Talk:David Sharp (mountaineer)

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"Sharp was probably so close to death as to have been beyond help"


 * Yeah, help to keep him alive maybe, but the least they (any of the climbers) could have done was stay with him for the last few hours of his life, giving the poor guy some comfort. The Inglis party had over 40 members if my infomation is correct, surely a few of them could have stayed with him?


 * I agree with the second comment. If you have the energy to continue to the summit then you have the energy to help David Sharp.


 * Agreed.--Hontogaichiban 00:03, 3 June 2006 (UTC)


 * "David Sharp left to die by 40 climbers". This may not be the truth. At least, this is not the full story. Turkish climbers declared a statement about David Sharp's death. This can be found in the websites: http://www.2006everest.org/cms_en/content/view/163/64/ and http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=10049


 * There was no mention in this article of Max Chaya (a member of the same expedition as Inglis who summited BEFORE Inglis). Max and his Sherpa Dorjee reported David's condition to leader Russell Brice and gave him O2 from their own tanks in an attempt to revive him and bring him back to conciousness, as David's O2 was depleted.


 * article needs advice to other fools - you dont waste resources on "Dead man climbing" if dont want to die  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.130.142.29 (talk) 17:43, 27 April 2024 (UTC)


 * " Chaya and Dorjee stayed with Sharp for an hour, talking with Brice and weeping over the radio, until Brice was finally able to talk his climber down. When Chaya at last returned to High Camp he was inconsolable. He collapsed in his tent and cried for two hours." http://climb.mountainzone.com/2006/david_sharp/index.html


 * A side note to the previous discussion about a rescue...How can you even justify risking the lives of 10+ people (the min. necessary to rescue a man of David's size and weight at such an altitude) to rescue 1 man in a hypoxic state, near death? It was not 100% that rescue was even possible due to his location (the rock cave where he passed away was precariously located below the Second Step by the Exit Cracks...very narrow rocky ledges making a rescue at that location next to IMPOSSIBLE).  On top of that, chances for his recovery before a complete descent were VERY close to, if not, nil.  There was an extremely high chance that given the state he was in (unconscious, shivering, frostbitten nose/face, frozen limbs) that he would have passed away in High Camp.  Even David's mother contends that "Your responsibility is to save yourself, not to try to save any body else."


 * But this is a debate that does not belong on the discussion page, especially if the disputed line was quoted from a legitimate source. Sources for this incident are all skecthy due to the lack of clear and concise information.  Altitude completely affects the brain and memory of climbers, due oxygen deprivation and we may never know for sure the accurate circumstances behind this grave tragedy.


 * Agree, with you but we are not here to gave our point of view. The article state that there is a controversy. Gave the two point of view with some balance... That's it ! If you think there is a lack of balance or that some event need to be included... Feel free to edit it Cperroquin 08:36, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

"Lincoln Hall - Australian climber who survived in similar circumstances a week later"


 * It should be noted, I think, that the circumstances were far from similar. In a lengthy, balanced article (http://climb.mountainzone.com/2006/david_sharp/index.html), Nick Heil explains how the circumstances were more different than similar: "To draw conclusions, moral or practical, based on comparisons between Hall and Sharp, as many commentators quickly did, ignores the glaring differences between the two situations. Hall had slept out in more mild temperatures (it was an estimated 25 degrees warmer the night of his bivouac), but more important, he could walk." But before changing anything on this heavily debated subject, I'd like to know your opinions on this. Rijk J.C. van Haaften (talk) 12:56, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Sharp could not be rescued when they first discovered him, as it was at night and any attempt would possibly result in an injury or death. Of the 40 climbers who "left him to die" most could not see him, or, if they could, presumed that he was dead already, just one more body on the mountain. --118.92.170.100 (talk) 00:20, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

I realize that the parallels between David Sharp and Lincoln Hall are here because they were mentioned many times during the time of controversy, but as Cordeo mentioned, the situations were vastly different. Sharp was at least mostly unconscious, whereas Hall was able to walk mostly under his own power. This means that Sherpas could push Hall to keep walking, thus shrinking a 18+ person rescue team down to 2. Unfortunately, I got the Hall side of the story from the I Shouldn't Be Alive episode (with him and his rescuers telling the story themselves), so I do not have any sources to cite to show a contrast in the article. To my knowledge, no one has ever been rescued from above 8100 meters (the "death zone") of Mt. Everst who was unconscious, and until further safety equipment is added to the mountain, such as a motorized harness, likely never will be. 99.163.105.163 (talk) 04:21, 22 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Sir Edmund Hillary was reported as deploring the actions of those people who passed Sharp. He was very clear that climbers should help each other, and that any climber passing - and ignoring - an injured or sick climber was behaving very badly.Royalcourtier (talk) 21:58, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Sharp's Mother interview
If I had a mother like that, I'd run away to Mount Everest, too. With a parent like that you don't need enemies. Are you sure she was quoted right? Nomad (talk) 20:43, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

The way I see it - mountaineers climbing Everest should have insurance policy - akin to liability car insurance policy. If I was to abandon my 50 thousand dollar climb in order to rescue someone, they should at least be compensating me for the cost of the climb. Then folks won't have to struggle with the ethical questions - they can be assured that if they cancel their attempt to summit in order to save someone's life - they will get another free chance at the climb.

From the Discovery Channel documentary
An IP left this at the tail end of the article:


 * I just watched "Everest Beyond the limit" (season 1 episode 6) the Discovery Channel documentary of the Russell Brice led Himalayan Experience Expedition in which double amputee Mark Ingles climbed Everest. In it guide Mark Woodward states at 9:40 am that the climber later identified as David Sharp was there during the ascent but not seen by Max Chaya (the Lebanese climber) until he descended. That seems to be the first radio transmission to Brice about Sharp. User talk:50.0.164.213

Might be helpful, but these comments and suggestions needed to be cut from the article, at any rate. Steveozone (talk) 02:55, 30 September 2012 (UTC)

Why is this a mummy?
There is nothing in the article to indicate why this article is included in the category "mummies". Maybe the body is still there and has mummified by now, but if you want to say that in the article you will need a source, and until you have one it doesn't seem appropriate to have it in that category. So I am removing this article from that category.  Cottonshirt  τ   05:52, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

He Who?
'Sharp died under a rock overhang known as "Green Boots Cave", sitting with arms clasped around his legs, next to and to the right of the body of green-booted Indian climber Tsewang Paljor who died in the same place in 1996 under similar circumstances and remained on the mountain as a macabre landmark.[3] The overhang is located alongside the main climbing trail approximately 450 m (1,480 ft) below the summit and 250 m (820 ft) above Camp 4. Climbing solo with oxygen, he had made an attempt to reach the summit during the late afternoon and, presumably having reached it, had descended during one of the coldest nights of the year.'

Two men are named in the above excerpt from the article. The last sentence refers to one of them by the pronoun *he*. Is it Sharp or Paljor who is the *he* to whom this sentence refers? I don't know. This needs to be edited for clarity by someone who does know. ScarletRibbons (talk) 02:30, 1 May 2013 (UTC)


 * It's Sharp. Paljor was one of a party of three Indian police climbing in 1996; Sharp was climbing solo. Fixed it. Steveozone (talk) 02:42, 1 May 2013 (UTC)


 * TYVM for fixing it. ScarletRibbons (talk) 02:35, 2 May 2013 (UTC)

Minor quote fix, bad ref?
I've altered a quote slightly (to use the original wording Russ rather than expedition manage Russell Brice):


 * "I ... radioed, and Russ [expedition manager Russell Brice] 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".[5]

based on what appears to be a quote of the quote, here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383279

The actual ref page [5], http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10383276, doesn't contain the quote - possibly because the article has been updated since - so should the ref be removed?
 * I would say remove if it doesn't contain the info anymore. Replace the citation with the one you've found that does have the info. ScarletRibbons (talk) 09:53, 11 August 2013 (UTC)

Asian Trekking
Who are Asian Trekking? There is a reference to there being "no radio with which to contact Asian Trekking". I presume that this group must have "organized" his climb, but if so that should be stated.Royalcourtier (talk) 22:00, 19 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Here is an article on them: Asian Trekking Fotaun (talk) 12:17, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Article clearly states: Sharp was climbing with a "bare-bones" package from Asian Trekking which does not offer support after a certain altitude is reached on the mountain. He was grouped with 13 other independent climbers ...group was not an "expedition"' Snori (talk) 07:36, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

Photograph
Is this photograph authentic? My understanding was that there were not photographs of David Sharp at the top of the mountain. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.205.153.130 (talk) 21:46, 9 October 2015 (UTC)

Expansion/Revisions
I came across this Article and decided to read it as I am a former alpine skier in the Alps (e.g. Matterhorn, Kitzbüheler Horn etc.) and rescue volunteer, who had to be rescued from a remote side of a mountain myself when I skied under some tree roots with frozen bindings. It was pretty cold, and luckily we had radios, but it was a significant effort to get me down even lower on the mountain. And that was at an altitude which wasn't even close to the altitude of just the base camps at Everest. So mountain rescues is an interest of mine.

I thought the Article was a little disorganized and lacking some information for perspective, so I decided to try and improve it a little. The article is about Sharp, and not just his fatal incident (even though most relates to that), so I grouped the topics about details/reactions for his fatal incident under a new heading. I added a section on "Problems at high altitude" with some images for some perspective on how difficult high altitude mountaineering/rescues can be, and added some details and references related to his fatal climb.

I removed the picture of the dead climber "Green Boots" [perhaps include one of just the rock overhang, with the climber obscured which I have seen], since I didn't think it's really respectful to the climber's family to repeatedly show/post pictures of dead climbers (... "look mom, it's another picture of dad stuck to the mountain"), and it's on the linked page anyway. That's probably why Sharp's parents asked him to be moved, cause the cave would have likely been renamed "Green & Red Boots Cave" with pics of his frozen body all over the web. I added some more appropriate pictures (Sharp on Everest during a previous expedition and a pic of Sharp's memorial at Everest) ... but they were auto-deleted so I will have to try and redo those.

I added some references I thought were needed, including to the section I wrote. In a few places this was with hyperlinks to other related Wiki pages that had all the info/references instead of repeating all the info and/or references, and on some of the sections I included references grouped at the end of the paragraph for clarity (multiple mixed references within the paragraph at the end of each sentence didn't make sense).


 * P.S.


 * I also think the issue about Brice not knowing about Sharp being in trouble until the morning (which came out much later, with radio/video logs to back it up) should be clarified. I think he was unjustly beaten up in the media and on the web, and that Inglis was off in the clouds with his initial comments to the media.  Furthermore, there was no way for Brice or anyone else to know that Sharp had been there for "X number of hours" unless the radio conversation Inglis referenced was on the decent.  No one knew Sharp was in the cave until the groups/teams ascent early on may 15th. If I get some time maybe I will try to clarify that part, or someone else could do that.

EagleRJO (talk) 16:22, 22 November 2016 (UTC)

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