May 10, 2006 - Death on the Lhotse Face
Paul and Fi Adler reported on their site the news of a Czechoslovakian climber who died on the Lhotse Face. As Paul writes "...found in the snow on the face below the Yellow Band. He was barely alive and had severe frostbite after spending the night out in the open. He was found by Sherpas heading up to the South Col. They had him on oxygen pretty soon, and moved him over to the fixed line. They were joined by a doctor from the Chilean team. They then attempted to get him down to the tents at camp 3, but by the time they got him there he was pronounced dead by the doctor." My condolences to the family and friends of this climber.
This is always sad news and questions start up as to how a climber on the primary route could possibly be left alone overnight. Further, this fuels the discussion about exactly how crowded is Everest south side aka the "Yak Route". Let's explore this is a little detail.Above the Yellow Band
The area above the Yellow Band flattens out before a short, but steep climb over the Geneva Spur to the South Col. This "flat" area is a maybe a quarter mile long and on the west side rises steeply to the summit of Lhotse and on the east side drops sharply several thousand feet to the Western Cwm. The "trail" is usually packed by all the traffic and yesterday it was surely trodden given the lack of snow over the past week plus the traffic from the hundreds of Sherpas establishing Camp 4 on the South Col. There are fixed lines along the entire route and the only confusion is near the Geneva Spur where there are a lot of old lines so it is important to clip into the new one and not the old, weak lines.
Climbers going to the North Col usually leave about 8:00 in the morning from C3 to give the sun time to warm the area. The normal pacing of climbers soon strings everyone out with some climbers way ahead and some way behind, including those who might have left later from C3. On my 2003 climb, I drifted to the back of the line and soon found myself climbing with only one or two other people. I remember feeling like they were watching me and I know I was watching them since I did not want to be alone in this area. However, if I had slipped - caught my crampon on the line and fallen down the Face or blacked out and slipped a few hundred feet, they would never had noticed if they were ahead of me.
The details of most deaths on Everest are never known or revealed but there are many causes - some within the climber's control and most out of their control. In any event, another sad moment for everyone.
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