Ghosh felt relief as he watched the Indian team unload the three bodies from the back of the chopper. “We are finally able to bring him home,” he said of his brother, Gautam. “After we cremate the body there will be peace for his soul and relief to our family.”
Many in the mountaineering community said that peace of mind came with unacceptable risk. Climbers who attempt to scale the world’s tallest mountain know they could die from any number of challenges, including low oxygen, frigid temperatures, strong winds and steep falls. Asking others to carry down the bodies - often much heavier because they are frozen and covered in ice - puts more people in danger, they said. “It is just not worth the risk,” said Ang Tshering of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. “To get one body off of the mountain, they are risking the lives of 10 more people.”
About 300 climbers have died since Everest was first conquered in 1953, and at least 100 maybe 200 - corpses remain on the mountain. Most are hidden in deep crevasses or covered by snow and ice, but some are visible and have become macabre landmarks, earning nicknames for their plastic climbing boots, colorful parkas or final resting poses. The most difficult bodies to retrieve are near the 8,850-m peak in a low-oxygen area known by mountaineers as the death zone.
This is where the body of Gautam Ghosh was found last week along with the body of another Indian climber, Ravi Kumar, who died earlier in May after falling from the route on his way down from the summit. A third Indian man who died last year was recovered from the nearby South Col, the last camp at 8,000 m before climbers make their final push for the summit. —AP