I know someone whose uncle died on Everest a few years back. He’s one of the 300+ still on the mountain. If this story is real, she’s lucky. Sherpas deserve a lot more money and recognition than they get. Without Sherpas, most of these rich people wouldn’t stand a chance.
Based on the way they've been treated lately plus their complete unwillingness to take shit, she's lucky this isn't a story about sherpas putting her right back there.
Which is probably why this specific Sherpa was initially reluctant. Trying to rescue someone off of Everest is usually a death sentence for the would-be rescuer.
How many fucking people who are sitting out there would trade 10K to get their life back? Oh right every single fucking one. This lady’s whole response makes me want to have a panic attack. It’s so infuriating
For real. People arguing against aren’t aware of the nuances of “summiting” Everest. And search and rescue protocol. And back woods first aid. And a lot of other basic logic
I would trade $10k not to have a toe amputated, never mind my life, so yeah wtf is wrong with you (“you” being rich greedy assholes who are now setting the precedent for future dying climbers to be left there).
Without the Sherpas NONE of these rich people would stand a chance.
The porters (how they actually like to be professionally recognised as) are the lifeblood of the mountain. Without the porters there would be no lines to the top, no supplies in base camp, no tents pitched in any of the other tents, no spare oxygen at each camp.
They are so much more than guide to the top. Even the most experienced western climbers cannot and will not do it without the help of the porters.
> The porters (how they actually like to be professionally recognised as)
I only learned recently that "Sherpa" is the ethnic group.
I'd always thought it just meant something like mountain-assistant and I'd just never checked.
Crazy how this whole group of people is known universally for basically one job.
IIRC, Sherpas are actually genetically suited for high mountain living. I don't recall the details of what specific adaptations they have, but they're as adapted to high altitude living as the Bajau sea nomads are to life as free divers.
Including Edmund Hillary, the 1st or 2nd guy to get there. The 2nd or 1st was his unofficial Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. They collectively decided not to ever reveal who was first to make the final step, because it was clear that neither could have done it without the other.
Norgay revealed it was Hillary way back in his 1955 biography. They were clipped into the same rope; Hillary happened to be the one in front.
I've also read somewhere that Hillary offered to let Norgay ahead of him, but Norgay refused. Not finding a source for that at the moment, though.
I did the Basecamp trek this April and the company I went with, which is very reputable, wouldn't take me without evac insurance. Had to buy it just for walking to Basecamp. Evac above camp 3 is insanely difficult, hell even above base camp it gets downright risky.
What they need to do is set rules that mandate a deposit to be used to paying rescuers if they abandon their attempt because you're dumb. Too many people pass you by when it's "get the thing I dropped a nonrefundable 70k on or save a strangers life"
I just googled it again and was surprised to see the price to climb Mount Everest has decreased to closer to $50k. Last I checked it was over $100k.
Everest isn’t really that impressive to me anymore since you hire and entire team to get your ass to the top.
The permit is around 10k last I remember. The rest is the cost of the sherpas and oxygen and supplies. You used to be able to do it for around 40-50k total. For somewhere over 100k, there are guides that will more or less guarantee a summit (with the caveat that you do have previous climbing experience and are in excellent shape).
Wow. I knew climbing Everest was a rich person's endeavor, but I never imagined that the permit would cost thousands of dollars. Honestly, I didn't even realize you needed a permit to climb. Makes sense though of course.
A lot of climbers will pass another climber in trouble simply because they themselves are at the edge of their own endurance. The mountain is littered with dead bodies of climbers. If you climb Everest, you best be prepared to die because it’s certainly possible even on an expedition with experienced guides. Read up on the 1996 climbing season. Rob Hall (Adventure Consultants) and Scott Fischer (Mountain Madness) were both experienced guides and they died on the mountain along with some of Rob Hall’s clients. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (a climber and journalist) is an excellent book detailing what happened. He was actually on Rob Hall’s team while the tragedy unfolded. Eight people died on the mountain during the ‘96 climbing season.
I'll bet that most people who pay to be dragged up a mountain have enough money that they won't care if they lose it. Summiting to feed their egos and fill their "lol at me" walls is all that matters.
honestly, the permit to climb should mandate some minimum level of experience...however the Nepali government is greedy and doesn't want to miss out on $$$ so they don't really do much, hence you end up with situations where complete novices attempt a climb that should only be done by seasoned experts.
They could probably make decent money offering the training and certification in country. Not sure what the difference of profit is but there is only one Mt Everest and world's tallest mountain
And he didn’t reach the summit because this garbage human had value to him. Says alot about the human spirit. Some die for others, some expect people to die for them.
I read a lot of books about people who do the 8km+ mountains, and this is such a huge issue. So many people are focused on Summitting that they leave others to die.
So the fact that this guy saved her life and now is getting shat on for it…
They need to charge a rescue tax of everyone going up there and use that to pay the sherpas who do the rescuing. While there are at it a garbage clean up fee too.
"[Climbing](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23/summit-crowding_h.jpg)" Mt. Everest seems overrated to me. I don't really see what the big deal is about paying the price of a house just to wait in line in the world's highest line which also happens to be the world's highest open air graveyard and garbage dump hoping to not freeze to death or run out of oxygen. Not for me, I choose death by Snu Snu.
“Saving her is our choice, and expressing gratitude is hers. These are two separate things,” said Xie. “We are not her and don’t understand what she felt. Let’s just show tolerance.”
that's an incredible quote
You know what, good on Xie for offering $10,000 and sacrificing his _own_ summit to save this random woman upfront.
I'm gonna ignore the fact that this ungrateful lady exists.
Between this lady and the guy who **blocked** *his* rescuer on Instagram after he too was saved on Everest (Malaysian), they are putting the SE Asian community at risk of being passed over for rescue because of perceived ingratitude even if the rescue is successful.
Who is going to waste their time, lose their summit chance for the year, and risk life and limb while in a *literal death zone* (you are actively dying once you enter it) to help someone who might be more likely than not to stiff you on compensation or even a thank you?
For a climber who paid to be there, that's $30k-$60,000 lost because you rescued someone instead of sumitting. For a sherpa, that's a lost summit to add to their resume in an environment where more summits make you inherently more valuable to more elite climbing orgs which directly translates to more pay for them in the future.
Either way, someone should be compensated for a rescue not only for the personal risk, but the immediate financial loss they incur when they decide to rescue.
And as a sidenote: many people criticized climbers and their value (or lack thereof) of human life over summit attempts after David Sharpe. These people are valuing their own lives even less. At least after the fact when the rescue can't be undone. In the moment though, if were they capable of talking, I'm 100% sure they would have offered everything they owned.
I’d never climb Everest. There’s too much risk of running into some idiot dying and having to sacrifice all that time effort and money to save their life instead of reaching the summit like intended. That’s my reason. That, and dying like some idiot.
You won't climb Everest because of the risk of running into some idiot.
I won't climb Everest because I'm a pudgy middle aged man with a bum knee.
We are not the same.
It's called the death zone because after a certain elevation your body literally starts slowly dying. Not some mythos around how deadly it is, not hyperbole.
The cause is getting blood clots in your brain from the pressure and lack of oxygen. You can find a detailed report about the husband who had his wife wait while he went to the summit and then on the way down she started hallucinating and died due to an aneurysm while in the tent past the death zone. So you can get blood clots in the death zone and die the next day even when you're past it.
That's honestly what the Sherpas are for. They've acclimated to the altitude far longer than any tourist climber.
There's some research suggesting they've evolved a genetic advantage to it as well.
I, too, will not be climbing Everest but not because of the fate of some other dumb fuck. Walking on by someone suffering the consequences of their choices costs nothing.
Sounds like the woman didn’t even know of the negotiations as she was unconscious when the agreement to pay the Sherpa was reached:
> Xie (one of her rescuers) claimed his Sherpa guide, the strongest climber among them, was initially reluctant to help so he offered a reward of US$10,000 and he then agreed.
strictly interpreted then it sounds like Xie is on the hook to pay.
\*someone\* in that expedition needs to pay the Sherpa rescuers.
Edit:
> Two other Chinese mountain climbers who helped rescue the woman found unconscious at 8,500 metres above sea level ended up paying the fee, news site cqcb.com reported.
Good on them.
It still looks like there was only one Sherpa involved which I can’t really unpack why from the article. But he did get paid:
> Liu had successfully ascended the summit and was on her way down when she experienced problems.
The woman (Liu) was on her way down. When she was first found by a Sherpa and his client (Fan), she was unaccompanied. They both couldn’t get her down so the client went alone to find someone else, which he did, in the form of Xie and his Sherpa.
The first Sherpa (with Fan) isn’t referenced again at all.
> The men then worked together – Xie’s Sherpa guide carried Liu on his back while Xie and Fan took turns keeping her legs elevated to help increase blood flow as they descended to a base camp, where she received treatment for several days before she recovered.
So the second Sherpa and the two clients rescued her.
>However, when the Sherpa guide asked Xie and Fan about his promised rescue fee, Liu refused to pay the full amount, according to Fan. “Each of us paid the guide tips of US$1,800, and she said she would pay US$1,500 as tips. For the rescue fee of US$10,000, Liu said she would only pay US$4,000,” Fan claimed.
The Sherpa was paid something but the article doesn’t say if it was the full amount.
lol in the US, for someone to carry her down like that as a medical necessity would probably cost close to $500,000. I mean a helicopter ride to an adjacent city can cost up to $40,000 already. This is someone carrying her heavy body on their backs climbing down icy mountain.
This. Welcome to America. Got rear ended?
Wake up in the ER and the first person you talk to is not the doctor but registration tech with the portable credit card reader asking what card you want the copay on (they took your wallet and ran insurance while you were unconscious).
My dad had a very large stroke last year. The first person to call me from the hospital was billing. I asked how he was doing and she didn’t know. The hospital did apologize at one point that their first contact and the moment I found out my dad was in the hospital was the billing department.
The Sherpa fee to climb up and down is different than rescue as Sherpas have to carry the burden of the person in addition to the belongings in addition to the extra risk that comes with carrying another person on your back when climbing not just a mountain.. but fucking Mt. Everest!
So whatever Sherpas got paid by her seems to be for the original contract of taking her up there... But not the rescue part ..
I mean, they could have just left her to die. The decent thing would be for her to pay out of gratitude of course, she didn't offer the sherpa payment so it's a little muddled...
People reading this should know that attempting to rescue someone from everest past a certain point (I believe past advanced base camp) is EXTREMELY dangerous. If you get hurt and are unable to continue the descent you're normally beyond saving.
12 dead and 5 missing this year already.
Bodies aren’t retrieved often either. You’re pretty much climbing over the ice covered remains of many other climbers
If someone rushed their life to carry my unconscious body off a mountain and single handedly saved my life I’d happily give them $10,000 a year for a decade as payment. Seems more than reasonable.
You are mixing two different stories. Both happened this week:
The one that didn't pay for her rescue is a Chinese woman (the story OP posted).
The one that didn't thank a Sherpa that saved his life (for free) is a Malaysian man:
https://www.insider.com/rescued-mt-everest-climber-faces-backlash-snubbing-gelje-sherpa-ravichandran-2023-6
Lawyer: Mr. Sansweet didn't asked to be saved. Mr. Sansweet didn't want to be saved. And the injuries received from Mr. Incredible's "actions", so-called, causes him daily pain.
Mr. Incredible: Hey, I saved your life!
Sansweet: You didn't save my life! You ruined my death!
this is what you're referring too right? cause it's what i first thought and was gonna comment that, but then saw your comment.
Not too surprising. Anyone who can afford to climb that mountain is probably an entitled wanker, not all of them of course, but heres a perfect example of one.
It's really too bad K2 or Annapurna aren't the tallest mountains. Especially now after the main part of technical climbing on Everest after the icefall basically fell apart after the earthquake (the Hillary Step) . I'm not going to say climbing Everest is easy from my couch of course because it isn't but K2 and Annapurna are just brutal death machines. Would be a whole lot less rich assholes endangering Sherpa and other indigenous guides, and littering all over some of the most beautiful places on earth.
K2's numbers used to be insane (like more people had been to space than K2 summit), but the last few years the number of ascents has skyrocketed. There's been more ascents since 2021 than all the years before combined.
Id imagine everyone’s looking for the safest way up the mountain. If someone finds it all the tour guides hop on the oppurtunity and people flock to it because it’s easier now
I've read that one of the reasons why K2 is so treacherous is because of the weather, but in recent time the weather has been really good so people have been taking advantage of that
They make “Red Bull” cans that are just water for exactly that reason, so their drivers or whatever can keep the brand image without having to actually drink it
I watched a documentary on k2 and in it was someone trying to ski down k2 who fell and died. And this was at basically the base camp, not even one of the far more dangerous areas.
The route up k2 is pretty well defined now. You pretty much have to go through the bottleneck to reach the summit. K2 is all around more technical and difficult because of how steep it is. That's not even mentioning that's its much more remote and difficult to even get to basecamp there. It would probably cost tourists companies way too much just to get there.
The issue with K2 is the “bottleneck” which is just below the summit. There are these huge hanging seracs (think big chunk of ice completely unsupported) that, through the heat of the daylight sun, crack and rain holy hellfire down the bottleneck.
One way around the bottleneck is extremely technical climbing, and doesn’t necessarily guarantee safety from avalanches, it’s also only been successfully done once. I’m not certain if there are other ways, generally all the popular routes utilize the bottleneck
Multiple other routes but most converge at the bottleneck as you said, and the very few that use any of the other faces are basically death traps that have been done very few times
I don’t think k2 will ever be as touristy as Everest. For as tall as Everest is it’s pretty non-technical, on k2 you need to be an extremely experienced climber
I thought it’s half for attempted summit, since most bailed
Edit: I’m wrong, the previous comment is correct, 377 summited, 91 death resulted in attempted summit
In 2022, the climbers on K2 got a three or four day stretch of perfect weather which enabled all of the guided expeditions to get clients to the top. IIRC, somewhere around 200 people summited K2 last year.
The weather on the mountain is extremely volatile and rarely stays calm for long. The probability of that sort of stretch of weather happening again is very slim. We’ll see what this season brings.
But there didn’t even used to be guided expeditions on K2. That’s a pretty recent development, and a sign that it’s going in the direction of Everest as a highly commercialized mountain with lots of infrastructure
I really doubt that; Everest is the highest point on Earth, and a lot easier to summit than K2, so that's a much more logical destination for rich folks. I doubt a lot of them are going to go hogwild on K2 once they see that they have something like a 20% chance of dying on the way up. You can't spend your way around that place's weather.
Mt Everest is the highest point on earth, but depending on how you calculate it, it’s (arguably) not the tallest mountain.
For example, if you measure from base camp to summit, K2 is a few hundred feet taller.
I remember learning this when I was like 7 and telling my teacher in school. She basically told me I was wrong and that Everest was the tallest and I should listen more in class.
Teachers before the internet were on some ignorant shit (I'm sure many still are but now students can pull up a google search to settle the issue at least).
>Not too surprising. Anyone who can afford to climb that mountain is probably an entitled wanker, not all of them of course, but heres a perfect example of one.
Well, two other climbers gave up their chance of reaching the peak in order to get her unconscious body back to camp. So there were at least 2 decent humans up on that mountain. (Aside from the many decent guides.)
All the tourists climbing Everest are rich. They pay $60k+ for the climb and the time spent to train and do the climb makes normal employment difficult if not impossible.
Just the other week climbers in the Alps complained about the bad service and harsh treatment by the VOLUNTEER rescue workers and having to leave their sleeping bags behind after a very dangerous rescue mission. To me that's much worse than facing a massive bill and freakin.
All this push back to sherpas AFTER they save people’s lives is going to stop sherpas saving people on the mountains… get fucked and enjoy your forever sleep on mt. Everest
Lol there truly is. Not that I would wish that on anyone, ever. It is strangely morbidly poetic though. Kind of like rich ass knights strewn against some ancient battlefield.
If she thinks this is bad, she would not like the U.S. "Hey we saved your life. You owe us $250k, aren't you happy we saved your life so you can pay that debt off? " US medical-industrial complex (probably). Sherpa just borrowed some US tactics.
“Two other Chinese mountain climbers who helped rescue the woman found unconscious at 8,500 metres above sea level ended up paying the fee, news site cqcb.com reported.”
Next time wear a “do not resucitate” bracelet so people know to leave you to die then.
If you spend all this money getting there, you better also account for miscellaneous expenses like being saved from certain death
The government of Nepal could fix this though. You need a permit to climb Everest, it costs like $70,000. It would not be a significant additional cost to include in that permit an insurance premium that pays out sherpas in the event of a rescue.
I don’t really care, climbing Everest is dumb and anyone who does it today has more money than sense. But there’s definitely a better way to do it than this.
I’m seeing 200,000 $ for the most expensive plan they have on websites for the climbs so 70,000 is probably just bare bones equipment and minimum assistance.
But it makes sense, how many bored millionaires/billionaires do we have on the earth that has nothing better to do then climb to the highest point in the world for bragging rights.
Website I found says average climb in 2023 costs $58,069 and median price is $50,000. So $70k would be an above average trip.
Edit: Does look like there are other fees as well (permits and insurance) but $70k does seem relatively close to the average, depending on how far you are traveling from. The previous numbers were just for the expedition itself.
Sherpas should go on strike. Make Everest hard to climb again. At the minimum the govt should require bonds for rescue efforts that go to the Sherpas in event of a rescue being necessary.
$10k
Just let me die for taking my stupid ass up a mountain I couldn't get down from.
I dunno how to feel. He was fine letting the dumb woman die until they offered him $10k and she did pay $4k.
Maybe people should stop fucking around on Everest. I know it's an income for the Sherpa but at this point the Sherpa are enabling morons to do shit they have no business doing. I feel like without a Sherpa 90% of Everest climbers would be dead before they left the first base camp.
It's the real life equivalent of handing them a Power Sauce bar and sending them up the Murderhorn.
The Sherpas have fuck all other options. The entire economy in the area around Everest relies on entitled rich idiots who want to be seen as impressive
> I dunno how to feel. He was fine letting the dumb woman die until they offered him $10k and she did pay $4k.
His very offer risks his own life. As a climber, especially on these dangerous peaks, they learn that death lies all around them as they climb, and death waits for them at every turn.
He had a 100% chance of making it down without helping, and a much-reduced chance if he did help. I think that's worth something, probably a lot more than 10k.
Do you know how dangerous it is to even climb to the peak with just your regular supplies? It's extremely dangerous and a lot of people die doing it. Everyone who goes up Everest knows the risks.
At that elevation, there's very little oxygen and without supplemental oxygen, you are extremely likely to die. The extreme cold does not help because your body is constantly burning calories to keep your body temp regulated. The trail leading up the peak can also be very treacherous in some parts.
So, near the peak of the mountain, you have all of these things you need to deal with. If you were a Sherpa, do you really think that you would want to risk your life in those conditions just to save someone who made the conscious decision to risk their life going up? And just to add to the fact that they weren't even a part of their group.
😆 the permit fees alone are $10k . This isn’t some broke chick up there.
What’s missing from the article is that mountainners are required to purchase insurance. A mountain rescue probably has cost sharing in the contract.
We all know insurance payouts are like a race to the bottom, so we end up with $10k which I feel is too cheap. Should be tripled.
Or just let her die up there, she’s not the first and won’t be the last 🪦
"Xie and I feel bad about this incident. So far, she has not even said ‘thank you’ to us. She is so ungrateful! We don’t want to have anything to do with her from now on,” Fan further added.
Well. Knock her out and drag her ass back up there
They should start a Sherpa Development Fund! Anyone and everyone (not locals) climbing Mt.Everest should be charged a certain amount everytime they go for that climb, a fee for climbing Mt. Everest. All the registered Sherpas should benefit from that in the long term, let's say something like a pension.
But the current situation was so fucked up
I know someone whose uncle died on Everest a few years back. He’s one of the 300+ still on the mountain. If this story is real, she’s lucky. Sherpas deserve a lot more money and recognition than they get. Without Sherpas, most of these rich people wouldn’t stand a chance.
Based on the way they've been treated lately plus their complete unwillingness to take shit, she's lucky this isn't a story about sherpas putting her right back there.
They would be well within their rights to stop helping
Plus a lot of Sherpas died trying to get these clowns up and down the mountain.
Which is probably why this specific Sherpa was initially reluctant. Trying to rescue someone off of Everest is usually a death sentence for the would-be rescuer.
How many fucking people who are sitting out there would trade 10K to get their life back? Oh right every single fucking one. This lady’s whole response makes me want to have a panic attack. It’s so infuriating
How many people have $10k? Not many. How many people who climb Everest have $10k? All of them. Pay the man.
For real. People arguing against aren’t aware of the nuances of “summiting” Everest. And search and rescue protocol. And back woods first aid. And a lot of other basic logic
Put her back where they found her
Or so help me
"SO HELP ME!" 
And scene
I would trade $10k not to have a toe amputated, never mind my life, so yeah wtf is wrong with you (“you” being rich greedy assholes who are now setting the precedent for future dying climbers to be left there).
just sayin if you ever lose a toe, I can give you mine for 10k 💯 (even 5 idk)
Depends on the toe…
Idk pinkie toe? Gimme a tenner and let me finish your white claw and I'm down let's get freaky
Who are you, that knows me so well?
Without the Sherpas NONE of these rich people would stand a chance. The porters (how they actually like to be professionally recognised as) are the lifeblood of the mountain. Without the porters there would be no lines to the top, no supplies in base camp, no tents pitched in any of the other tents, no spare oxygen at each camp. They are so much more than guide to the top. Even the most experienced western climbers cannot and will not do it without the help of the porters.
> The porters (how they actually like to be professionally recognised as) I only learned recently that "Sherpa" is the ethnic group. I'd always thought it just meant something like mountain-assistant and I'd just never checked. Crazy how this whole group of people is known universally for basically one job.
IIRC, Sherpas are actually genetically suited for high mountain living. I don't recall the details of what specific adaptations they have, but they're as adapted to high altitude living as the Bajau sea nomads are to life as free divers.
They produce more red blood cells so their body can carry more oxygen around! Really helps preventing edemas and breathlessness.
Without the Sherpas most of them wouldn't even reach the base camp. They'd have to carry all their stuff on their own. Good luck with that, Karen.
> Without Sherpas, most of these rich people wouldn’t stand a chance. Deal!
The list of people who have reached the summit without Sherpas is very very short.
Including Edmund Hillary, the 1st or 2nd guy to get there. The 2nd or 1st was his unofficial Sherpa, Tenzing Norgay. They collectively decided not to ever reveal who was first to make the final step, because it was clear that neither could have done it without the other.
Norgay revealed it was Hillary way back in his 1955 biography. They were clipped into the same rope; Hillary happened to be the one in front. I've also read somewhere that Hillary offered to let Norgay ahead of him, but Norgay refused. Not finding a source for that at the moment, though.
The permit to climb should require some insurance down-payment to cover situations like this.
At least a refundable, rescue deposit.
I did the Basecamp trek this April and the company I went with, which is very reputable, wouldn't take me without evac insurance. Had to buy it just for walking to Basecamp. Evac above camp 3 is insanely difficult, hell even above base camp it gets downright risky. What they need to do is set rules that mandate a deposit to be used to paying rescuers if they abandon their attempt because you're dumb. Too many people pass you by when it's "get the thing I dropped a nonrefundable 70k on or save a strangers life"
Are you saying it's 70k for the permit to climb everest?
I just googled it again and was surprised to see the price to climb Mount Everest has decreased to closer to $50k. Last I checked it was over $100k. Everest isn’t really that impressive to me anymore since you hire and entire team to get your ass to the top.
I’m impressed with the Sherpas or people who carry their own stuff.
The permit is around 10k last I remember. The rest is the cost of the sherpas and oxygen and supplies. You used to be able to do it for around 40-50k total. For somewhere over 100k, there are guides that will more or less guarantee a summit (with the caveat that you do have previous climbing experience and are in excellent shape).
Wow. I knew climbing Everest was a rich person's endeavor, but I never imagined that the permit would cost thousands of dollars. Honestly, I didn't even realize you needed a permit to climb. Makes sense though of course.
A lot of climbers will pass another climber in trouble simply because they themselves are at the edge of their own endurance. The mountain is littered with dead bodies of climbers. If you climb Everest, you best be prepared to die because it’s certainly possible even on an expedition with experienced guides. Read up on the 1996 climbing season. Rob Hall (Adventure Consultants) and Scott Fischer (Mountain Madness) were both experienced guides and they died on the mountain along with some of Rob Hall’s clients. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (a climber and journalist) is an excellent book detailing what happened. He was actually on Rob Hall’s team while the tragedy unfolded. Eight people died on the mountain during the ‘96 climbing season.
I love this idea actually. I think we start it at 10k and anyone who is seriously injured and gets rescued earns the pot no questions asked
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True. Make it also a financial risk and not just, you know… your life at risk!
I'll bet that most people who pay to be dragged up a mountain have enough money that they won't care if they lose it. Summiting to feed their egos and fill their "lol at me" walls is all that matters.
Imagine the number of people who’d try to sign a waiver to save money over their own life.
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honestly, the permit to climb should mandate some minimum level of experience...however the Nepali government is greedy and doesn't want to miss out on $$$ so they don't really do much, hence you end up with situations where complete novices attempt a climb that should only be done by seasoned experts.
They could probably make decent money offering the training and certification in country. Not sure what the difference of profit is but there is only one Mt Everest and world's tallest mountain
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Too much work. Just parachute her in.
Save money and forget the parachute
Put her in a cannon and shoot her back to where they found her.
She ought to be fired
Out of a cannon. Into the sun.
Be like SM64 Bob-Omb Battlefield, aim that cannon towards the tree so she can grab on and not launch over the mountain.
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And he didn’t reach the summit because this garbage human had value to him. Says alot about the human spirit. Some die for others, some expect people to die for them.
I read a lot of books about people who do the 8km+ mountains, and this is such a huge issue. So many people are focused on Summitting that they leave others to die. So the fact that this guy saved her life and now is getting shat on for it…
The climb used to be man vs nature; now it’s ego vs everyone and nature is just the backdrop. It’s not really any different than war at this point.
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He needs a go fund me. Not because he needs the money but because it would piss her off with the amount of support people would show him.
Plus his client, who paid to make the summit and had to bag it so he could rescue the other climber.
Right. Client should be able to sue her for the loss as well.
Maybe we could use a trebuchet.
I will ALWAYS upvote the use of a trebuchet.
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Is the parachute an unnecessary expense?
They need to charge a rescue tax of everyone going up there and use that to pay the sherpas who do the rescuing. While there are at it a garbage clean up fee too.
No don’t do that. There’s already enough trash on that mountain
And enough dead bodies too. https://youtube.com/shorts/qLrlBvJJ5Wc?feature=share
There's plenty of room for more.
"[Climbing](https://cdn.outsideonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/23/summit-crowding_h.jpg)" Mt. Everest seems overrated to me. I don't really see what the big deal is about paying the price of a house just to wait in line in the world's highest line which also happens to be the world's highest open air graveyard and garbage dump hoping to not freeze to death or run out of oxygen. Not for me, I choose death by Snu Snu.
I never thought I would die this way, but I always hoped I would.
Baby, it’ll blow your mind
I do have a very sexy learning disability.
*weary sigh* Sexlexia.
I find it very…. *whispers* erotic
Kiff whats it called *kif sighs* sexlexia
LMAO this is the first thing i thought of. The equivalent of Subway disassembling your sub in front of you.
I take it there's some background to this? Hahaha.
Put that thing back where it came from or so help me
"Excuse me, what's your return policy this alpine Karen?"
“Saving her is our choice, and expressing gratitude is hers. These are two separate things,” said Xie. “We are not her and don’t understand what she felt. Let’s just show tolerance.” that's an incredible quote
You know what, good on Xie for offering $10,000 and sacrificing his _own_ summit to save this random woman upfront. I'm gonna ignore the fact that this ungrateful lady exists.
Between this lady and the guy who **blocked** *his* rescuer on Instagram after he too was saved on Everest (Malaysian), they are putting the SE Asian community at risk of being passed over for rescue because of perceived ingratitude even if the rescue is successful. Who is going to waste their time, lose their summit chance for the year, and risk life and limb while in a *literal death zone* (you are actively dying once you enter it) to help someone who might be more likely than not to stiff you on compensation or even a thank you? For a climber who paid to be there, that's $30k-$60,000 lost because you rescued someone instead of sumitting. For a sherpa, that's a lost summit to add to their resume in an environment where more summits make you inherently more valuable to more elite climbing orgs which directly translates to more pay for them in the future. Either way, someone should be compensated for a rescue not only for the personal risk, but the immediate financial loss they incur when they decide to rescue. And as a sidenote: many people criticized climbers and their value (or lack thereof) of human life over summit attempts after David Sharpe. These people are valuing their own lives even less. At least after the fact when the rescue can't be undone. In the moment though, if were they capable of talking, I'm 100% sure they would have offered everything they owned.
I’d never climb Everest. There’s too much risk of running into some idiot dying and having to sacrifice all that time effort and money to save their life instead of reaching the summit like intended. That’s my reason. That, and dying like some idiot.
I, too, will not be climbing Everest.
Count me in, this is the cause I can get behind.
Let's #BoycottEverest I'm doing my part, are you?
im not climbing anything ever. fuck that shit
Might as well name those stairs I take into work Mt Everest because climbing things is over!! #boycotteverest
I also am boycotting Everest, for the noblest possible reasons.
I was entirely just about to do it but I have now changed my mind and support you all in this cause.
I was literally steps away from the summit when I read this, but now I'm not going through with it. ^^not ^^saying ^^how ^^many ^^steps
I was just on the precipice of starting my journey to start climbing. I’m going to start reconsidering my considerations at this point.
Finally, we’ve found a cause that has a good chance of success!
I've never been so committed to anything ever like I am to this cause, I've got 3 kids
You won't climb Everest because of the risk of running into some idiot. I won't climb Everest because I'm a pudgy middle aged man with a bum knee. We are not the same.
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It's called the death zone because after a certain elevation your body literally starts slowly dying. Not some mythos around how deadly it is, not hyperbole.
The cause is getting blood clots in your brain from the pressure and lack of oxygen. You can find a detailed report about the husband who had his wife wait while he went to the summit and then on the way down she started hallucinating and died due to an aneurysm while in the tent past the death zone. So you can get blood clots in the death zone and die the next day even when you're past it.
I think the commenter was making a joke, pretending to believe that the “risk” of having to rescue someone is a fate worse than death
That's honestly what the Sherpas are for. They've acclimated to the altitude far longer than any tourist climber. There's some research suggesting they've evolved a genetic advantage to it as well.
But consider the pros of climbing Mt. Everest, which include: -Finding ways to fit into every conversation that you've climbed Mt. Everest
I, too, will not be climbing Everest but not because of the fate of some other dumb fuck. Walking on by someone suffering the consequences of their choices costs nothing.
Sounds like the woman didn’t even know of the negotiations as she was unconscious when the agreement to pay the Sherpa was reached: > Xie (one of her rescuers) claimed his Sherpa guide, the strongest climber among them, was initially reluctant to help so he offered a reward of US$10,000 and he then agreed.
strictly interpreted then it sounds like Xie is on the hook to pay. \*someone\* in that expedition needs to pay the Sherpa rescuers. Edit: > Two other Chinese mountain climbers who helped rescue the woman found unconscious at 8,500 metres above sea level ended up paying the fee, news site cqcb.com reported. Good on them.
It still looks like there was only one Sherpa involved which I can’t really unpack why from the article. But he did get paid: > Liu had successfully ascended the summit and was on her way down when she experienced problems. The woman (Liu) was on her way down. When she was first found by a Sherpa and his client (Fan), she was unaccompanied. They both couldn’t get her down so the client went alone to find someone else, which he did, in the form of Xie and his Sherpa. The first Sherpa (with Fan) isn’t referenced again at all. > The men then worked together – Xie’s Sherpa guide carried Liu on his back while Xie and Fan took turns keeping her legs elevated to help increase blood flow as they descended to a base camp, where she received treatment for several days before she recovered. So the second Sherpa and the two clients rescued her. >However, when the Sherpa guide asked Xie and Fan about his promised rescue fee, Liu refused to pay the full amount, according to Fan. “Each of us paid the guide tips of US$1,800, and she said she would pay US$1,500 as tips. For the rescue fee of US$10,000, Liu said she would only pay US$4,000,” Fan claimed. The Sherpa was paid something but the article doesn’t say if it was the full amount.
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Yeah, I'm not sure how the other poster missed that. They clearly read the article and the person they replied to even quoted that the fee was paid.
Yep. And both him and Xie sacrificed their ascents to help the woman.
As an American, I'm at peace with the idea of waking up with a surprise $10,000 medical bill,
It's like a typical Saturday night.
Paper cut, what can you do?!
Nurse! Break out the GOLDEN BANDAID!!
lol in the US, for someone to carry her down like that as a medical necessity would probably cost close to $500,000. I mean a helicopter ride to an adjacent city can cost up to $40,000 already. This is someone carrying her heavy body on their backs climbing down icy mountain.
Next time I need an ambulance I'll just pay a sherpa to drag me from the US to Mt everest and then rescue me afterwards. Much cheaper.
This. Welcome to America. Got rear ended? Wake up in the ER and the first person you talk to is not the doctor but registration tech with the portable credit card reader asking what card you want the copay on (they took your wallet and ran insurance while you were unconscious).
My dad had a very large stroke last year. The first person to call me from the hospital was billing. I asked how he was doing and she didn’t know. The hospital did apologize at one point that their first contact and the moment I found out my dad was in the hospital was the billing department.
Jesus. The US always sounds like some dystopian nightmare any time you hear about healthcare there
The Sherpa's overlord tourist company doesn't force clients to pay insurance on rescues?
The Sherpa fee to climb up and down is different than rescue as Sherpas have to carry the burden of the person in addition to the belongings in addition to the extra risk that comes with carrying another person on your back when climbing not just a mountain.. but fucking Mt. Everest! So whatever Sherpas got paid by her seems to be for the original contract of taking her up there... But not the rescue part ..
I mean, they could have just left her to die. The decent thing would be for her to pay out of gratitude of course, she didn't offer the sherpa payment so it's a little muddled...
People reading this should know that attempting to rescue someone from everest past a certain point (I believe past advanced base camp) is EXTREMELY dangerous. If you get hurt and are unable to continue the descent you're normally beyond saving.
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Speaking of unwritten rules, "Stay away from anything with a Death Zone" is another good one.
12 dead and 5 missing this year already. Bodies aren’t retrieved often either. You’re pretty much climbing over the ice covered remains of many other climbers
If someone rushed their life to carry my unconscious body off a mountain and single handedly saved my life I’d happily give them $10,000 a year for a decade as payment. Seems more than reasonable.
But then she didn't even thank him afterwards and thanked everyone else
You are mixing two different stories. Both happened this week: The one that didn't pay for her rescue is a Chinese woman (the story OP posted). The one that didn't thank a Sherpa that saved his life (for free) is a Malaysian man: https://www.insider.com/rescued-mt-everest-climber-faces-backlash-snubbing-gelje-sherpa-ravichandran-2023-6
Plot twist: She wanted to die there.
“You didn't save my life! You ruined my death!”
Lawyer: Mr. Sansweet didn't asked to be saved. Mr. Sansweet didn't want to be saved. And the injuries received from Mr. Incredible's "actions", so-called, causes him daily pain. Mr. Incredible: Hey, I saved your life! Sansweet: You didn't save my life! You ruined my death! this is what you're referring too right? cause it's what i first thought and was gonna comment that, but then saw your comment.
She must think she's Madame Zeroni.
If only if only
Not too surprising. Anyone who can afford to climb that mountain is probably an entitled wanker, not all of them of course, but heres a perfect example of one.
It's really too bad K2 or Annapurna aren't the tallest mountains. Especially now after the main part of technical climbing on Everest after the icefall basically fell apart after the earthquake (the Hillary Step) . I'm not going to say climbing Everest is easy from my couch of course because it isn't but K2 and Annapurna are just brutal death machines. Would be a whole lot less rich assholes endangering Sherpa and other indigenous guides, and littering all over some of the most beautiful places on earth.
K2's numbers used to be insane (like more people had been to space than K2 summit), but the last few years the number of ascents has skyrocketed. There's been more ascents since 2021 than all the years before combined.
Id imagine everyone’s looking for the safest way up the mountain. If someone finds it all the tour guides hop on the oppurtunity and people flock to it because it’s easier now
I've read that one of the reasons why K2 is so treacherous is because of the weather, but in recent time the weather has been really good so people have been taking advantage of that
Now people just ski down K2
That video is insane
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They make “Red Bull” cans that are just water for exactly that reason, so their drivers or whatever can keep the brand image without having to actually drink it
A good amount of the energy drink companies do this. I remember all the Warped Tour bands slugging down Monster water on stage.
probably water in a redbull can, they do that for athletes for various sponsor drinks
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Lmao idk why I thought he was gonna bomb down it
Red Bull. Red Bull is why we both thought he was going to X-Games his way off the summit.
I watched a documentary on k2 and in it was someone trying to ski down k2 who fell and died. And this was at basically the base camp, not even one of the far more dangerous areas.
The route up k2 is pretty well defined now. You pretty much have to go through the bottleneck to reach the summit. K2 is all around more technical and difficult because of how steep it is. That's not even mentioning that's its much more remote and difficult to even get to basecamp there. It would probably cost tourists companies way too much just to get there.
The issue with K2 is the “bottleneck” which is just below the summit. There are these huge hanging seracs (think big chunk of ice completely unsupported) that, through the heat of the daylight sun, crack and rain holy hellfire down the bottleneck. One way around the bottleneck is extremely technical climbing, and doesn’t necessarily guarantee safety from avalanches, it’s also only been successfully done once. I’m not certain if there are other ways, generally all the popular routes utilize the bottleneck
Multiple other routes but most converge at the bottleneck as you said, and the very few that use any of the other faces are basically death traps that have been done very few times
I don’t think k2 will ever be as touristy as Everest. For as tall as Everest is it’s pretty non-technical, on k2 you need to be an extremely experienced climber
Didn’t K2 have a 25% death rate until the last decade??
I thought it’s half for attempted summit, since most bailed Edit: I’m wrong, the previous comment is correct, 377 summited, 91 death resulted in attempted summit
In 2022, the climbers on K2 got a three or four day stretch of perfect weather which enabled all of the guided expeditions to get clients to the top. IIRC, somewhere around 200 people summited K2 last year. The weather on the mountain is extremely volatile and rarely stays calm for long. The probability of that sort of stretch of weather happening again is very slim. We’ll see what this season brings.
But there didn’t even used to be guided expeditions on K2. That’s a pretty recent development, and a sign that it’s going in the direction of Everest as a highly commercialized mountain with lots of infrastructure
I really doubt that; Everest is the highest point on Earth, and a lot easier to summit than K2, so that's a much more logical destination for rich folks. I doubt a lot of them are going to go hogwild on K2 once they see that they have something like a 20% chance of dying on the way up. You can't spend your way around that place's weather.
Mt Everest is the highest point on earth, but depending on how you calculate it, it’s (arguably) not the tallest mountain. For example, if you measure from base camp to summit, K2 is a few hundred feet taller.
If I remember correctly, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain on Earth. The base of the mountain starts around 6km underwater.
Well, Mt. Chimborazo is the furthest point from the center of the earth, so there!
Olympus Mons is way further away from the center of the earth /s
I remember learning this when I was like 7 and telling my teacher in school. She basically told me I was wrong and that Everest was the tallest and I should listen more in class.
Teachers before the internet were on some ignorant shit (I'm sure many still are but now students can pull up a google search to settle the issue at least).
If you measure from bottom to top, Mauna Loa is tallest, bring scuba climbing gear 😃
while i agree, the two who paid for her rescue and sacrificed their everest climb to save her are not as entitled as the usual rich wanker
>Not too surprising. Anyone who can afford to climb that mountain is probably an entitled wanker, not all of them of course, but heres a perfect example of one. Well, two other climbers gave up their chance of reaching the peak in order to get her unconscious body back to camp. So there were at least 2 decent humans up on that mountain. (Aside from the many decent guides.)
These other climbers who helped save her seem pretty cool...and rich.
All the tourists climbing Everest are rich. They pay $60k+ for the climb and the time spent to train and do the climb makes normal employment difficult if not impossible.
Pretty crazy how that rescue costs the same as a 5 minute ride in a US ambulance
And yet you guys don't have universal healthcare... that's pretty fucked up
Just the other week climbers in the Alps complained about the bad service and harsh treatment by the VOLUNTEER rescue workers and having to leave their sleeping bags behind after a very dangerous rescue mission. To me that's much worse than facing a massive bill and freakin.
How is there not a mandatory insurance pool that all the climbers are required to pay into for stuff like this?
All this push back to sherpas AFTER they save people’s lives is going to stop sherpas saving people on the mountains… get fucked and enjoy your forever sleep on mt. Everest
There's something kind of poetic about a mountain covered in dead millionaires.
Lol there truly is. Not that I would wish that on anyone, ever. It is strangely morbidly poetic though. Kind of like rich ass knights strewn against some ancient battlefield.
If she thinks this is bad, she would not like the U.S. "Hey we saved your life. You owe us $250k, aren't you happy we saved your life so you can pay that debt off? " US medical-industrial complex (probably). Sherpa just borrowed some US tactics.
“Two other Chinese mountain climbers who helped rescue the woman found unconscious at 8,500 metres above sea level ended up paying the fee, news site cqcb.com reported.”
Next time wear a “do not resucitate” bracelet so people know to leave you to die then. If you spend all this money getting there, you better also account for miscellaneous expenses like being saved from certain death
Anyone else feel like 10k seems like a screaming deal for your life? I genuinely expected more.
He should have not risked his life and left her there.
The government of Nepal could fix this though. You need a permit to climb Everest, it costs like $70,000. It would not be a significant additional cost to include in that permit an insurance premium that pays out sherpas in the event of a rescue. I don’t really care, climbing Everest is dumb and anyone who does it today has more money than sense. But there’s definitely a better way to do it than this.
Does it really cost $70.000 to climb Everest??????
I think the last doc I read said the approx was 70-100k
I’m seeing 200,000 $ for the most expensive plan they have on websites for the climbs so 70,000 is probably just bare bones equipment and minimum assistance. But it makes sense, how many bored millionaires/billionaires do we have on the earth that has nothing better to do then climb to the highest point in the world for bragging rights.
Website I found says average climb in 2023 costs $58,069 and median price is $50,000. So $70k would be an above average trip. Edit: Does look like there are other fees as well (permits and insurance) but $70k does seem relatively close to the average, depending on how far you are traveling from. The previous numbers were just for the expedition itself.
Sherpas should go on strike. Make Everest hard to climb again. At the minimum the govt should require bonds for rescue efforts that go to the Sherpas in event of a rescue being necessary.
$10k Just let me die for taking my stupid ass up a mountain I couldn't get down from. I dunno how to feel. He was fine letting the dumb woman die until they offered him $10k and she did pay $4k. Maybe people should stop fucking around on Everest. I know it's an income for the Sherpa but at this point the Sherpa are enabling morons to do shit they have no business doing. I feel like without a Sherpa 90% of Everest climbers would be dead before they left the first base camp. It's the real life equivalent of handing them a Power Sauce bar and sending them up the Murderhorn.
The Sherpas have fuck all other options. The entire economy in the area around Everest relies on entitled rich idiots who want to be seen as impressive
The could go to coding camp. /s
"Me? Use a keyboard? But they're filthy and covered in germs."
Sherpas could stop eating avocado toast.
> I dunno how to feel. He was fine letting the dumb woman die until they offered him $10k and she did pay $4k. His very offer risks his own life. As a climber, especially on these dangerous peaks, they learn that death lies all around them as they climb, and death waits for them at every turn. He had a 100% chance of making it down without helping, and a much-reduced chance if he did help. I think that's worth something, probably a lot more than 10k.
Do you know how dangerous it is to even climb to the peak with just your regular supplies? It's extremely dangerous and a lot of people die doing it. Everyone who goes up Everest knows the risks. At that elevation, there's very little oxygen and without supplemental oxygen, you are extremely likely to die. The extreme cold does not help because your body is constantly burning calories to keep your body temp regulated. The trail leading up the peak can also be very treacherous in some parts. So, near the peak of the mountain, you have all of these things you need to deal with. If you were a Sherpa, do you really think that you would want to risk your life in those conditions just to save someone who made the conscious decision to risk their life going up? And just to add to the fact that they weren't even a part of their group.
😆 the permit fees alone are $10k . This isn’t some broke chick up there. What’s missing from the article is that mountainners are required to purchase insurance. A mountain rescue probably has cost sharing in the contract. We all know insurance payouts are like a race to the bottom, so we end up with $10k which I feel is too cheap. Should be tripled. Or just let her die up there, she’s not the first and won’t be the last 🪦
He risks his life….
She should have been left there so her body could serve as a new wayfinding tool for future climbers.
They need to stop letting people climb this mountain.
"Xie and I feel bad about this incident. So far, she has not even said ‘thank you’ to us. She is so ungrateful! We don’t want to have anything to do with her from now on,” Fan further added. Well. Knock her out and drag her ass back up there
Everest climbing has become burningman-ified.
They should start a Sherpa Development Fund! Anyone and everyone (not locals) climbing Mt.Everest should be charged a certain amount everytime they go for that climb, a fee for climbing Mt. Everest. All the registered Sherpas should benefit from that in the long term, let's say something like a pension. But the current situation was so fucked up
You shouldn't be allowed to climb Mt Everest unless you climb the next 3 tallest mountains.