The 2019 Everest Death Toll Rises to 10

During the last few days, four more people have died on Mt. Everest, bringing this season’s death toll to ten. None of these deaths were attributed to the recent crowds.

British climber Haynes Robin Fisher, 44, died on Saturday, May 25, while he was descending from the summit. He was with a six-member team lead by UK-based Summit Climb. On the Tibet side, two climbers died on Friday.

Irish climber Kevin Hynes, 56, with UK-based 360 Expeditions died in his tent at a high camp after turning back during his summit attempt at 8,300 meters. And 65-year-old Austrian climber “Ernst” Landgraf died at the second step after his summit with Swiss operator Kobler & Partner.

Already this season American Don Cash died after losing consciousness just below the summit, waiting to descend the Hillary Step on May 22. The New York Times reports his family believes he suffered a heart attack. Irish climber Seamus Sean Lawless, 39, was separated from his group and went missing on May 16, reports BBC News. That same day, Indian climber Ravi Thakar died inside his tent at the South Col after summiting due to an altitude-related illness. 

These 10 deaths put the 2019 season in a tie with 2006 as Everest's fourth-deadliest climbing season. The most deaths ever on Everest occurred in 2015, when a deadly 7.8 magnitude earthquake triggered an avalanche that took 21 lives at Base Camp. 

This year, 381 permits were issued, the most in history. When a weather window opened during May 21, 22, and 23, hundreds of permitted climbers and Sherpa support were scheduled to push for the summit. The rush created a bottleneck on the way to the Hillary Step and the summit, as seen in Nirmal Purja’s now-infamous viral photograph. A similar situation happened in 2012, which I wrote about in my predictions for this season.

Crowds, while not the only reason people die on Everest, slow a climber’s pace and thus increase their fatigue and use of oxygen. Some of these climbers who died spent 10 to 12 hours to get to the summit and four to six hours to get back down to the South Col. In other words, a 14 to 18 hour day in some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain. It’s rare to carry oxygen for that much time, thus forcing the Sherpas to turn down the flow or give up their own personal supply. Either way, it's not a good situation, and it often turns deadly.

from Outside Magazine: All http://bit.ly/2W4uAi1