Sharp unrescuable, says Chinese mountaineer (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-05-28 09:14
Chinese female mountaineer Luo Lili regretted David Sharp's death in the
Mount Qomolangma but said the British climber was at a nearly unrescuable
height.
"Mountaineers all know the height above 7,000m is very dangerous and usually
deemed as an unrescuable height," said Luo on Saturday, who just returned from a
May 15 scaling of the world highest peak.
Sharp, 34, ran out of oxygen and died in a snow cave just 300 meters from the
summit on his way down the Himalayan mountain. Dozens of people had walked right
past him, unwilling to risk their own lives.
The world is angry. Sir Edmund Hillary, who was on the team that first
surmounted Mt Qomolangma in 1953, called it "horrifying" that climbers would
leave a dying man.
Luo disagreed with Hillary.
"At 8,534 metes where Sharp died, every climber feels worn out and was unable
to offer help," she said.
"I had once been trapped at where Sharp died and a dozen climbers, including
David Sharp, walked past me."
|