“Friday morning of April the 18th,The whole earth shook and a loud roar filled the morning sky. From the distance, the gust of wind chill and the news of around 200 mountaineers sunk below the avalanche gave the cold chill along my spine. ” It had only been three weeks that I started working for Everest ER, a clinic operated at 17400 ft in the Himalayas. Our logistics manager told our medical team that he saw a massive avalanche falling on the queue of around two hundred Sherpa porters, who were carrying loads to Camp One at 19680 ft.Without having any time to soak in the news of the disaster, we immediately started our preparation to receive the casualties. We had no idea about the types of injuries and the number of peopIe affected. Even worse, we feared that the deaths could be much higher. Our team of doctors, paramedics and trained rescuers present on the Base Camp worked in a coordinated fashion. After 12 long hours between helicopter rescues and …show more content…
We offered our condolences and sympathy to the traumatized Sherpa community that evening. Looking back at the whole event, I must admit that I was not fully prepared to handle that situation. However, the experiences of having completed a Diploma in Mountain Medicine two months before the disaster, the experience of successfully conducting a high altitude pilgrimage health camp in the past, and also the experience of my training in the largest level one trauma center and teaching hospital in my country; I did all but not buckle
In the editorial, Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer discusses the topic of the disaster that occurred that day at Mount Everest. He states many of the events that happened in detail and how it changed his life completely. Throughout that day, Jon Krakauer joined a team in which their goal was to reach the summit of Mount Everest with several different guides. They were leaded by guides to help along the way to help reach the summit successfully. As the day went on , many of the team members were left behind in which it gave a bad sign.
In order to continue climbing Everest, many aspects of climbing need to be improved before more people endanger their lives to try and reach the roof of the world. The guides have some areas that need the most reform. During the ascension of Everest the guides made a plethora mistakes that seemed insignificant but only aided in disaster. The guides first mistake is allowing “any bloody idiot [with enough determination] up” Everest (Krakauer 153). By allowing “any bloody idiot” with no climbing experience to try and climb the most challenging mountain in the world, the guides are almost inviting trouble. Having inexperienced climbers decreases the trust a climbing team has in one another, causing an individual approach to climbing the mountain and more reliance on the guides. While this approach appears fine, this fault is seen in addition to another in Scott Fischer’s expedition Mountain Madness. Due to the carefree manner in which the expedition was run, “clients [moved] up and down the mountain independently during the acclimation period, [Fischer] had to make a number of hurried, unplanned excursions between Base Camp and the upper camps when several clients experienced problems and needed to be escorted down,” (154). Two problems present in the Mountain Madness expedition were seen before the summit push: the allowance of inexperienced climbers and an unplanned climbing regime. A third problem that aided disaster was the difference in opinion in regards to the responsibilities of a guide on Everest. One guide “went down alone many hours ahead of the clients” and went “without supplemental oxygen” (318). These three major issues: allowing anyone up the mountain, not having a plan to climb Everest and differences in opinion. All contributed to the disaster on Everest in
One of the most common problems to face in a disaster is people panicking, and not taking actions which could have fixed the situation. While climbing to Camp Two, Ngawang Topche contracted HAPE (a High-Altitude Pulmonary Edema). He did not take care of it properly, and in the end he died due to the lack of concern from him and others around him. Despite “feeling weak, groggy, and short of breath for more than two days”, and having it interfere with his work, he continued to push through symptoms that may not have seemed life-threatening at the time, but easily could have been (112). When his condition became dangerous, the climbers nearby were unable to help him properly. They did take him down the mountain, but even that did not cure his condition. HAPE is usually cured by bringing people to lower altitudes with more oxygen. At this point, it was obvious that his condition was deadly, yet he and the others around him did not try to get him to a hospital immediately, possibly costing him his life. They still believed it was just HAPE, and he would get better with time. Even though he had been coughing up blood, Topche continued to insist “he didn’t have HAPE” (115). Topche came from Rolwaling, a village where the strongest sherpas were born, and HAPE usually only affects inexperienced climbers. To him, admitting he had HAPE was as good as ruining his career, but that would be better than losing his life. When faced with a high stakes situation, Topche and those around him panicked and made poor decisions. The other sherpas denial of the situation delayed crucial treatment Topche needed, but they believed he just had a “stomach ache” (115). The sherpas chose not give him extra oxygen, and while it may not have saved his life, it may have helped. Despite the amount of evidence that showed Topche’s life was in danger, the sherpas continued to think that HAPE was not a condition another sherpa could get. When confronted with a disaster, the human mind can break down, and people only rely on what they know. Decisions that seem easy to
The compelling book Into Thin Air includes heart wrenching stories like this and much more. Into Thin Air describes the chilling events of the famous Mount Everest disaster of 1996 that left 12 people dead, told from the perspective of Jon Krakauer, a journalist and climber part of the 1996 expedition to write an article for Outside Magazine. While telling the events that occurred over just a span of two days, Krakauer also adds information regarding the mountain itself and Sherpas, who make the
The human race is guided through their lives by the past experiences of others; the survival of a species is dependent of the tales passed down. The tales of climbing are also passed down and to the ones that don’t make it, the deepest condolences go out to their families in rough times. To the guides and Sherpas of the Everest disaster who periled, they made the climb possible for twenty five others who were on the slopes. The guides and sherpas of any expedition deserve a lot of respect for the amount of expertise they share with the other climbers. To do this, sources such as Jon Krakauer’s book, Into Thin Air, personal websites of guides themselves, Tibet Travel, a source explaining the importance of Sherpas, and more will be used to highlight
And they got one climber off, and they crashed attempting to rescue the second man” (Helicopter Rescues Increasing on Everest 7). It is a rescuer’s job to know the risks for saving a climber but if the climber is a professional, they shouldn’t be easily be making mistakes. When there are rescuers who come pick you up fast when you can’t complete the climb, it is like having a safety net behind you. But where is the safety net behind the rescuers? There isn’t one, once they make a mistake, there won’t be someone to save them, so there shouldn’t be rescuers saving climbers when they are risking their own lives but also the
The Harvard Business School case Mount Everest – 1996 narrates the events of May 11, 1996, when 8 people-including the two expedition leaders— died during a climb to the tallest mountain in the world (five deaths are described in the case, three border police form India also died that day). This was dubbed the “deadliest day in the mountain’s history” (at least until April 18, 2014). The survivors and many analysts have tried to decipher what went wrong that day, find an underlying cause, and learn from the event.
You find all sorts of people on the Everest Base Camp Trek: the old, the young and the famous. On an Everest trek you may well be sharing the route with mountaineers and their support teams, en-route to making a summit bid on the world's highest mountain.
On May 10, 1996 six people died trying to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. These people were parts of two expeditions that were in the Himalayas, preparing to ascend the summit for six weeks. The first group was under the direction of Rob Hall, who had put 39 paying clients on the summit in five years. Hall was considered the leader of the mountain and the man to see no matter what the discrepancy. Group two, headed by Fisher, who like Hall, was trying to start a profitable business in providing the experience of climbing Mt. Everest to all for the price of 60 to 70 thousand dollars. Unfortunatly, neither man would live to tell the tale of this expedition.
Helicopter Rescues Increasing on Everest is transcribed for Robert Siege’sl radio show, and is a nonfiction radio interview whose purpose is to inform the readers. The next source is “Why Everest?” It is a nonfiction informational article written by Guy Moreau. The motive of the article is to inform
About one out of every ten people that attempt to climb Mount Everest die. There is a ten percent chance that everyone who climbs the mountain won’t come home to their family and friends. They don’t die well usually either, they are alone, cold, and know that they are going to die. It is actually extremely scary to think of what they are feeling. They sit there and wait knowing that their family won’t see them again, that they are truly alone. There are few exceptions to this, but they don’t end happily either. Beck Weathers was left for dead and he managed to beat the odds and get back to base camp to be sent to the hospital. He lost his hands and had to go through physical therapy. Some say that losing your hands and being scarred
The case of Mt. Everest focuses on two commercial expeditions, Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness, and the tragic event on May 10, 1996. These two commercial expeditions were lead by Rob Hall and Scott Fischer, and were consisted of 20 members. Both leaders were experienced climbers, but due to several factors, the expedition resulted into five deaths including Hall and Fischer. The event has thought managers to evaluate the importance of leadership together with its internal and external factors that managers should consider to survive in the high risk business world.
Picture yourself climbing the tallest mountain in the world, Mt. Everest. Many people have successfully scaled this mountain, but others have tried and failed. Mt. Everest has been called a Himalayan Wonder because of its geography and weather extremes (Urmann). By exploring the geography, the people who have tried to climb it, and the supplies you will need, one can see how brave the many people who tried to climb it have been.
This chapter provides an overview that describes the basic types of hazards threatening the United States and provides definitions for some basic terms such as hazards, emergencies, and disasters. The chapter also provides a brief history of emergency management in the federal government and a general description of the current emergency management system—including the basic functions performed by local emergency managers. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the all-hazards approach and its implications for local emergency management.
The formation of mount Everest was created by the movement of the Indian Tectonic plates smashing up against the Asian plates. Mount Everest is 8,848 meters above sea level, the highest mountain on Earth. Everest grows about a quarter of an inch (0.25”) per year. On the mountain there are four camps for a person to use on an adventure. Each camp is about 500 ft. (feet) apart . Everest in rich in different types of shale,limestone, and marble.There are so many sides and layer to this giant colossal beast. The two major ones Lho La which is located at the bottom of the mountain, Lhotse is located at the top of it. Lhotse is close to the summit, speaking of the summit it’s located at the very top and it