Mount Everest Summit Attempt Goes Wrong; One Dead, One Missing
One man is dead and another missing after a Mount Everest summit attempt went wrong on Wednesday.
Joshua Cheruiyot Kirui, a 40-year-old Kenyan mountaineer, was found deceased about 60 feet from the summit of the highest peak on Earth. Nawang Sherpa, the 44-year-old guide who was with him, is the focus of a search expedition.
Kirui, who worked at a bank in Nairobi, decided to attempt the climb Everest without using supplemental oxygen. Earth’s atmosphere gets thinner the higher you go, and Mount Everest’s summit is generally thought of as the absolute limit of our capabilities. It has been climbed without oxygen before, but it’s a rare feat generally tackled only by those with years of experience and acclimation.
According to Alan Arnette, a climber with 25 years of high altitude mountain experience and six Everest summits under his belt, you are 26 times more likely to die if you don’t use supplemental oxygen.
Kirui was well aware of the added risk of a summit attempt without oxygen. “A no-oxygen attempt comes with its special preparations and risks,” he wrote on Instagram before his death. He went on to list the extra precautions he was taking, which included a designated person to bring them an emergency bottle of oxygen.
“Without oxygen one is much more susceptible to frostbite,” he wrote. “So I have a pair of heated gloves, a pair of heated mittens with a spare set of batteries.”
For his feet, he had two pairs of heated socks with a spare set of batteries and he was susceptible to something called HAPE, which is short for “High altitude pulmonary edema.” He was prepared for that, though, carrying Nifedipine and Dexamethasone, two medications that can combat the effects of the high altitude.
They did also plan on having an emergency oxygen bottle if it became necessary, or, as Kirui put it, “If I go lights out or if I go bananas. If I’m time barred, [or hit] unfavorable weather, or when I realize I’m no superman.”
The pair was reported missing early on Wednesday morning. Almost immediately rescue teams were dispatched to search the camps and trails along the huge mountain. That night, sadly, Kirui’s body was found. He was 28,970 feet above sea level when he died. Everest’s summit is 29,035 feet. It’s not clear at the time of this writing if they were decending from a successful summit attempt or in the process of one.
Kirui was no slouch when it came to pushing his body to the limit. He had climbed a few of the world’s toughest mountains and ran ultra marathons as well.
“His indomitable will and unwavering passion for mountaineering led him to conquer the world’s most awe-inspiring landscapes,”Paul Russo, the CEO of KCB Group, which Kirui worked for. “His recent triumphs on Mt. Manaslu and Mt. Everest are a testament to his adventurous spirit and determination.”
We’ll have updates on this developing story as they occur.
The post Mount Everest Summit Attempt Goes Wrong; One Dead, One Missing first appeared on The Inertia.
