How dangerous is it to climb Mount Everest?

in #people7 years ago

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More than 200 people have died on Everest since 1920, with the vast majority of those deaths taking place since 1980.
In fact, to find the last year without any known deaths, you have to go back to 1977. The deadliest season in the mountain's history was 2015 when 24 people died, mostly as a result of avalanches. Last year, five people died on Everest itself.
However, the numbers of people attempting the climb have also skyrocketed since 1990, when the Nepalese government withdrew restrictions on how many teams were allowed on to the mountain - which means the percentage of climbers who die has actually dropped.

How are climbers killed?
Mountaineers on Everest die for a number of reasons - more than 20% are killed by exposure or acute mountain sickness.
But according to statistics given to the BBC by the Himalaya Database in 2015, by far the highest number of people who died did so because of avalanches (29%), with falls being the next largest cause of death (23%).

What happens to their bodies?
The problem of what to do with those who lose their lives in remote or difficult locations is one that plagues the mountain.
Bodies which can be retrieved are brought back down the mountain, but others are left on the snowy slopes and crevasses. Some bodies have been known to reappear as glaciers move.
There are a number of notable corpses, including Francys Arsentiev, the woman who became known as "Sleeping Beauty".
She lay where she died, wrapped in her purple jacket next to the main route, from 1998 until 2007, when her body was lowered down the side of the mountain and out of sight.

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It must be a reminder to the climbers to be careful as they pass the bodies of past climbers.

Wow, I didn't know the story about Francys Arsentiev, it's such a sad thing. It's hard to understand why someone would risk their lives like that, but everyone has their passions. I guess at least they died doing something they loved doing.