The forgotten neighbors of Everest

While Tracy studied human kinetics at U of O, many of her profs were extremely active, athletic or to some degree enjoyed being active. One such professor proclaimed himself to be a ‘fitness fanatic’. Sean Egan was an extremely experienced climber who had been to Everest twice to conduct research on the varying affects the mountain has on the human body.

His third visit was to be the first time he would make a summit attempt. If Sean was to reach the summit he would have been the oldest Canadian (63) to reach the highest point in the world. Sadly this milestone would not be met. Sean Egan died from a heart attack on his home away from home Chomolungma (Goddess Mother of the World).

In the past several years there has been great deal of controversy surrounding the mountain. It was rumored that in Sean’s case he may have made it down faster to thicker air if his oxygen bottles were not stolen Although there is no confirmation about this theft, there is high number of climbers stating that their personal oxygen caches have been stolen as well as gear from their camp.

These thefts do not fall into what the climbers’ code dictates. This is not acceptable. But what do you expect when people -with little or no climbing experience- are willing to fork out the 40K to climb the highest peak in the world creating great traffic jams and having people on –although not the most technical climb- a harsh climb from its elements.

This was also made obvious when elitist, Sandy Pittman, was literally dragged up the mountain by her Sherpas and demanded that they take up her lap-top among other electronic devices. When you have people of this nature on the mountain and the weather turns the way it did -and does often- you have 8 people die in one day -1996 disaster.

Finally another problem –as in Pittman’s case- is the poor treatment of sherpas. These Nepalese people of the mountain are known for their amazing almost non-human trekking abilities. The best of them being able to summit Everest in less then a day and return to base camp in merely a few hours.

Many of the climbers and guides that have been on Everest treat these people as their own family. Unfortunately due to the great attraction of the highest peak many tourists pretending to be climbers, treat these people as their personal slaves or pack mules.

While trekking in Peru we were with a guided group that was assisted by 19 porters. These men were amazing hiking with over 60lbs of gear (fuel, kitchen tents, small camp chairs…) on their backs and doing the trek in twice the time as us and we were carrying maybe 20lbs if that at times. Luckily we were come very nice people from the UK and Canada and we attempted to help and give the porters as much as we could.

A further disgrace to the Everest Sherpas -specifically- is that when they die on the mountain no one hears about it except for the climbers that were there or people who read the climbing websites -such as myself. If an American or European dies on the mountain it hits websites and news papers all over the world.

This is in honor of all of the porters and Sherpas around the world that are working strong today or have fallen in the past.