David Sharp (mountaineer)

David Sharp was a British mountaineer who possibly summitted Mount Everest on his third attempt but died on 15 May 2006 near the summit.

Controversy over death

The circumstances of his death aroused widespread controversy and debate when New Zealand double-amputee climber Mark Inglis revealed in an interview on May 23 that Sharp had died, and that he had been passed by 40 other climbers heading for the summit who made no attempt at a rescue. Sharp died under a rock overhang alongside the main climbing trail, approximately 450m (elevation) below the summit and 100m (elevation) above Camp 4.

The Inglis party did give Sharp bottled oxygen, but most other climbers passed Sharp without offering any assistance . Everest guide Jamie McGuinness reported that "...Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below..."

Inglis said Sharp was ill-prepared, lacking proper gloves and oxygen, and was already doomed. "I ... radioed and [expedition manager] Russ said, 'Mate, you can't do anything. He's been there x number of hours without oxygen. He's effectively dead'. Trouble is, at 8500m it's extremely difficult to keep yourself alive, let alone keep anyone else alive" . Statements by Inglis suggest that he believed that Sharp was probably so close to death as to have been beyond help by the time the Inglis party passed him.

Sir Edmund Hillary was highly critical of the decision not to try to rescue Sharp, saying that leaving other climbers to die is unacceptable, and the desire to summit has become all-important. He also said "I think the whole attitude towards climbing Mount Everest has become rather horrifying. The people just want to get to the top, it was wrong if there was a man suffering altitude problems and was huddled under a rock, just to lift your hat, say good morning and pass on by". He also told the New Zealand Herald that he was horrified by the callous attitude of today’s climbers. "They don’t give a damn for anybody else who may be in distress and it doesn’t impress me at all that they leave someone lying under a rock to die" .

Sharp's mother, however, has said David was responsible for his own survival, and she does not blame other climbers.

As of July 2006, Inglis retracted his claim that he was ordered to continue his ascent after informing Brice of a climber in distress, blaming the extreme conditions at altitude for the uncertainty in his memory. The Discovery Channel documentary Everest: Beyond the Limit showed footage indicating that Sharp was only found by Inglis' group on their descent. The group was low on oxygen and heavily fatigued with several cases of severe frost bite, making a rescue difficult, if not impossible.

References

• "Jamie McGuiness about David Sharp: 'Crying, Dawa had to leave him'" by mounteverest.net, mounteverest.net, May 24, 2006, retrieved May 25, 2006.

See also

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

External links

• Picture of David Sharp taken in 2003
• Picture of where David Sharp died

Further reading

• Everest remains deadly draw for climbers - USA Today
• Left to die at the top of the world - Times Online
• Dr. Morandeira: “Could David Sharp have been saved? Definitely”, includes a chronology of the tragedy.