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Mountain climbers
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00:00Imagine that you are climbing a mountain.
00:03The temperature is approximately minus 15 degrees Celsius, getting colder minute by minute.
00:08The air lacks oxygen, it's hard to breathe, and the sun is literally blinding you.
00:14Oh, and so you know, you've voluntarily paid tens of thousands of dollars for this.
00:19For several years, you've been saving up for expensive equipment and one of the coolest guides out there.
00:24But it doesn't matter anymore, as you are about to conquer Everest.
00:28You see, not far from you, there's a green boot sticking out of the snow.
00:33This means you are now at the height of 8,500 meters.
00:37So all that's left is about 350 meters more.
00:41By the way, those boots belong to one desperate man who passed away, trying to do what you're doing now.
00:47In recent years, the mountain has claimed the lives of more than 300 climbers.
00:52And in 2023, climbing Everest became a kind of curse.
00:56In the first six months of the year alone, the death record was broken.
01:01The mountain claimed 17 lives.
01:03But the worst part is that the bodies of around 200 people are still on the slopes.
01:08It is said that there is an unspoken rule in the mountains.
01:12No matter what happens, no one is to be rescued.
01:15But is it really necessary to follow it?
01:19If you browse through various websites offering guidance to the top of Mount Everest, the prices will shock you.
01:2610, 70, 84,000.
01:28In addition, the equipment isn't cheap either.
01:32You'll need a special warm suit, trackers, goggles, and even an oxygen tank.
01:37Because at the height of 7,000 meters, you will definitely have trouble breathing without it.
01:42So, yeah, conquering Everest is a luxury.
01:46But no matter how much you pay, no one can guarantee that you'll return alive.
01:50Or that at least your corpse will return.
01:53I mean, no one knows for sure who's the owner of the green boots, right?
01:57But his corpse became a notorious landmark on the northern route of Everest.
02:01Some people think this is Sawang Paljor.
02:04He was part of the Indian team wearing the green boots manufactured by the famous Koflak Company,
02:09which makes shoes specifically for climbers.
02:12Others believe it could be Dorje Morup, who also disappeared on Everest.
02:16To cut a long story short, if you die on the way to the summit, you'll most likely not only
02:22be left unrescued,
02:23but you won't even be able to be identified and buried with dignity.
02:27The rescue operation at such heights is a very controversial issue,
02:31which is only proved by David Sharp's example.
02:34When David was a child, he climbed Roseberry Topping, a hill in North Yorkshire,
02:39and it set him on a lifelong passion for mountain climbing.
02:42Then came the bigger achievements.
02:44The highest peaks of Africa and Europe, Kilimanjaro, Elbrus, and Chouoyo,
02:49one of the highest mountains in the Himalayas.
02:52David first tried climbing Everest as part of an expedition in 2003.
02:56Though he didn't reach the summit, the alpinist showed incredible stamina among other trekking group members.
03:03Sharp suffered severe frostbite during the climb and even lost several fingers.
03:07But that didn't stop him from helping an exhausted Spanish climber who was just making his way up the mountain.
03:13Sharp shared some extra oxygen with him.
03:15A year later, the climber repeated his attempt, but he didn't have the strength to go through the last 350
03:21meters to the top.
03:23Apparently, the fact that David decided not to use an oxygen tank played a big role.
03:28Climbers love to set records, and an oxygen-free climb to the highest mountain in the world is probably the
03:34most dangerous of them all,
03:36where you can only rely on your body and endurance.
03:38With the same ideas in mind, Sharp went on his third trek.
03:42David's mother was very worried about her son, but he kept assuring her that climbing Everest wasn't as dangerous as
03:48it was said to be.
03:49After all, you'll never be alone on the route. There are other climbers nearby.
03:54David started his journey to the top from the base camp on May 13, 2006.
03:59Many people advised to take oxygen tanks with him, but he refused.
04:04Later, several climbing groups reported seeing a tired Sharp at various points along the route as he was descending.
04:11Yet, no one knew if Sharp had reached his goal, or if he had decided to turn back again before
04:16reaching the top.
04:17A day later, Sharp was spotted in a limestone cave, where the owner of the green boots lies frozen to
04:23death.
04:24Some members of the group recall that Sharp sat with his arms around his knees as if he wasn't feeling
04:29well,
04:30but no one stayed with him to help him down the rest of the way.
04:33What Sharp said to his mother wasn't really the truth. He just wanted to reassure her.
04:37After all, conquering the highest mountain in the world is an extreme activity for any human body.
04:43And the fact that you decided to take such a risk is, in the end, only your business.
04:48Other climbers have also paid much money to feel the same adrenaline rush and endure the journey.
04:53So you shouldn't expect someone to share oxygen with you, as David did with the Spanish climber.
04:58And now, David was sitting all alone, slowly losing consciousness from the unbearable cold.
05:03He had tried so hard to cope on his own, but now he needed help.
05:08Eventually, another climber found the man, gave him medicine and oxygen, and moved on shortly afterward.
05:13When David was spotted by the next group of alpinists, there was Maxime Chaya among them, who decided to sit
05:19down and talk to Sharp.
05:21But as soon as Maxime tried to look into his eyes, he saw that David's face had already turned black.
05:27The group members were frightened and began to think of a plan to help.
05:30But the other climbers told them to keep going and not risk their own lives.
05:35All they could do without harming themselves was to send a radio message to the base camp.
05:39However, due to the extreme weather conditions, it was impossible to get help.
05:44So, left alone among the cold slopes of Everest, David passed away.
05:49His death sparked a series of controversies in the media, raising the question of whether to take risks to help
05:55other climbers in need in the harsh mountain environment.
05:58After all, David's serious condition was noticed by more than 40 people.
06:02Their indifferences make you further lose hope in humanity.
06:05Does it mean that in the mountains, everyone rescues themselves?
06:09The victim's colleague, Sir Edmund Hillary, was shocked by the situation and noted that such savage unspoken laws are true
06:16only for Everest.
06:17And climbers on other Himalayan mountains, for example, would never do that.
06:21In his opinion, modern commercial guides only care about their client's obsession with reaching the summit at any cost, even
06:28if it means the life of one of their teammates.
06:30Even Sharp's mother, Linda Sharp, doesn't blame the other climbers.
06:34In a conversation with journalists from the British Weekly Sunday Times, she said,
06:39Your duty is to save yourself, not to try to save someone else.
06:43But what if you go mountain climbing not alone, not in a group, but for instance, together with a loved
06:49one?
06:50Francis Yarbo de Stefano lived in lovely, dynamic ski town, Telluride, Colorado.
06:56Many athletic, handsome climbers from all over the world came here all the time, including Sergei Arzenteev, who was nicknamed
07:03Snow Leopard because he conquered the five highest peaks of the former Soviet Union.
07:07Sergei charmed Francis straight away, and the couple later married.
07:12Francis shared the mountaineer's passion, and together with him, she tried to conquer the mountains a little at a time.
07:18Her fearless determination made her name in history as the first American woman to ski down Elbrus.
07:24Then, the couple set themselves a legendary goal, to conquer Everest, so that Francis could become the first American woman
07:31to climb the highest peak in the world.
07:33With her achievement, she wanted to show that women's endurance is underestimated.
07:38On top of that, the couple decided to do it without supplemental oxygen and to guide support.
07:43At the time, Francis and Sergei had an 11-year-old son, and his parents' plans scared him.
07:48The boy even had a terrible dream, in which two climbers were trapped.
07:52They were on a mountain destroyed by a storm and couldn't escape the snow, knocking them down.
07:57The boy told his mother about his dream, hoping to persuade her not to go to Everest.
08:02But Francis was determined, and she wasn't going to cancel the Everest climb.
08:06On May 17, 1998, Francis and Sergei began their ascent from the base camp and reached the North Call.
08:13The next day, they reached an impressive height of 7,700 meters.
08:18And on May 19, they decided to climb to the last camp before the summit, which is at an altitude
08:23of 8,290 meters.
08:26At one in the morning, on May 20, they were to make the final push to the top of Everest.
08:32But suddenly, the pair's flashlights broke.
08:34Finding themselves in complete darkness, they couldn't move on.
08:37On May 21, the pair tried to resume ascent.
08:41However, Francis and Sergei were already exhausted this time.
08:44The couple gained about 100 meters in altitude, and realized their energy reserves were slowly running out.
08:50They decided not to risk their lives anymore, but returned to camp to rest before the final push.
08:55On May 22, they moved up again.
08:58Still, this ascent was painfully slow, each step being unfathomably tough.
09:03It was already getting dark because Francis and Sergei were far behind the planned time.
09:08Usually, climbers calculate the deadline, so they don't have to turn back in the dark.
09:12Francis and Sergei had been at an altitude of more than 8,000 meters for several days.
09:17And this is the most dangerous region of Everest, called the Death Zone.
09:22This part of the mountain got its name because there is a catastrophic lack of oxygen here, and the human
09:27body begins to fight for survival.
09:29At that moment, the climbers regretted not taking their oxygen tanks, and began to think about an escape plan.
09:35Then, the pair decided to split up for some reason.
09:38Sergei returned to camp the next morning to find that Francis hadn't arrived yet.
09:42Filled with concern, he set out again, armed with the necessary supplies of oxygen and medicine.
09:47At the time, Ian Woodhull and his beloved Cathy O'Dowd, also on their way to the top of Mount Everest,
09:54were only 350 meters away from the final point.
09:57Suddenly, they saw someone's body in the snow.
10:00It was a half-conscious Frances.
10:02She was on the verge of death due to oxygen deprivation and frostbite.
10:06The woman was wearing only a thermal suit, and the rest of her clothes were scattered around.
10:11The thing is that, in the last stages of frostbite, you start to feel like you're extremely hot, and become
10:17so desperate that you might just rip off everything.
10:20At that moment, the couple realized that their expedition, which they had been preparing for years, looking for money from
10:26sponsors, was over.
10:28Cathy began to hug the frozen body to her to keep it warm, and Ian removed the hair from the
10:33victim's face and recognized Fancy.
10:36Her plan for Everest had been in the newspapers, so he immediately realized whose fate was in their hands.
10:41Ian tried to dress her, but Frances' muscles had atrophied.
10:45She was like a doll made of cloth.
10:47Her arms and legs simply wouldn't bend.
10:50Frances kept mumbling,
10:51I'm an American, please don't leave me.
10:53To get her dressed took two hours.
10:56Ian tried to pick up and carry the woman, but it was useless.
10:59Moving in such high snow was like trying to run underwater.
11:02Then, the man realized this venture was becoming dangerous for them, especially for his partner, Cathy.
11:09The couple could not do anything, so they decided to return to the camp for help.
11:13They took one last look at Frances.
11:16She looked like a real, sleeping beauty.
11:19Back at the base, Ian tried to contact everyone he could, but no rescue expedition dared to go up that
11:24altitude because the weather was quite bad.
11:28Sergei, who went to rescue his wife, disappeared without a trace.
11:32Later, the climbers found his ice axe in the snow, and only a year later, they found the climbers' body.
11:38Sergei had apparently fallen from a height and died while searching for his wife.
11:42Ian recalls that not a day passed when he didn't think about Frances.
11:46A year later, he and Cathy made another attempt to reach the top, and they succeeded.
11:50But on the way back, the couple was horrified to see the climbers' body again.
11:54She lay exactly as the couple had left her.
11:58Then, Ian and Cathy promised each other to return to Everest again to bury Frances.
12:02It took them eight years and the couple's entire savings to prepare for this expedition.
12:07On March 20th, 2007, they reached the woman's body again and wrapped it in an American flag.
12:13They also enclosed a note from her son and then pushed her body into the cliff, away from the eyes
12:18of the other climbers,
12:19who had been photographing her for all these years as if she was some kind of exhibit.
12:23As you can see, even a loving partner ready to give up their life to save their partner is powerless
12:29against a deadly mountain.
12:31Perhaps everything would have been different if they had gone on an expedition with a professional guide.
12:36Let's say you've been going for a long time towards some unattainable dream of yours.
12:40For example, to conquer Lao Tse, the fourth highest mountain in the world.
12:44And now you are at the top of it and have reached it even without additional oxygen.
12:49What's next?
12:50Well, for example, now you can become a guide for other climbers.
12:54Just like Scott Fisher, he founded the iconic travel company Mountain Madness and helped other climbers achieve the same success
13:01as he did.
13:02In 1996, as part of his company's services, Scott organized the most serious expedition of all, the Everest climb.
13:10At the same time, the company, Adventure Consultants owned by a New Zealand resident, Rob Hall, also applied to climb
13:18the mountain.
13:18Thus, the competition between the two organizations and their guides began, who would reach the desired summit first.
13:25However, everything didn't go exactly according to Fisher's plans, and he faced a number of problems during the ascent.
13:32Some members of his group got sick and weakened, so he helped them return to the camps and climbed back
13:37up.
13:38Because of this, Scott himself became very exhausted even before the final meters.
13:43In the end, the team arrived at the top of Everest at almost four in the evening on May 10th,
13:48which is almost two hours later than the strict deadline for a safe descent.
13:52However, Rob Hall's group also reached the summit well after the deadline.
13:57By that time, Fisher was extremely tired, feeling sick, and most likely experiencing altitude sickness.
14:03It occurs when the tissues and organs of the body don't receive enough oxygen due to the decrease in atmospheric
14:09pressure at high altitudes.
14:11As you can imagine, Scott, like many other professional climbers, didn't want to use additional oxygen.
14:16In this state, a person experiences headaches, dizziness, confusion, and weakness, so they need rest and help.
14:24If you don't go down in time, you can develop pulmonary or brain edema, which almost always leads to death
14:30in extreme conditions.
14:31However, Scott couldn't afford to let that happen.
14:34As a responsible guide, he had to get his group back safely.
14:38However, the situation was only getting worse.
14:40Shortly after the two teams began their descent, a heavy snowstorm hit the mountain, preventing the climbers from reaching the
14:47nearest shelter.
14:48Fisher was already struggling and instructed his assistants to rescue the team and descend to camp without him.
14:53He didn't want to delay anyone because they had to act quickly, and the weather was getting worse.
14:58His teammates managed to rescue several members of their group who were unable to cope with the blizzard, and even
15:04one person from the rival camp.
15:05But when the climbers returned for Fisher, he was already dead.
15:09His body was moved off the main route and remains on the mountain to this day.
15:14Still, no other climbers from Fisher's team died.
15:17Does it mean some guides aren't afraid to put their own lives at risk? Or not?
15:21This blizzard was one of the deadliest in the history of Everest because then, along with Fisher, eight people lost
15:27their lives.
15:28So, what was going on with the team that was climbing the mountain under the leadership of Rob Hall?
15:34Rob was also a fairly well-known climber.
15:36He was the second person to climb the mountain on the northern ridge of Amadablam in 1980 and Mountain Noomber
15:42in 1981.
15:43Rob and his colleague, Gary Ball, were very attracted to the concept of Seven Summits,
15:49which originated as a mountaineering challenge in 1985.
15:52He envisioned conquering the highest peaks on each of the seven continents.
15:56But Rob's ambition pushed him to jump over his head.
15:59He sought to accomplish this feat in a limited time, within seven months, devoting one month to each peak.
16:05He and Gary's journey was to begin with Everest, which is considered the most challenging climb on the list.
16:11And they managed to climb all seven of them indeed.
16:14This achievement set a record for the speed of mountain climbing at the time.
16:17No wonder clients paid his company, Adventure Consultants, $65,000 to be their guides during the ascent of Mount Everest
16:24in 1996.
16:25And the climb really went smoothly until the last hours.
16:29First, just before the summit, one of the clients, Beck Weathers, had a tough time coping because he suffered from
16:35snow blindness.
16:36This is usually caused by sunlight reflecting off snow or ice.
16:40To ensure weather safety, Hall made the difficult decision to leave the climber to wait at camp for their return.
16:45Beck Weathers didn't even know that he shouldn't be upset about it.
16:49And in fact, he was incredibly lucky that day.
16:52Then, another client had a similar experience.
16:55Doug Hansen showed warning signs of exhaustion.
16:57As the climbing time dragged on, Hall saw they wouldn't make it to the summit on time.
17:02He continued to climb nonetheless, not to lose the competition with the group led by Scott Fisher.
17:07And so, with a great delay, Hall's team reached the top.
17:11But Doug Hansen was not happy about it.
17:13He was already feeling very sick.
17:15In addition, a snowstorm suddenly broke out.
17:18While everyone else continued down the mountain, Hall decided to stay with Hansen, refusing to leave his client behind.
17:25Unfortunately, however, Hansen did not make it.
17:28The blizzard was accompanied by winds of 240 kilometers and almost zero visibility.
17:33Hansen died.
17:35One of Hall's fellow guides tried to save Rob by bringing extra oxygen and water.
17:39However, the regulator of the oxygen mask couldn't withstand the low temperatures, and it could no longer supply air.
17:46He eventually managed to call his wife via satellite phone from the base camp and send a message.
17:51His last words were,
17:56Almost immediately after the tragedy, the debate over the commercialization of Everest began again in countless newspaper and magazine articles.
18:04According to many commentators, the main cause of the Everest tragedy in 1996 was the pride of the guides and
18:11their inability to assess their own capabilities.
18:13So be prepared that, no matter how much you trust your intuition or your guide, Everest can take you into
18:19its snow forever.
18:20Nevertheless, there are still brave souls trying to find people on Everest who are beyond saving.
18:26If we recall the most prominent climbers in the history of Everest, we should name the only one with whom
18:32all began.
18:32Namely, the British Alpinist, George Mallory.
18:36He planned to become the first person to conquer the top of the mountain.
18:39George first climbed the slopes of Everest as part of a British expedition in 1921, whose goal was to first
18:45find at least the most accessible way to the top, which no one had ever reached before.
18:50Having determined the right route, a year later, Mallory wanted to reach the mountain's highest point, but an avalanche prevented
18:57him from doing so.
18:58He decided to finish the job in 1924.
19:01At the time, he was 37, and Mallory was afraid that if he thought about it any longer, he would
19:07be too old to summit Everest.
19:08At the end of May, he and his team began the ascent.
19:11However, not all the participants were prepared for the harsh weather conditions of Everest.
19:16Some climbers were quickly exhausted, and others were constantly sick, which slowed down the process of conquering the peak.
19:23On June 6th, Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, set out for the summit alone, because they didn't want to
19:30wait for the other participants to get better.
19:32George said Andrew was determined to reach the peak of Everest together.
19:36On June 8th, the other climbers saw them at about 244 meters away from the summit.
19:41Shortly afterward, George and Andrew simply vanished, leaving behind a mystery no one could solve for the whole 75 years.
19:49Until the first clue to their fate came from a British expedition in 1933.
19:54Mountaineer Piercy Wynn Harris came across an ice axe near the summit, believed to have belonged to the missing climbers.
20:00When they looked closely, they saw some hand-carved marks on the axe, like a cross.
20:05And Irvine's friends said that their friend used to mark his belongings in a similar way.
20:09But when Piercy Wynn Harris, who also climbed Everest, saw these clues, he assured that this carved cross was made
20:16by his guide, a Sherpa, Kusang Pugla.
20:19He marked the ice axe so that it wouldn't be lost or confused with others.
20:23As you can see, Kusang failed in his task and confused people trying to find the bodies of the missing
20:28climbers.
20:29Three years later, Alpinist Frank Smith allegedly identified the possible bodies of Mallory and Irvine with a powerful telescope during
20:36a British expedition to Mount Everest.
20:38But he never got to them.
20:40And in 1975, climber Wang Hongbao said that he came across the remains of someone's body on Everest.
20:47Then, a series of search expeditions began, aimed specifically at finding Irvine and George.
20:52Thus, people spent their energy not to conquer the peak, but to find corpses that no one had hoped to
20:58find for a long time.
20:59And in 1999, using clues from previous expeditions and Wang Hongbao's testimony, the team outlined the search area where the
21:08bodies were likely to be left.
21:09On May 1, an American climber named Conrad Anker noticed a large flat rock on the northern slopes of the
21:16area.
21:16He soon realized it wasn't a rock, but none other than George Mallory.
21:21Time had destroyed his clothes, yet the mountain conditions preserved most of his body.
21:25The axe was located directly above Mallory's body, a few meters away.
21:29This suggested that he died as a result of a bad fall.
21:33Unfortunately, Irvine's body was never found.
21:36But it is quite possible that he suffered a similar fate.
21:39Just think about it, Mallory's body was found 75 years later.
21:43But no one will ever know whether he and Irvine managed to reach the top of Mount Everest.
21:48It turns out that they lost their lives in vain, because their feet will remain a mystery no one will
21:53ever solve.
21:54I think you've already understood what I'm getting at here.
21:57If you also decide to take a chance, you must know you may suffer the same fate.
22:02After all, you can't really expect to be rescued by other climbers.
22:06And your body might be found many years later, when your loved ones might not be alive either.
22:12Take a look at this post on Instagram, by Gelji Sherpa.
22:15A Nepalese man self-evacuates a victim on Mount Everest at an altitude of 8,300 meters.
22:22During the climb, he decided to turn his clients around to save another climber's life.
22:26Usually, such an evacuation requires at least five participants.
22:30And he carried the victim to the nearest camp on his own.
22:33This was the first time in the history of climbing Everest.
22:37So, there is hope that you won't be the last.
22:39Now, imagine you are a member of the Gelji's team, and have been saving for your dream of conquering Everest
22:45all of your life.
22:46How would you react to this?
22:48Write in the comments.
22:50Let's see you later on.
22:50Let's go.
22:51Come back.