2 die on world’s highest peak as 30 more fall sick
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ABOUT 30 climbers have developed frostbite or fallen ill near the summit of Mount Everest, a mountaineering official said yesterday, after two deaths from apparent altitude sickness in recent days highlighted the risks on the world’s highest peak.
Most of the sick climbers suffered frostbite while attempting to reach the summit or on their descent, Mountaineering Department official Gyanendra Shrestha said. Favorable weather has allowed nearly 400 climbers to reach the summit from Nepal since May 11, but the altitude, weather and harsh terrain can cause problems at any time.
Several Sherpa guides carried a sick climber from the highest camp, at nearly 8,000 meters, to camp two, at 6,400m, where attempts were being made to pick her up with a helicopter, said Pemba Sherpa of the Seven Summit Treks agency in Kathmandu. Seema Goshwami of India had frostbite to her hands and feet at the South Col camp and was unable to move.
“It took a big and risky effort but we were able to save her,” Sherpa said, adding that an Iranian climber identified only as S. Hadi had been brought to Kathmandu and was recovering in a hospital.
A Norwegian woman, 45-year-old Siv Harstad, suffered snow blindness and was helped down from the summit on Saturday, the Norwegian news agency NTB said.
The two climbers who died were on the same expedition. It was undecided if their bodies would be brought down from the high altitude and it would depend on the team and family members, Pasang Phurba of the Seven Summits agency said.
Carrying bodies down Everest takes at least eight Sherpas since they become frozen and heavier than normal.
More details were not available due to communication difficulties on the 8,850m peak.
The two deaths were the first confirmed this year on Everest, during a busy climbing season that follows two years in which it was virtually empty due to two fatal avalanches.
Eric Arnold, 35, had enough oxygen with him, as well as climbing partners, but he complained of getting weak and died on Friday night near South Col before he was able to get to a lower altitude, Phurba said.
Just hours later, Australian climber Maria Strydom showed signs of altitude sickness before she died on Saturday afternoon, Phurba said.
Strydom was a lecturer at Monash University’s business school in Melbourne. The school posted on Facebook that the community was deeply saddened by her death.
Arnold was from Rotterdam, according to his Twitter account, which was updated on Friday with a post that he had reached the summit on his fifth try. In an interview earlier this year with RTV Rijnmond, Arnold noted that the risks of climbing the world’s highest peak did not end at the summit.
“Two-thirds of the accidents happen on the way down,” he said. “If you get euphoric and think ‘I have reached my goal,’ the most dangerous part is still ahead of you.”
Strydom and her husband were attempting to climb the seven summits, the highest peaks on the seven continents, according to the Monash Business School’s website.
She had said that she felt well-prepared for her attempt to climb Everest.
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