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Why Climbers Die On Mount Everest
Science Daily reports that researchers have conducted the first detailed analysis of deaths during expeditions to the summit of Mt. Everest. They found that
most deaths occur during descents from the summit in the so-called "death zone" above 8,000 meters, and also identified factors that appear to be associated with a greater risk of death, particularly symptoms of high-altitude cerebral edema. The big surprise that the data indicate those deaths aren't primarily from avalanches or falling ice, as had long been believed.
Still, on the list of ways to kick the bucket, beats slipping in the shower any day.
There seem to be a lot of people who really shouldn't climb it because they aren't nearly as well trained as they think they are, and yet climb it anway..... Thats gotta rank up there for reasons why people die up there.
Monstar L
Climbers die on the way down. It's more dangerous, you're more fatigued and your guard is down. You also tend to ignore clear signs of physical harm.
People exhaust themselves climbing up, but most when they do realize they are in trouble will turn back...or perhaps they realize they have enough and push on to get up there, but don't leave enough in reserve to come back down. Also there's a false sense of achievement - "I made it to the summit!" - but while making it back down alive is actually more improtant it may be anticlimactic and not as big a motivator when you're spent after the effort of reaching the top.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
Now what serious climber really believed those were the primary causes?
well, most Everest deaths do occur in the "death zone" (above 8,000 meters), so even though it happens on the descent, the pathology that would ultimately kill them (cerebral edema) could have began during their ascent to the summit, and there could simply be a delay between the onset of the disease and the actual time of death.
but the article doesn't really say what induces the leakage of blood vessels which causes cerebral edema. so it could be the altitude, or it could be the extreme cold, or it could be a combination of the two.
It's not just the altitude. Accidents happen all the time descending on lower climbs. You're coming down, you're tired, maybe it's late in the day. Perhaps you've made your goal and lower your guard a bit. You make a mistake...
Certainly, the odds for this are higher on Everest, or any big himalayan peak; their scale is something you can't even imagine unless you've been on one. (No, sherpa Quigon Jin, Quicktime VR doesn't count.)
Not for anyone who watched "Into thin air".
Or Vertical Limit.
Vertical limit had as much fact about mountaineering as the movie "Hackers" had about computers.
The goal of computer science is to build something that will last at least until we've finished building it.
It's the reduced pressure. That's why it's called leakage. :)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
I climb. The highest peak I've climbed is 18,700 ft (Pico de Orizaba) and it was only -32 f at the summit (I've had 2 ascents) at the coldest.
High altitude Pulmonary or Cerebral edema has been a major killer of excellent climbers - and you can climb to the same altitude a dozen times and show no signs - and die on the 13th.
Nanda Devi Unsoeld - Willie's only daughter and Crag's sister died on the mountain she was named for in 1976. I'd met her in the Tetons in the early 1970s. She had climbed many peaks higher than her namesake - but passed away from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema while stuck at altitude due to a storm.
Everest is 29,205 ft - Denali is the highest peak in the western hemisphere at 20,320 ft - but more people die from football injuries every year than climbing.
As for Krakauer - he revels in writing about death - I despise his writing. He made his name writing about the death of Christopher McCandless - a man who thought he could overwinter Alaska in a converted school-bus. That's a tragedy - not "news." and the book, Into the Wild is as corrupt a bit of "if it bleeds, it leads" journalism as exists.
I find Krakauer cheesy and a glorifier of death - a sick puppy where I come from.
Its a little-know fact that most sky-diving fatalities occur within metres of the finish.
Or maybe because it's really freaking cold and icy. Only on /. do we question why people die on a freezing mountain...
It could also be that when weather conditions or problems with their equipment, themselves or their fellow climbers turn hazardous and become the sort of conditions which can easily kill you most people may well have decided to turn around and begin their descent. Thus most people would be descending during the periods when they're most likely to die.
more people die from football injuries every year than climbing
Yeah, and more people die from crossing a street than from being electrocuted.
That's a common mistake while manipulating numbers for statistics. There are A LOT more people playing football than climbing. The number is only relevant as a percentage.
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