everest

Year after year people climb Mt. Everest to say that they have been to the top of the world. What they didn't expect were all of the dead bodies laying on the ground and for some people this is an ethical issue.

Mountain climbers head to the summit, passing by dead bodies climbers left to freeze and die. With the lack of oxygen, hypothermia and frostbite, there isn't anything the climbers can do for the departed. Breastears recalled that it took 12 people 8 hours to carry one dead body part way down Everest.

"People are up there who really shouldn't be up there. And people who should be there are not making good decisions..." said Jon Krakauer and his high-altitude climb on Mt. Everest with Rob Hall, who was killed in a blizzard near the summit.

The weather also sets back these climbers that ignore the bodies resting in their open tomb. Freak storms can appear, like in May of 1996, causing the smart climbers to turn back. At the high altitude there is less oxygen which means that it gets harder to breathe, let alone climb. Everybody who it at the base camp of Everest is there for one reason, to reach the summit. Paying anywhere from $50,000-65,000 per person, they want to get their money's worth, not to drag down bodies of the people that they don't know.

As of 2002 175 people have died climbing Everest, most of which have no experience of high-altitude climbing, getting a climbing permit, and littering the mountain with trash and oxygen bottles. Krakauer suggests that they ban oxygen bottles on the mountain, but not many climbers who know what they are getting themselves into can do without the extra oxygen. What else can we do? Change the way we hand out climbing permits, like ask simple questions.

"Base camp, at the foot of Everest, is again full, and the summit is again being sought by those who believe the top of the world can be bought and sold." -Jon Krakauer.