David Sharp was a British mountaineer who possibly summitted Mount Everest on his third attempt but died on 15 May 2006 near the summit.^[1] Mountaineering is an umbrella term that can variously be used to describe the actions of climbing, hillwalking and scrambling. ... “Everest” redirects here. ... is the 135th day of the year (136th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Controversy over death

The circumstances of his death aroused widespread controversy and debate when New Zealand double-amputee climber Mark Inglis revealed in an interview on May 23 that Sharp had died, and that he had been passed by 40 other climbers heading for the summit who made no attempt at a rescue. Sharp died under a rock overhang alongside the main climbing trail, approximately 450 m (elevation) below the summit and 100 m (elevation) above Camp 4. “Everest” redirects here. ... Mark Joseph Inglis (born September 27, 1959) is a mountaineer, researcher, winemaker and motivational speaker. ... is the 143rd day of the year (144th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

The Inglis party and most other climbers passed Sharp without offering any substantial efforts of assistance. Everest guide Jamie McGuinness reported that on reaching David Sharp on the descent some nine hours later "...Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below...".^[2]

Inglis said Sharp was ill-prepared, lacking proper gloves and oxygen, and was already doomed by the time of their descent. "I ... radioed and [expedition manager] Russ said, 'Mate, you can't do anything. He's been there x number of hours without oxygen. He's effectively dead'. Trouble is, at 8500 m it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone keep anyone else alive".^[3] Statements by Inglis^[4] suggest that he believed that Sharp was probably so close to death as to have been beyond help by the time the Inglis party passed him. Russ however, denies the claim that any radio call was received about the stranded climber until he was notified some nine hours later by a the first ever Lebanise climber of Mt Everest who had not seen Sharp in the darkness of the ascent. David had no gloves and severe frost bite at this time. The lead climber of the Inglis party said that his chief responsibility was to his team members and that not enough blame has been leveled at his David's own climbing team. While it is impossible to determine whether efforts to save Sharp on the ascent would have been successful, the fact that he was still living nine hours later and able to give his dying words on unusually cold nights ever experienced points toward that possibility. Far greater efforts were made to assist the dying man on the way down, that were given him on the ascent. (Dying for Everest Documentary New Zealand TV3 21 August 2007).

Sir Edmund Hillary was highly critical of the decision not to try to rescue Sharp, saying that leaving other climbers to die is unacceptable, and the desire to summit has become all-important. He also said "I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by". He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers. "They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die" and that "I think that their priority was to get to the top and the welfare of one of the… of a member of an expedition was very secondary." ^[5]. Edmund Hillary on the New Zealand 5 dollar note Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE (born July 20, 1919) is a New Zealand mountaineer and explorer, most famous for the first successful climb of Mount Everest. ...

Sir Edmund also called Mark Inglis "crazy". (Dying for Everest Documentary New Zealand TV3 21 August 2007).

Linda Sharp, David's mother, however, believes that he was responsible for his own survival, and she does not blame other climbers. She has said to The Sunday Times: "David had been noticed in a shelter. People had seen him but thought he was dead. One of Russell’s Sherpas checked on him and there was still life there. He tried to give him oxygen but it was too late. Your responsibility is to save yourself — not to try to save anybody else."^[6] The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper distributed in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International which is in turn owned by News Corporation. ...

Since these comments, however more details have emerged. As of July 2006, Inglis retracted his claim that he was ordered to continue his ascent after informing Brice of a climber in distress, blaming the extreme conditions at altitude for the uncertainty in his memory.^[7][8] The Discovery Channel documentary Everest: Beyond the Limit showed footage indicating that Sharp was only found by Inglis' group on their descent. However this has been contradicted by all Inglis party members. They did discover him on the ascent. By the time the Inglis' group reached him on the descent they were low on oxygen and heavily fatigued with several cases of severe frost bite, making any rescue impossible.

The Parable of the Good Mountaineer and the double amputee by Kalman Kingsley, NZ (See Luke 10.25 true version)

On one occasion an expert mountaineer stood up to test Sir Edmund Hillary. "Sir," he asked, "what must I do to climb up to heaven?"

"What do you think?" he replied. "

And the expert mountaineer said, " 'Love the Mountain maker and, 'Love your Mate as yourself.' "

"You have answered correctly," Sir Ed replied. "Do this and you will live."

But the expert mountaineer wanted to justify himself, so he asked Sir Ed, "And who is my Mate?

In reply Sir Ed said: "A man was going down from the summit of Everest to base camp four, when 100 meters from the camp his light failed and he fell into the hands of unusual atmospheric conditions and extreme cold. It stripped him of his strength, consumed his oxygen and left him half dead, disorientated from hypoxia and frost bitten in a cave. An expert climbing team with a crazy double amputee happened to be climbing up the northern route, and when they saw the man, they passed him by, seeing that he clearly was not their responsibility. So too did many other climbers, who took the first climbing party’s ambitious lead and not wanting to lose their attempt on the summit and waste precious resources, passed him by. But a Lebanese climber, as he traveled down some nine hours later, came where the man was; and when he saw him, they took pity on him. He went to him and gave him his now low supply of oxygen, and pulled him out of the cave. Then he tried to stand the man up, and called to base camp for help but it was too late. As the man died, he breathed out these words “My name is David Sharp… I just want to sleep”.

"Which of these climbers do you think was a Mate to the man who fell into the hands of Everest?"

The expert climber replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Sir Ed says, "Go and do likewise."

References

See also

• Lincoln Hall - Australian climber who survived in similar circumstances a week later
• Green Boots - David Sharp died in a rock cave that holds the body of a dead Indian Climber named Green Boots

Lincoln Hall (born 1956) is a veteran Australian mountain climber and author. ... Green Boots is the name given to the dead body of an Indian climber on the North face route of Mount Everest. ...

External links

• Picture of David Sharp taken in 2003
• Picture of where David Sharp died

Further reading

• Everest remains deadly draw for climbers - USA Today
• Left to die at the top of the world - Times Online
• Dr. Morandeira: “Could David Sharp have been saved? Definitely”, includes a chronology of the tragedy.