Mount Everest: The Largest Open-air Graveyard

Mount Everest holds the title as the tallest mountain in the world with an official height of 29,029 ft. Since 1953 when Edmund Percival Hillary - a New Zealand mountaineer and Tenzing Norgay - a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer conquered the summit for the first time, thousands of people aimed to reach the summit too enduring the dangerous terrain and harsh climate to be able to experience the glory themselves. Because of this, this mountain has been filled with nightmares since hundreds of life has been taken in the attempt of reaching the peak. 

The top portion of the mountain which is 26,000 feet above is known as the "Death Zone" because this is a very high altitude where there is not enough oxygen for humans to breathe and the barometric pressure causes weight to feel ten times heavier causing extreme distress on organs. These two combined makes a climber feel sluggish, sleepy, tired and disoriented. Because of this,  it is advised to use oxygen at all times and to avoid staying at this point for more than 48 hours. 

When someone died in this zone, it is nearly impossible to get the body off Everest. Doing so would put the life of the rescuer at risk so there have been a standard protocol to leave the dead where they died. And so these corpses remain forever in the mountain, serving as a horrible guide and  trail markers to the mountaineers. There are over 200 bodies scattered all around Mount Everest thus the reason why it is also known as the Largest Open-air Graveyard.

These are some of the dead bodies that you will pass by if you ever try to climb to the top of the mountain:

1. Green Boots

This is one of the most popular corpses within the Death zone. The body is believed to be Tsewang Paljor who is an Indian climber. He is wearing a green boots when he met his fate. After being separated from his team, he found a shelter in a cave and this is where he froze to his death. Whenever climbers pass by him, it's a marker for them that they are already near the summit.

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2. David Sharp

He is a solo climber attempting to reach the peak without a supplementary oxygen. It is believed that he was able to reach the summit but on his way down, he felt really exhausted and extremely cold so he stopped by and sat while hugging his knees at Green Boots cave. Due to altitude sickness, he was never able to get up. About 40 climbers from different parties saw him alive and struggling but they just passed him by. One team decided to help but due to lack of oxygen, they decided to leave him and report it to the camp instead. He died later on that day in 2006 due to altitude sickness and frostbites with Green boots as his companion. 

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3. George Mallory

Have I mentioned that before Hillary and Norgay had successfully conquered the summit in 1953, there was an attempt to climb Mount Everest in 1924? George Mallory attempted to be the first person to reach the summit but he disappeared and his body was found 75 years later. Nobody knows if he was able to reach the summit. His body is almost perfectly preserved due to the subzero temperature and the cause of his death is due to a fatal fall. He is the oldest known corpse in the mountain. 

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4. Hannelore Schmatz

She is the first German and also the first woman who died on the mountain. She was able to successfully reach the summit and even managed to survive a snowstorm which hit overnight while she was at the Death Zone. She almost made it to their camp but because of exhaustion, lack of oxygen and frostbite, she succumbed to her death while leaning against her backpack. She was only 330 feet away from their base camp. Two rescuers also died in an attempt to retrieve her body.

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Despite all of these risks, a lot of people are still dying to reach the summit for a few moments of glory. When you reached the top, snap pictures and then get back down because there's no room for resting in this zone. The longer you stay on the top, the higher is the risk that you won't be able to come back down anymore. Mount Everest is currently littered with body to remain as a warning and as a trail guide to every climbers who will encounter these. 

References:

http://all-that-is-interesting.com/mount-everest-bodies

http://www.thepostmortempost.com/2015/10/01/george-leigh-mallory/

http://www.thepostmortempost.com/2015/10/01/david-sharp/

http://www.thepostmortempost.com/2015/10/01/hannelore-schmatz/

All photos belong to the author @enjieneer

'Til next time,