Bang up year at Everest

[Learning The Trails]

This may end up being the deadliest year at Everest on record.

https://explorersweb.com/everest-death-toll-approaches-highest-ever/

Notable Hungarian Suhajd Szilard left for the summit on Tuesday night without oxygen and has been at the base of the Hilary Step since Wednesday. There is a rescue/recovery currently ongoing for him:

https://explorersweb.com/suhajda-szilard-everest-barely-alive/

[Makwa]

Incredibly unfortunate.

The guy climbing without oxygen is interesting to me. Perhaps somebody with more insight into this could enlighten me, but do climbers attempting to summit without oxygen at least carry some in case of emergency? It's one thing to make the climb without using oxygen but not to have it with you when you might need it just seems suicidal. Is there some code or unwritten rules that say you can't even carry it? Is the honor system not good enough when it comes to saying you summitted without oxygen? It seems kinda silly.

[Learning The Trails]

Suhajd Szilard is not carrying any at all. He would have spent the past few weeks acclimating to the elevation.

I don't think there's any rule saying one couldn't carry it and attempt to do it without. I believe most/all attempting to do it without oxygen don't bring it.
I could be totally wrong on that.

[bikerhiker]

I replied a bit longer below, but this was a big discussion point with the1996 climbing season with Anatoli Boukreev guiding and climbing without oxygen. In the bunch of books I read about it, right now i dont remember if he carried a bottle(s) on him for him or his clients, or if that was part of the contracted sherpas duties.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

Quite a few people have made the climb without Os, probably most famously Cecilie Skog. She's among many elite climbers who are part of the "if you didn't do it using your own organic capabilities, you didn't really do it" crowd.

Edit: most famously was Ed Viesturs. Skog was probably most controversial due to her public statements about using supplements Os, essentially denigrating most of the 8000m climbing community.

[Learning The Trails]

Update from an hour ago-ish from a Hungarian news page that google translated.


A new post appeared on Szilárd Suhajda's Facebook page on Friday evening at 11:29

In the recent post it was written:
" We are still waiting for news about Szilárd
We really thank you for the great interest surrounding Szilárd's expedition. We really want to keep everyone informed, but at the moment all our efforts are tied up in clarifying the situation.
For the time being, we do not want to disclose all the small details regarding the current rescue, because they only form the breeding ground for unnecessary speculation. The Sherpas are currently on their way to the Hillary steps, that is, to the direction where Szilárd was last seen.
You can be sure that no one is waiting for the news more than the home team. As soon as we have accurate information about the outcome of the rescue, we will publish it here. It may be 12 or even 24 hours. "

[ADKJack]

Last I read ten people have died on Everest already this year.
Ed Viesturs climbed Everest and all 14 of the 8,000 meter peaks without supplemental oxygen.

[Learning The Trails]

At least 11 now. Being unable to find him makes me assume he may have walked off a cliff.

https://explorersweb.com/rescuers-cant-find-suhajda-szilard-everest/

[Yury]

Perhaps somebody with more insight into this could enlighten me, but do climbers attempting to summit without oxygen at least carry some in case of emergency?

They do not have extra physical strength and stamina to carry a spare oxygen tank and a mask.

This year was especially enlightening for me.
When a client was running out of oxygen, Sherpas were abandoning their clients, descending to a camp below and returning next day with a miniscule chance of saving a client.
It looks like even Sherpas do not have extra strength/stamina to carry an extra oxygen tank even when using oxygen for breathing.

[Makwa]

I have his book "The Climb" sitting on a bookshelf across the room. Haven't read it yet. I guess I should get on that.

[Makwa]

Sounds like this guy was climbing alone and didn't have the safety net of a Sherpa with him.

"Szilard set off from Camp 4 on Tuesday night, May 23, for the summit. He climbed on his own and without oxygen. During the entire expedition, he had been as self-sufficient as possible on today’s Everest. He carried his own tent, gear, and supplies up the mountain. He had acclimatized thoroughly in order to prepare for the no-O2 summit push and was feeling strong and positive."

Perhaps a Sherpa carrying oxygen and being nearby would have saved him? Just speculating.

[Learning The Trails]

Makwa correct, he was all alone and completely self sufficient. A team did pass him on Wednesday but they had an injured climber they were guiding down. No clue what happened on Thursday. But, the rescue attempt took place on Friday.

[Learning The Trails]

Sidetracking with Makwa and Bikerhiker.
Going way back to 96, Boukreev did have a canister and mask with him.

"To this I would add: As a precautionary measure, in the event that some extraordinary demand was placed upon me on summit day, I was carrying one bottle of supplementary oxygen, a mask, and a regulator." - Boukreev.

I'm assuming Antanoli carried oxygen for clients during the rescue. I didn't have time to read the Climb or Into Thin Air tonight - But, I did watch the movie - which provided no clear answer.

It's wild that 96 is the line.

[Bunchberry]

I deleted what I wrote. I should not be such a kill joy in other people’s posts. Sorry.

[Learning The Trails]

Sorry didn't see you had deleted it.

[Makwa]

No need. It's an opinion a lot of people share. Any discussion about Everest can be divisive. It is the most talked about mountain in the world for a lot of different reasons, among them being why anyone would climb it when the chance of death is so high. In the context of a thread about deaths on the mountain your comments do not seem out of place.

[Makwa]

Climbing on a trail littered with the bodies of dead people into a zone where your body can only deteriorate and your mind is dulled to the danger you are actually in, the only impulse in control is a ridiculous and shallow need to stand on a spot that thousands of other similarly needful people have paid money to stand on.

You can kinda say the same thing about the Adirondacks but with fewer dead bodies. But they are out there, you just don't see them. And you've paid for the right to climb these mountains too, whether that be thru your tax dollars or gas money. The desire to do almost anything outside of basic human needs can be categorized as shallow and ridiculous to some extent. Why travel? Why explore? Why enjoy any form of recreation? I have no desire to put my life at risk to climb Everest but others seem to think it is worth that risk. Unfortunately, many of them lose their lives in the process. And countless others lose fingers, toes, and god knows what else to frostbite. It is an inherently risky adventure that a rather small portion of the population ever undertakes. A little over 6,000 people (totaling nearly 12,000 ascents) have ever summitted the mountain. That's about 1 person in 1.3 million people on the planet. There are always outliers willing to take risks in any group that big. In the overall scheme of things, it's really not that many people though we hear more about this mountain in the news than probably any other. There is oversized coverage of an undersized group out there climbing it.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

"There is oversized coverage of an undersized group" is exactly what our "news" media has become. Anything to stir up sh*t for the sake of tweaking heart strings and selling stories. There used to be an adage about not letting a crisis go to waste, now the media simply manufactures them.

Another factor is that up until the Tibetan route was all but closed to commercial guiding, Everest was considered relatively "safe" compared to the other 8Ks that rarely make the news. Everyone has heard of the 1 in 4 stat, but that really works if applied numerically to the overall volume of people who complete ascents of the peak. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people set foot on that mountain every year in some capacity, don't go to the summit for one reason or another, and are no worse for wear upon returning to base camp. IIRC K2 had a long standing 30% fatality rate for climbers who reached the infamous bottle neck, and not much better for those who reached the lower camps. For parties simply departing for K2 basecamp its something like 10x deadlier than Everest, but it gets very little coverage in comparison.

[Learning The Trails]

12 dead and 5 missing (dead) so far this year.

https://abenteuer-berg.de/en/mount-everest-search-for-szilard-suhajda-abandoned/

[Yury]

"As a precautionary measure, in the event that some extraordinary demand was placed upon me on summit day, I was carrying one bottle of supplementary oxygen, a mask, and a regulator." - Boukreev.

Boukreev was on the top of his game.
Average Sherpa or an average western guide is not able to do what Boukreev did back there.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

A lot of climbers have been posting pictures from the high camps and its a little disturbing to see what a disgusting mess the mountain has become. I was looking through some of the photos and thinking to myself that there could be missing people in the camps and they'd be virtually impossible to distinguish from the massive amounts of trash laying around; old tents, sleeping bags, other discarded gear, etc.

I have no idea what the answer should be for what's become of the climbing routes, but something's got to give. Right now Everest is basically the world's highest altitude landfill.

[Makwa]

No no no. You can only drive to Nepal. No walkups, bikes, or planes are accepted on Everest. Or you can produce a ticket stub for the Nepalese equivalent of a Greyhound bus to get in. It is very restrictive there. Good thing is that the lots never fill up even though all the reservations are made. Very puzzling.

[Learning The Trails]

+1 for Makwas analysis

[FlyFishingandBeer]

Remember though, *if* you manage to approach from Tibet, you don't need a permit to get out. Yet.

[Learning The Trails]

FlyFishingandBeer
Funny enough, the trash situation is the center of today's story.

https://explorersweb.com/everest-camp-4-trash/

[FlyFishingandBeer]

Welp, there it is. The exact thing I feared when I saw those pics.

I don't hate the 8kg rule, but the problem seems to be that the responsibility gets passed along to the sherpas who couldn't care less if their predominantly wealthy western clients get their $4k deposit back.

From everything I've read it seems that many Everest issues were much more manageable when there were two commercial routes being used, but then geopolitical instability more or less shut down the northern route.

[Learning The Trails]

I think the sherpas care but there's only so much their bodies can handle.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

Some probably do, but from what I understand most are more concerned with feeding their families and many of the newer, younger generation of Sherpas tend to look at western climbers as a necessary evil to deal with in order make their own ends meet. They certain care about the condition of the mountain and the safety of their brethren, but as you said, they can only handle so much.

[Learning The Trails]

Staying on topic but tying the OP into it:

"Camp 4 of Lhotse offers an apocalyptic sight with all the remnants of last year,” said the late Suhajda Szilard, the no-O2 climber who perished on Everest a few days later. “I took four hours to pitch my tent and was proud to take all my gear with me up and down. It is outrageous that ‘oxygenated’ sherpas and their oxygenated clients leave all their stuff behind, seriously!”

His stuff is all still on the mountain. He didn't have a sherpa. Who's going to bring his stuff down?
Not trying to be dark/rude/sarcastic.

[gebby]

His comments were ill-timed, that's for sure.

[FlyFishingandBeer]

His comments certainly didn't age well. I'm avoiding gallows humor out of respect, but a lot of this situation is just throwing alley-oops one after another.

[Bunchberry]

Not trying to be dark/rude/sarcastic.

Yeah! Stay in your lane! When it comes to Everest I'm the dark/rude/sarcastic guy! 🤣🤣🤣

[Learning The Trails]

Another wild story:

https://explorersweb.com/mateo-isaza-everest-no-o2-and-a-dramatic-descent/