Mountaineer David Sharpe: biography and photos

For the general public, the story of David Sharpe was closely connected with Everest - the highest mountain on the planet. There is something sad and unfair in that for the majority of ignorant people, it will forever remain in memory as another unburied body lying in the permafrost. However, something led David to this summit, and his life, like a bewitched one, circled around Everest to end there. However, the death of David Sharpe can not be called in vain. He managed to sharpen public attention to complex ethical issues, even if it cost him his life.

Biography of David Sharpe

There is something sad about the fact that the most important event in life can be death, which caused a wide public resonance. What do we know about the man who was called David Sharpe? He was born on February 15, 1972 in the UK, in ordinary life worked as a teacher of mathematics, but at the same time was a passionate climber. His parents, John and Linda Sharpe, did not interfere with his son's enthusiasm, but were negative about his idea of climbing Mount Everest alone and with clearly inadequate equipment.

In the interviews that Linda Sharp gave after David's death, she does not express bitterness and blames anyone, preferring to recall the good, the enthusiasm with which the son sought to conquer the highest mountain of the world.

Was Sharpe a dilettante? Career climber

In discussions of the tragic death of a climber, there is often a categorical statement that tourists and dilettantes have nothing to do on Mount Everest. However, David Sharpe was quite an experienced climber, and this was his third attempt to climb the summit of Everest. The previous two attempts for various reasons were unsuccessful.

However, prior to his third visit to the dangerous summit, David Sharpe conquered the difficult eight thousand-league Cho-Oyu, while he passed complex climbing areas without the use of auxiliary rails. It can be considered a presumption or stupidity, but Sharpe really was not a dilettante. He was confident in his skills as a climber, behind him was a lot of ascents, including Kilimanjaro, besides, he was led up by a dream.

Preparing for Everest ascendancy and failure

Any mountaineer who dreams of leaving his mark on the summit of Mount Everest is recommended to practice, because there are mountains that are easier to climb. David Sharpe was no exception, in addition, previous attempts have clearly shown that he was able to assess their strength and refuse to climb in adverse conditions.

On the way to the top there are several base camps, where climbers spend from several hours to several days. This allows you to get comfortable at the height, adapt, check your health. Now it's hard to say why Sharpe did not abandon the third ascent, but his parents and friends later recalled that he was determined and was going to conquer Everest, no matter what. Apparently, previous failed ascents hurt his self-esteem or pushed this time to ignore unfavorable conditions or poor health.

Last ascent of Everest

As trite as it may sound, the main problem was insufficient funding - David Sharpe was not so wealthy to pay extra oxygen, a team of guides, a professional mountaineer guide and high-end equipment. After the death of David, it was precisely the lack of a sufficient amount of money that many called the main cause of the tragedy. At the disposal of Sharpe were only a tent in the base camp, the services of a cook and some amount of oxygen.

In May 2006, the weather on Everest was quite favorable for the ascent. Experts say that it is clear weather that provokes the top fans to hope for the best and ignore unimportant well-being or malfunctioning with equipment. Sharpe never got to the top, at an altitude of 8,500 meters he was denied oxygen equipment. His state of health deteriorated sharply, and he sank to the rocks without any effort. At such an altitude without an oxygen balloon it is impossible to maintain clarity of thinking and at least an acceptable working capacity of the organism. However, David did not go any further, he stayed in a tiny rocky hollow on the northern ridge, hoping that a small rest would allow him to either move on, or refuse to climb and return to the base camp.

Options for rescuing a dying climber

Uninformed people may think that to save a mountaineer at such a height, if not simply, then quite capable of any conscientious person. After all, he did not break into the abyss, he had no fractures or bruises, he was not steeped in stones, and the weather remained acceptable. But this option is suitable for less dangerous vertices, but not for the one David Sharpe sought. Everest is not in vain called the deadly peak - at high altitude without oxygen and in the cold fast edema of the lungs, euphoria may occur as a result of oxygen starvation. Many climbers who visited Mount Everest admit that the ascent took place in a state of altered consciousness.

Despite all the difficulties, it can not be said that all past climbers indifferently ignored the dying man. People from the HIMEX group left him oxygen and reported about the exhausted man Russell Bryce, the organizer of his group. He contacted the leader of Asian Trekking, George Dijmarescu, but no action to save Sharpe was not followed. Mark Inglis' group left the victim with some of his oxygen, but this did not save him.

Interview by David Sharpe

To the top, except for all the others, the film crew of the channel Discovery also rose. Their short conversation with the dying alpinist was called "Interview by David Sharpe", and subsequently the authors of the video received a lot of angry comments on this matter. Members of the film crew coped with David's health, he could introduce himself and say that he is here with Asian Trekking and just wants to get some sleep. By that time, Sharpe had spent a lot of time on the mountain and without oxygen, his hands and face were frostbitten, the swelling of the lungs was rapidly developing.

The tragic death on top of the world

There is something emphatically horrible about simply dying from loss of strength and not getting the necessary help from the numerous passing by people sufficiently trained for comparatively active actions at altitude. More than forty people did not even try to deliver the victim to the base camp, although rescue was very likely. So David Sharpe, whose photo filled the terrible chronicle of the victims of Everest, died because of hypothermia and the consequences of oxygen starvation.

The reaction of the media and society

Despite the fact that Everest regularly killed people, it was the death of David Sharpe provoked a violent reaction and gave rise to a lot of controversy on whether the difficult conditions of climbing justify such indifference. Despite the rather compelling explanations, the society made an unambiguous conclusion: David Sharp is an alpinist who was killed by someone else's indifference.

David died in close proximity to the remains of another Everest victim, he is called Green Shoes because of climbing shoes. Some climbers later claimed that it was for him that the dying David Sharpe was accepted, so they did not react and did not hurry to help.

The media, as well as the Internet community, are still arguing whether it is possible to justify those who did not help Sharpe. Despite the fact that many agree that at a deadly altitude each for himself, the majority continue to condemn those who preferred to visit the summit instead of saving human life.