Spike in Mt. Everest deaths blamed on long queues at unbreathable altitudes
Arirang News
2019-05-28
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Climbing Mount Everest has always been considered a challenging task.... and not all those who set to conquer the world's highest peak were able to make their way down.
So why the recent spike in deaths on Mount Everest?
Our Oh Soo-young explains.
An Indian mountaineer was forced to turn back just before reaching the summit of Mount Everest, not due to the weather or difficulty of the climb, but due to the massive queues of climbers on the mountain.
But by turning back, he might have just saved his life.
"It's been a carnage and I should say that it has become a death race there because there was massive traffic jam and people are pushing themselves who are not even capable of doing it, they do it, they try to summit and they, instead of summiting, they kill themselves and it's turned into a bad thing I think people should really look into it."
At least ten people have died this climbing season in attempts to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
The spike of fatalities has been attributed to the overcrowding on the thin ridge to the peak,... which stands 8-thousand-eight-hundred-and-forty-eight meters above sea level.
The overcrowding and delays to and from the summit put climbers at fatal risk of acute mountain sickness,... which usually develops after 6 to 24 hours at altitudes above three-thousand meters.
Symptoms include dizziness, headaches, nausea or even just feeling unwell.
If untreated, or without rapid descent,... this could lead to more severe conditions such as High Altitude Cerebral Edema and High Altitude Pulmonary Edema.
Nepalese authorities permitted a record 381 climbers to scale the summit from their side this season.
130 climbers were also allowed to scale the mountain from Tibet.
Climbers this season have said wait times around the Hillary Step,... where they must form a single line,... were around two to three hours due to overcrowding.
This means their total time spent above 8-thousand meters was as long as 15 to 20 hours,... well above the average time of 10 to 12 hours.
Around five thousand people have reached the summit of Everest so far. 300 people have died on the mountain since deaths were first recorded in 1922.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
So why the recent spike in deaths on Mount Everest?
Our Oh Soo-young explains.
An Indian mountaineer was forced to turn back just before reaching the summit of Mount Everest, not due to the weather or difficulty of the climb, but due to the massive queues of climbers on the mountain.
But by turning back, he might have just saved his life.
"It's been a carnage and I should say that it has become a death race there because there was massive traffic jam and people are pushing themselves who are not even capable of doing it, they do it, they try to summit and they, instead of summiting, they kill themselves and it's turned into a bad thing I think people should really look into it."
At least ten people have died this climbing season in attempts to reach the peak of Mount Everest.
The spike of fatalities has been attributed to the overcrowding on the thin ridge to the peak,... which stands 8-thousand-eight-hundred-and-forty-eight meters above sea level.
The overcrowding and delays to and from the summit put climbers at fatal risk of acute mountain sickness,... which usually develops after 6 to 24 hours at altitudes above three-thousand meters.
Symptoms include dizziness, headaches, nausea or even just feeling unwell.
If untreated, or without rapid descent,... this could lead to more severe conditions such as High Altitude Cerebral Edema and High Altitude Pulmonary Edema.
Nepalese authorities permitted a record 381 climbers to scale the summit from their side this season.
130 climbers were also allowed to scale the mountain from Tibet.
Climbers this season have said wait times around the Hillary Step,... where they must form a single line,... were around two to three hours due to overcrowding.
This means their total time spent above 8-thousand meters was as long as 15 to 20 hours,... well above the average time of 10 to 12 hours.
Around five thousand people have reached the summit of Everest so far. 300 people have died on the mountain since deaths were first recorded in 1922.
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.
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