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Mount Everest pioneer Sir Edmund Hillary said Wednesday he was shocked that dozens of climbers left a British mountaineer to die during their own attempts on the world's tallest peak.

David Sharp, 34, died apparently of oxygen deficiency while descending from the summit during a solo climb last week.

More than 40 climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and almost all continued to the summit without offering assistance.

"Human life is far more important than just getting to the top of a mountain," Hillary was quoted as saying in an interview with New Zealand Press Association.

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[ 25 May 2006: Message edited by: ceti ]

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Cam Roe, president of the Alpine Club of Canada, said that he "would like to think" he would help in such a situation. But after experiencing the difficulties of altitude while climbing above 8,000 metres (26,250 feet) on Mount Xixapangma, a peak in Tibet, he admitted being uncertain.

"Those are very hard choices and it's not something to Monday-morning quarterback," he said.
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Mark Inglis, a double-amputee who reached the summit around the time Mr. Sharp died, said he found the Briton with no supplemental oxygen. A member of his team tried to give the dying man oxygen, he said, and they sent out a radio distress call before continuing up the mountain.

He said there was virtually no hope that Mr. Sharp could have been carried to safety from where he lay, about 1,000 feet short of the 29,035-foot summit, inside the low-oxygen "death zone" of the mountain straddling the Nepal-China border.

"I walked past David but only because there were far more experienced and effective people than myself to help him," Mr. Inglis said. "It was a phenomenally extreme environment; it was an incredibly cold day."

Mr. Roe said people trained in rescue work are typically taught never to put their own life in danger to save another person.

"There're stories that abound about people who risk their lives and have been killed because they tried to help someone," he said.

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Naked feat on Everest enrages Nepalese

By DEEPESH SHRESTHA
Agence France-Presse
Saturday, May 27, 2006

KATHMANDU -- A Nepalese sherpa stripped and stood naked on the summit of Everest in subfreezing temperatures for three minutes, sparking an immediate dispute yesterday over defiling the sacred mountain.

The Nepal Mountaineering Association condemned the feat by Lakpa Tharke Sherpa, 25, on the world's highest mountain -- which is known as Sagarmatha, and, like most Himalayan peaks, has a religious significance to many Nepalese.
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The Tourism Ministry said it had not heard about Lakpa Tharke Sherpa's chilling feat.

"It might take a couple of days to confirm as they are descending," an official said.

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