KATHMANDU: The climber was hanging onto the rope when Gelje Sherpa noticed him while ascending the highest peak in the world.
They were in the “death zone,” which is a region close to Mount Everest’s top where it is extremely cold and there isn’t enough oxygen for anyone to breathe on their own for more than a few minutes.
The Malaysian climber had “nothing” and was “about to die,” the 30-year-old mountain guide from Nepal told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview on Thursday. “This is quite dangerous for him,” someone said. “No one was helping him, no friends, no oxygen, no Sherpas with him, no guides.”
He said that other climbers and guides “just focused on the summit,” scared of pausing at a height where the body is fast failing and where many Everest fatalities take place.
As the spring climbing season comes to a conclusion, Nepali authorities report that 12 climbers have already perished and five are still missing on Everest this year.
The climber had to be strapped to Gelje’s back and carried 600 metres (1,900 feet) down before another guide joined the rescue, which was an almost difficult feat, according to Reuters.
Before they could board a helicopter that would take them down to base camp, they took turns carrying the climber, who was covered in a sleeping mat. At times, they had to pull him through the snow.
The rescue, which happened on May 18, was “massively difficult,” according to Gelje, who spoke to CNN. Although the sherpa had previously completed more than 55 rescues, some of which took a very long time, he claimed that this was the “hardest in my life.”
The rescued climber was airlifted to Malaysia once his condition improved, according to the Nepali authorities. His identity hasn’t been made public to the media.
Deadly season
According to Bigyan Koirala, an official at Nepal’s Tourism Department, this climbing season has been one of the deadliest on record.
Everest is best climbed in the spring, while some mountaineers may attempt it in the less favourable fall months. There is a brief period of time, generally after mid-May, when the weather is warmer and the jet stream, a kind of high-altitude wind, has moved away from the mountains.
Yubaraj Khatiwada, a director of the tourist department, reports that four Nepalis and eight foreigners had perished on Everest this spring.
And of the five people missing, two are foreigners and three are natives of Nepal.
This spring’s climbing season is ended. There were no more climbers up there. The only task left is the search and rescue effort, Koirala said to CNN on Thursday.
Everest traffic jam creates lethal conditions for climbers
There are a several plausible explanations for why this season has been especially lethal, according to Gelje, a Sherpa. Some climbers lack expertise or enough training for such a high altitude, and the weather has been unfavourable and bitterly cold.
Climbers and specialists have also issued warnings about the risks of overcrowding in recent years as the number of fatalities on the peak has increased. A photo that went viral in 2019 showed hundreds of climbers huddling on an exposed ridge to the summit, in a long wait to reach the top—all in the dangerous location known as the “death zone.” Since there is only one way to the peak, delays may occur.
At the time, a mountain guide told CNN ath zone for a finite amount of time, even with bottled oxygen, a mountain guide told CNN at the time, making traffic delays potentially lethal.
According to the department’s data, Nepal awarded permits for a record 478 climbers for this season’s Everest excursions.
International travellers are increasingly choosing other places to visit on their bucket lists in addition to Everest. The second-tallest peak in the world, K2, in Pakistan, has saw its busiest season ever.
