Global Courant 2023-06-01 01:09:17
STORY: This Nepalese Sherpa guide carries a Malaysian climber on his back, from a part of Mount Everest called the ‘death zone’…
Gelje Sherpa says he saved the man’s life.
In mid-May he accompanied a client to the top.
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Then he saw the Malaysian climber clinging to a rope and shivering from the extreme cold.
The “death zone” is an area of the mountain where temperatures can drop below minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
Rescues there are “almost impossible,” authorities say.
Gelje convinced his client to give up the summit attempt.
And began his rare high-altitude rescue.
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“It took me five to six hours to get from 8,500 (meters above sea level) to 7,900. It was very difficult. We couldn’t tow it in places where it was rockier; we had to carry it on our backs with difficulty.”
He eventually got help from another guide.
A helicopter then took the climber to base camp.
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“It was important for us to save him, even from the top. Money can be made at any time. Left like that, he could have died. We saved his life by leaving the top.”
The climber was put on a flight to Malaysia last week.
The dramatic rescue comes as Nepal issued a record 478 Everest permits during this year’s climbing season.
At least 12 climbers have died and another five are still missing on Everest’s slopes.
