Editing Mount Everest (section)

====David Sharp ethics controversy, 2006====
There was an international controversy about the death of a solo British climber [[David Sharp (mountaineer)|David Sharp]], who attempted to climb Mount Everest in 2006 but died in his attempt. The story broke out of the mountaineering community into popular media, with a series of interviews, allegations, and critiques. The question was whether climbers that season had left a man to die and whether he could have been saved. He was said to have attempted to summit Mount Everest by himself with no Sherpa or guide and fewer oxygen bottles than considered normal.<ref name=top>{{cite web|url=http://www.outsideonline.com/1909966/over-top|title=Over the Top|website=Outside Online|access-date=20 September 2015|date=15 August 2006|archive-date=10 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230710045042/https://www.outsideonline.com/1909966/over-top|url-status=live}}</ref> He went with a low-budget Nepali guide firm that only provides support up to Base Camp, after which climbers go as a "loose group", offering a high degree of independence. The manager at Sharp's guide support said Sharp did not take enough oxygen for his summit attempt and did not have a Sherpa guide.<ref name="washingtontimes.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/may/22/20060522-110420-9433r/|title=Everest climber left to die alone|website=The Washington Times|access-date=20 September 2015|archive-date=3 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703171200/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/may/22/20060522-110420-9433r/|url-status=live}}</ref> It is less clear who knew Sharp was in trouble, and if they did know, whether they were qualified or capable of helping him.<ref name=top/>

Double-amputee climber [[Mark Inglis]] said in an interview that on 15 May his climbing party, and many others, had passed Sharp, sheltering under a rock overhang {{convert|450|m|ft}} below the summit, without attempting a rescue.<ref name=abcnews052006>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1645603.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823184345/http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1645603.htm|archive-date=23 August 2006|title=Everest climber defends leaving dying Briton|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=23 May 2006}}</ref> Inglis said 40 people had passed by Sharp, but he might have been overlooked as climbers assumed Sharp was the corpse nicknamed "[[Green Boots]]",<ref name=Sharp>{{cite news |last1=Breed |first1=Allen G. |last2=Gurubacharya |first2=Binaj |url=http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=305837&rel_no=1 |title=Part II: Near top of Everest, he waves off fellow climbers: 'I just want to sleep' |date=18 July 2006 |work=Oh My News |access-date=7 December 2016 |archive-date=24 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424133320/http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?menu=c10400&no=305837&rel_no=1 |url-status=dead }}</ref> but Inglis was not aware that Turkish climbers had tried to help Sharp despite being in the process of helping an injured woman down (a Turkish woman, [[Burçak Özoğlu Poçan|Burçak Poçan]]). There has also been some discussion about [[Himex]] in the commentary on Inglis and Sharp. In regard to Inglis's initial comments, he later revised certain details because he had been interviewed while he was "physically and mentally exhausted, and in a lot of pain. He had suffered severe frostbite – he later had five fingertips amputated."<ref name=thefever>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3662508/Summit-fever.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3662508/Summit-fever.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Summit fever|author=Ed Douglas|date=13 January 2007|website=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=20 September 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref> It was estimated that Sharp summited Mount Everest on 14 May and began his descent down, but on 15 May he was in trouble and being passed by climbers on their way up and down.<ref name=change/> It is believed he was suffering from hypoxia and was about {{convert|1000|ft|m|order=flip|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} from the summit on the North Side route.<ref name=change/>

{{blockquote|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 to rest 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.|Jamie McGuiness<ref name=jamie>{{cite web|url=http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=2112|title=Everest K2 News ExplorersWeb – Jamie McGuiness about David Sharp: "Crying, Dawa had to leave him"|website=explorersweb.com|access-date=20 September 2015|archive-date=19 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919023358/http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=2112|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|''The Tribune'' of Chandigarh, India]] quoted someone who described what happened to Sharp as "the most shameful act in the history of mountaineering".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061210/spectrum/main6.htm |title=The High and Low of Everest |department=Spectrum |website=[[The Tribune (Chandigarh)|The Sunday Tribune]] |location=Chandigarh, India |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=19 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019222801/https://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061210/spectrum/main6.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition to Sharp's death, at least nine other climbers perished that year, including multiple Sherpas working for various guiding companies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=7925|title=Everest K2 News ExplorersWeb – Un-named Everest Sherpa gets a name – and fatality details|website=explorersweb.com|access-date=20 September 2015|archive-date=4 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704232734/https://explorersweb.com/everest_k2/news.php?id=7925|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Much of this controversy was captured by the ''[[Discovery Channel]]'' while filming the television program ''[[Everest: Beyond the Limit]]''. A crucial decision affecting the fate of Sharp is shown in the program, where an early returning climber, Lebanese adventurer [[Maxim Chaya]], is descending from the summit and radios to his base camp manager ([[Russell Brice]]) that he has found a frostbitten and unconscious climber in distress. Chaya is unable to identify Sharp, who had chosen to climb solo without any support and so did not identify himself to other climbers. The base camp manager assumes that Sharp is part of a group that has already calculated that they must abandon him, and informs his lone climber that there is no chance of him being able to help Sharp by himself. As Sharp's condition deteriorates through the day and other descending climbers pass him, his opportunities for rescue diminish: his legs and feet curl from [[frostbite]], preventing him from walking; the later descending climbers are lower on oxygen and lack the strength to offer aid; time runs out for any Sherpas to return and rescue him.

David Sharp's body remained just below the summit on the Chinese side next to "Green Boots"; they shared a space in a small rock cave that was an ad hoc tomb for them.<ref name="change">{{cite book|author1=D. Savage|author2=B. Torgler|title=The Times They Are A Changin': The Effect of Institutional Change on Cooperative Behaviour at 26,000 ft over Sixty Years|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=49DKBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|year=2015|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-1-137-52515-4|pages=5–|access-date=22 July 2015|archive-date=5 October 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241005160807/https://books.google.com/books?id=49DKBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Sharp's body was removed from the cave in 2007, according to the BBC,<ref name=britb>{{cite web | url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151008-the-graveyard-in-the-clouds-everests-200-dead-bodies | title=Death in the Clouds: The problem with Everest's 200+ bodies | date=9 October 2015 | access-date=10 October 2015 | archive-date=3 July 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170703160700/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151008-the-graveyard-in-the-clouds-everests-200-dead-bodies | url-status=live }}</ref> and since 2014, Green Boots has been missing, presumably removed or buried.<ref name="Nuwer"/>