1996 Mount Everest Disaster - Death on Top of the World

1996 Mount Everest Disaster - Death on Top of the World On May 10, 1996, a ferocious storm descended upon the Himalayas, creating perilous conditions on Mount Everest, and stranding 17 climbers high upon the tallest mountain in the world. By the following day, the storm had claimed the lives of eight climbers, making it- at the time- the greatest loss of life in a single day in the history of the mountain. While climbing Mount Everest is inherently risky, several factors (aside from the storm) contributed to the tragic outcome- crowded conditions, inexperienced climbers, numerous delays, and a series of bad decisions. Big Business on Mount Everest Following the first summit of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, the feat of climbing the 29,028-foot peak had for decades been limited to only the most elite climbers. By 1996, however, climbing Mount Everest had evolved into a multi-million dollar industry. Several mountaineering companies had established themselves as the means by which even amateur climbers could summit Everest. Fees for a guided climb ranged from $30,000 to $65,000 per customer. The window of opportunity for climbing in the Himalayas is a narrow one. For just a few weeks- between late April and late May- the weather is typically milder than usual, allowing climbers to ascend. In the spring of 1996, multiple teams were gearing up for the climb. The vast majority of them approached from the Nepalese side of the mountain; only two expeditions ascended from the Tibetan side. Gradual Ascent There are many dangers involved in ascending Everest too rapidly. For that reason, expeditions take weeks to ascend, allowing climbers to gradually acclimatize to the changing atmosphere. Medical problems that could develop at high altitudes include severe altitude sickness, frostbite, and hypothermia. Other serious effects include hypoxia (low oxygen, leading to poor coordination and impaired judgment), HAPE (high-altitude pulmonary edema, or fluid in the lungs) and HACE (high-altitude cerebral edema, or swelling of the brain). The latter two can prove especially deadly. In late March 1996, groups assembled in Kathmandu, Nepal, and opted to take a transport helicopter to Lukla, a village located about 38 miles from Base Camp. Trekkers then made a 10-day hike to Base Camp (17,585 feet), where they would stay a few weeks adjusting to the altitude. Two of the largest guided groups that year were Adventure Consultants (led by New Zealander Rob Hall and fellow guides Mike Groom and Andy Harris) and Mountain Madness (led by American Scott Fischer, assisted by guides Anatoli Boukreev and Neal Beidleman). Halls group included seven climbing Sherpas and eight clients. Fischers group comprised eight climbing Sherpas and seven clients. (The Sherpa, natives of eastern Nepal, are accustomed to the high altitude; many make their living as support staff for climbing expeditions.) Another American group, helmed by filmmaker and renowned climber David Breashears, was on Everest to make an IMAX film. Several other groups came from around the globe, including Taiwan, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, and Montenegro. Two other groups (from India and Japan) climbed from the Tibetan side of the mountain. Up to the Death Zone Climbers began the acclimatization process in mid-April, taking increasingly longer sorties to higher elevations, then returning to Base Camp. Eventually, over a period of four weeks, the climbers made their way up the mountain- first, past the Khumbu Icefall to Camp 1 at 19,500 feet, then up the Western Cwm to Camp 2 at 21,300 feet. (Cwm, pronounced coom, is the Welsh word for valley.) Camp 3, at 24,000 feet, was adjacent to the Lhotse Face, a sheer wall of glacial ice. On May 9, the scheduled day for the ascent to Camp 4 (the highest camp, at 26,000 feet), the expeditions first victim met his fate. Chen Yu-Nan, a member of the Taiwanese team, committed a fatal error when he exited his tent in the morning without having strapped on his crampons (spikes attached to boots for climbing on ice). He slipped down the Lhotse Face into a crevasse. Sherpas were able to pull him up by rope, but he died of internal injuries later that day. The trek up the mountain continued. Climbing upward to Camp 4, all but only a handful of elite climbers required the use of oxygen to survive. The area from Camp 4 up to the summit is known as the Death Zone because of the dangerous effects of the extremely high altitude. Atmospheric oxygen levels are only one-third of those at sea level. Trek to the Summit Begins Climbers from various expeditions arrived at Camp 4 throughout the day. Later that afternoon, a serious storm blew in. Leaders of the groups feared that they would not be able to climb that night as planned. After hours of gale-force winds, the weather cleared at 7:30 p.m. The climb would go on as planned. Wearing headlamps and breathing bottled oxygen, 33 climbers- including Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness team members, along with a small Taiwanese team- left at about midnight that night. Each client carried two spare bottles of oxygen, but would run out at about 5Â  p.m., and would, therefore, need to descend as quickly as possible once they had summitted. Speed was of the essence. But that speed would be hampered by several unfortunate missteps. Leaders of the two main expeditions had supposedly ordered Sherpas to go ahead of the climbers and install lines of rope along the most difficult areas in the upper mountain in order to avoid a slowdown during the ascent. For some reason, this crucial task was never carried out. Summit Slowdowns The first bottleneck occurred at 28,000 feet, where setting up the ropes took nearly an hour. Adding to the delays, many climbers were very slow due to inexperience. By late morning, some climbers waiting in the queue began to worry about getting to the summit in time to descend safely before nightfall- and before their oxygen ran out. A second bottleneck occurred on the South Summit, at 28,710 feet. This delayed forward progress by another hour. Expedition leaders had set a 2Â  p.m. turn-around time- the point at which climbers must turn around even if they had not reached the summit. At 11:30 a.m., three men on Rob Halls team turned around and headed back down the mountain, realizing they might not make it in time. They were among the few who made the right decision that day. The first group of climbers made it up the famously difficult Hillary Step to reach the summit at about 1:00 p.m. After a brief celebration, it was time to turn around and complete the second half of their laborious trek. They still needed to get back down to the relative safety of Camp 4. As the minutes ticked by, oxygen supplies began to dwindle. Deadly Decisions Up at the top of the mountain, some climbers had been summiting well after 2:00 p.m. Mountain Madness leader Scott Fischer did not enforce the turn-around time, allowing his clients to stay on the summit past 3:00. Fischer himself was summiting just as his clients were coming down. Despite the late hour, he continued up. No one questioned him because he was the leader and an experienced Everest climber. Later, people would comment that Fischer had looked very ill. Fischers assistant guide, Anatoli Boukreev, had inexplicably summited early on, and then descended to Camp 4 by himself, instead of waiting to assist clients. Rob Hall also ignored the turn-around time, staying behind with client Doug Hansen, who was having trouble moving up the mountain. Hansen had tried to summit the previous year and failed, which is probably why Hall made such an effort to help him up despite the late hour. Hall and Hansen did not summit until 4:00 p.m., however, far too late to have stayed on the mountain. It was a serious lapse in judgment on Halls part- one which would cost both men their lives. By 3:30 p.m. ominous clouds had appeared and snow began to fall, covering up tracks that descending climbers needed as a guide to find their way down. By 6:00 p.m., the storm had become a blizzard with gale-force winds, while many climbers were still trying to make their way down the mountain. Caught in the Storm As the storm raged on, 17 people were caught on the mountain, a perilous position to be in after dark, but especially so during a storm with high winds, zero visibility, and a wind chill of 70 below zero. Climbers were also running out of oxygen. A group accompanied by guides Beidleman and Groom headed down the mountain, including climbers Yasuko Namba, Sandy Pittman, Charlotte Fox, Lene Gammelgaard, Martin Adams, and Klev Schoening. They encountered Rob Halls client Beck Weathers on their way down. Weathers was stranded at 27,000 feet after being stricken by temporary blindness, which had prevented him from summitting. He joined the group. After a very slow and difficult descent, the group came within 200 vertical feet of Camp 4, but the driving wind and snow made it impossible to see where they were going. They huddled together to wait out the storm. At midnight, the sky cleared briefly, allowing guides to catch sight of the camp. The group headed off toward camp, but four were too incapacitated to move- Weathers, Namba, Pittman, and Fox. The others made it back and sent help for the four stranded climbers. Mountain Madness guide Anatoli Boukreev was able to help Fox and Pittman back to camp, but could not manage the nearly comatose Weathers and Namba, especially in the middle of a storm. They were deemed beyond help and were therefore left behind. Death on the Mountain Still stranded high on the mountain were Rob Hall and Doug Hansen at the top of the Hillary Step near the summit. Hansen was unable to go on; Hall tried to bring him down. During their unsuccessful attempt to descend, Hall looked away for just a moment and when he looked back, Hansen was gone. (Hansen had likely fallen over the edge.) Hall maintained radio contact with Base Camp through the night and even spoke with his pregnant wife, who was patched through from New Zealand by satellite phone. Guide Andy Harris, who was caught in the storm at the South Summit, had a radio and was able to hear Halls transmissions. Harris is believed to have gone up to bring oxygen to Rob Hall. But Harris also disappeared; his body was never found. Expedition leader Scott Fischer and climber Makalu Gau (leader of the Taiwanese team that included the late Chen Yu-Nan) were found together at 1200 feet above Camp 4 on the morning of May 11. Fisher was unresponsive and barely breathing. Certain that Fischer was beyond hope, the Sherpas left him there. Boukreev, Fischers lead guide, climbed up to Fischer shortly thereafter but found he had already died. Gau, although severely frostbitten, was able to walk- with much assistance- and was guided down by Sherpas. Would-be rescuers had attempted to reach Hall on May 11 but were turned back by severe weather. Twelve days later, Rob Halls body would be found at the South Summit by Breashears and the IMAX team. Survivor Beck Weathers Beck Weathers, left for dead, somehow survived the night. (His companion, Namba, did not.) After being unconscious for hours, Weathers miraculously awoke late on the afternoon of May 11 and staggered back to the camp. His shocked fellow climbers warmed him up and gave him fluids, but he had suffered severe frostbite on his hands, feet, and face, and appeared to be near death. (In fact, his wife had been notified earlier that he had died during the night.) The next morning, Weathers companions almost left him for dead again when they departed camp, thinking he had died during the night. He awoke just in time and called out for help. Weathers was assisted by the IMAX group down to Camp 2, where he and Gau were flown out in a very daring and dangerous helicopter rescue at 19,860 feet. Shockingly, both men survived, but frostbite took its toll. Gau lost his fingers, nose, and both feet; Weathers lost his nose, all of the fingers on his left hand and his right arm below the elbow. Everest Death Toll The leaders of the two main expeditions- Rob Hall and Scott Fischer- both died on the mountain. Halls guide Andy Harris and two of their clients, Doug Hansen and Yasuko Namba, also perished. On the Tibetan side of the mountain, three Indian climbers- Tsewang Smanla, Tsewang Paljor, and Dorje Morup- had died during the storm, bringing the total of deaths that day to eight, the record number of deaths in one day. Unfortunately, since then, that record has been broken. An avalanche on April 18, 2014, took the lives of 16 Sherpas. A year later, an earthquake in Nepal on April 25, 2015, caused an avalanche that killed 22 people at Base Camp. To date, more than 250 people have lost their lives on Mount Everest. Most of the bodies remain on the mountain. Several books and films have come out of the Everest disaster, including bestseller Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (a journalist and a member of Halls expedition) and two documentaries made by David Breashears. A feature film, Everest, was also released in 2015.

Free Essays on World Citizenship

When I think of the word â€Å"citizen† the first thoughts that enter my mind are state, nation, and government. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word: â€Å"a : a member of a state b : a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it†. The phrase â€Å"World Citizen† is almost an oxymoron in my opinion. This oxymoron, however, may suit the meaning. In Martha Nussbaum’s article, The Idea of World Citizenship, she speaks of the severance of a single human nation, the separation of a unified society. That’s how we started out; unified. Man is born with the natural gift of thought, superior to that of any other species, and then uses it to think up ideas and rules that enforce lifestyles unnatural and irregular to human instinct. Martha brings up Diogenes, an ancient Greek philosopher. She sets him as the main example of an ideal World Citizen. Not only was he a believer in world citizenship, but, as she explains, Diogenes was a teacher. He taught whether you wanted a lesson or not. In ancient Greece, there were unspoken guidelines and standards, not so different from American society today, which everyone held to without thought on the topic. Diogenes was there to invoke thought on this topic, and you were invoked either voluntarily or by force. His lessons were more obscure than most teachers lessons we would know today however. For example, in Ancient Greece, eating was something only done in private; so Diogenes would eat in public, trying to explain to his neighbors that this was a ridiculous rule. As a more extreme approach, he would masturbate in the marketplace, I would assume for the same reason but I don’t think I can accurately justify that. As the article goes on, Nussbaum continues to explain the separation of humans from instinct and humans as a group into subgroups, but a more interesting topic is what she portrays as the root of the probl... Free Essays on World Citizenship Free Essays on World Citizenship When I think of the word â€Å"citizen† the first thoughts that enter my mind are state, nation, and government. Webster’s Dictionary defines the word: â€Å"a : a member of a state b : a native or naturalized person who owes allegiance to a government and is entitled to protection from it†. The phrase â€Å"World Citizen† is almost an oxymoron in my opinion. This oxymoron, however, may suit the meaning. In Martha Nussbaum’s article, The Idea of World Citizenship, she speaks of the severance of a single human nation, the separation of a unified society. That’s how we started out; unified. Man is born with the natural gift of thought, superior to that of any other species, and then uses it to think up ideas and rules that enforce lifestyles unnatural and irregular to human instinct. Martha brings up Diogenes, an ancient Greek philosopher. She sets him as the main example of an ideal World Citizen. Not only was he a believer in world citizenship, but, as she explains, Diogenes was a teacher. He taught whether you wanted a lesson or not. In ancient Greece, there were unspoken guidelines and standards, not so different from American society today, which everyone held to without thought on the topic. Diogenes was there to invoke thought on this topic, and you were invoked either voluntarily or by force. His lessons were more obscure than most teachers lessons we would know today however. For example, in Ancient Greece, eating was something only done in private; so Diogenes would eat in public, trying to explain to his neighbors that this was a ridiculous rule. As a more extreme approach, he would masturbate in the marketplace, I would assume for the same reason but I don’t think I can accurately justify that. As the article goes on, Nussbaum continues to explain the separation of humans from instinct and humans as a group into subgroups, but a more interesting topic is what she portrays as the root of the probl...

Financial Managerial Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Financial Managerial Principles - Essay Example It shows how P&G has been performing above than the average S&P 500 index over past years and benefiting its shareholders with higher than the average index returns. The graph assumes that a $100 amount was invested, one in P&G and other in S&P 500 index. It can easily be seen that except for 3 years (1999, 2000 and 2001) during the period, P&G return has been above average which shows the soundness of its financial and operational performance which has enabled it to transfer the benefits to its shareholders in the form of valuable returns. With lowering debt to Asset ratio and increasing current ratio, the company is directed towards lowering its risk perceived by shareholders while at the same time improving its ability to pay off its operational liabilities accrued due to revenue expenditure. Net earnings are also on the rise showing that more and more part of their income will be given to shareholders. Since the dividend payout ration is something around 40 percent it means that with rising net income the shareholders’ cut will also increase. Company’s research and development expenditure are at the ever highest, showing that the company is expected to increase customer satisfaction by offering them innovative and unique solutions to their day to day needs in the form of better and improved products. This will increase customer loyalty and brand preference among customers which will result in increase in company’s value which is a primary concern for a shareholder. The last five year annual growth rate is 10.63 % (Procter & Gamble, 2007) which is good news for investors who relies on dividend payment as a source of their earnings such as retirees. Since these are the type of investors who cannot wait to realize capital gains. They use dividends from the stock investment as a source of earnings. Opportunities are

Explain what Utilitarianism theory would say is our moral obligation Essay

Explain what Utilitarianism theory would say is our moral obligation to help end world hunger. Is distance a morally relevant criterion according to Utilitarianism Why or why not - Essay Example According to Mill, ethical judgments should be based on the criterion of the usefulness of the human acts. A person can determine whether his/her action is good or evil based on its usefulness. However, the utility is seen not primarily as an individual utility, but as a public utility. Utilitarianism takes into account the fact that the act can be considered ethically justified if it promotes happiness or benefit for a large number of people. It is seen as â€Å"the ‘greatest happiness’ principle† (Beauchamp, 2013). Based on this, utilitarianism evaluates human moral obligations to help end world hunger in accordance with the amount of benefit that it can bring to humanity. The distance between the people in this regard is not critical, since the emphasis is on the benefit for the whole of humanity in the case of our aid to poor countries. If the aid to the starving countries from developing countries will lead to higher overall benefit and happiness, then utilitarianism appreciates it. Otherwise, utilitarianism does not see the moral reasoning for such

Article Critique on “Black Hair” Essay Example for Free

Article Critique on â€Å"Black Hair† Essay This story discussed the life of a sixteen year old man who wanted to become independent in his life but does not know how to start. The protagonist of the story was the narrator. He showed his life in a blurred path where he could not able how to distinguish the facts and fictions of life. It means that he is still incapable of being a productive individual in his society because he himself could not understand how his life works in the general perspective of human nature. Though he knows how things work, he could not manage these things in normal and proper way. Because of this, the protagonist still need to learn from what is true, right, and wrong from everything that is beyond his reach so that there would be greater knowledge and self-esteem that would grow in his identity. Based on my reading in the whole story, I can say that the whole setup of the story tackles the issues and personal identity of the persona. He pitied himself because he did not know what he is doing in his surroundings. He does not know how to look for a right job, right home, and right place to go in his everyday living. This became the conflict of the story. Everything was focused in his ways and perspectives as neophyte in his journey of life. At the end of the story, he remained clueless with those things that he encountered even the coke machine where he could not find one when he is thirsty. The implication of the story is that the author showed the angst of a young man who seeks independence in the world of real life. When we are with our family, we could not feel the pressure of having a life. We always think of the better things that we could manage but through this story, we tend to realize how things work when we are already alone. It shows that life is always a cycle and a chosen ground. When we choose to ignore the things that we encounter during our early days, it would not give us the privilege to know what true life is because we are incapable of living – to understand and to learn things around us. Reference Soto, G. Black Hair pp. 296-302

Essay --

In "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats, Yeats uses allusions, symbols, and vivid imagery to convey his cynical and despondent tone about the new evil, corrupt, and immoral era following World War I. Yeats begins the poem with an image of a "widening gyre" or a vortex of spiraling motion. This image immediately implies the chaos and disorder in a society that is spiraling wider and wider out of control and becoming more corrupt. Yeats elaborates on and supports this idea with "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold" and "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world" to further symbolize how the universe is collapsing with confusion and the absence of principles. Yeats also implies the danger and disaster to come with an image of a falcon who "cannot hear the falconer" to further illustrate suspense and danger that humanity is facing. This image also suggests that similar to the falcon that is flying around in a "widening gyre, society has wandered too far away from its morals and is doomed with curruption. Yeats continues his cynical tone with "everywhere the ceremony of innocenc...

Why Aliens Are Real

All around the world, there's one topic a lot of people talk about. Some people talk about economics, some talk about pop culture. The topic I'm going to be addressing is why I think Aliens are real. Throughout time, there has been many things that make us believe they are real, like the Roswell Incident. A quick recap of what happened was that what is thought to be a UFO crashed near a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico. The U. S. overnment then took the UFO and told everyone that what the rash was Just debris from the crash of an experimental high-altitude surveillance balloon belonging to what was then a classified (top secret) program named Mogul. This may seem unlikely and unrealistic, as if coming from a movie, but that is because this inspired many alien movies to prop up. This might be one of or maybe the most famous alien incidents ever reported, but there is a more believable one and that is â€Å"The Wow Signal†. In 1977, The Big Ear radio telescope in Ohio State Universi ty picked up an unusual signal.The Big Ear used number and letters to identify the strength of a signal, O being nothing, Z being a strong radio signal. One time, a signal came in reading ‘6EQUJ5' from what seemed to be an empty spot in space. Dr. Jerry R. Ehman recognized this and was completely shocked, so he circled the signal in the data sheet and wrote next to it â€Å"Wow! â€Å", giving the signal it's name. The closest star to where the signal came from was 220 million light years away, meaning the signal came from out of no where.It is believed that this signal was ransmitted by aliens, but we still have no actual proof it is. Now, the bible does say we are the only planet with living beings, but think about this, how big is space? We have no clue of how big it is because it is that big. Being that big, wouldn't there be a possibility that there is a world that has living beings in it? What if the society on that planet is more advanced in technology than ours and t he reason they were able to send the signal was because of a super strong radio signal they aimed at us from some machine they made? at possibility is there and i honestly believe that is the truth. I feel like we are aliens to them and they are trying to communicate with us. Space is so enormous, we can't make decisions of what is out there yet. It is like reading the beginning of a novel and declaring you know exactly what the story is about without reading it. We still have a lot to explore about space, so until we examine every single star, moon, planet, galaxy, anything that is out there, you cant say aliens don't exist because they very well could.