{"id":4269,"date":"2017-12-21T11:15:46","date_gmt":"2017-12-21T19:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pottinger.net\/osm\/?p=4269"},"modified":"2017-12-29T22:13:47","modified_gmt":"2017-12-30T06:13:47","slug":"deliverance-27000-feet-clarifications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pottinger.net\/osm\/2017\/12\/deliverance-27000-feet-clarifications\/","title":{"rendered":"Deliverance From 27,000 Feet: Clarifications"},"content":{"rendered":"

On December 19, 2017, the New York Times published an article called \u201cDeliverance From 27,000 Feet<\/a>\u201d by John Branch.<\/p>\n

It is excellent. I am glad to have contributed information and images that I hope will provide some sense of clarity and closure for the families of the fallen.<\/p>\n

Comments on the story have fallen into two main groups: Some readers are saddened by the senseless loss of life chronicled in the article, but they respect the ambition that drove those who died. Such readers may find this blog illuminating and informative. Others are mystified that anyone would attempt to climb Everest in the first place. These readers will likely gain nothing from reading my accounts here\u2014if you are not curious why we pursue these useless endeavors, or if you need to ask why, you will probably never understand.<\/p>\n

But a small subset of readers seem confused about the facts of the summit attempt, and in this post I seek to help them separate fact from imagination.<\/p>\n

Because of limitations on space, some important information was not included in the NYT article. This has led some readers to become confused about what actually happened. For instance, a reader identified as \u201cYuri Asian\u201d commented:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026.While the focus is on Ghosh, Nath, Paul and Hazra, I thought the three other climbers ancillary to the story — the Americans, Dr. Pottinger and Dr. (sic) Pollard; and the Englishman, Leslie Binns — were more compelling. Only Mr. Binns intervened and saved the life of Ms. Hazra, aborting his Everest ascent. The two American doctors didn’t.<\/p>\n

Branch does a masterful job conveying the humanity of the four Indian climbers and narrating the tragic events. I got a good sense of who they were, why they climbed Everest and how they failed. And also what they left behind.<\/p>\n

But how do two — likely prosperous and successful — doctors (sic) witness unfolding distress and death and move on without helping? And why did Mr. Binns (not identified as a doctor) sacrifice his chance at Everest to save another climber?<\/p>\n

I get why people climb mountains. But I don’t get how anyone summits Everest and comes away indifferent to another climber desperate for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am not angered by such comments, because they are borne from misunderstandings of the timeline and a lack of comprehension of what happens to climbers above 8000 meters.<\/p>\n

Details of my experiences that day are on public record on this blog. The most relevant posts are https:\/\/pottinger.net\/osm\/2017\/05\/top-planet-earth\/<\/a> and https:\/\/pottinger.net\/osm\/2017\/06\/down\/<\/a>. Recognizing that some will prefer not to read the entire posts, I will distill the relevant facts here.<\/p>\n

In summary, I left Camp 4 for the summit with guide Pasang Kami Sherpa at 9:20 PM on May 20, 2016, more than an hour after the West Bengal team had departed. I passed climbers Subhas Paul, Goutam Ghosh, Paresh Nath, Sunita Hazra, and their guides both on my way up and again on my way down\u2014when Paul, Ghosh, and Hazra were still headed towards the top. I was concerned that they were ascending late, after 10:00 AM below the South Summit, but it was not my place to talk with them about this. The same is true for the scores of other climbers who passed them twice that day. To my knowledge, none pulled them aside for a chat. This is simply not done when strangers appear to be in good condition. These were people whom I did not know, who were clearly supported by professional guides, and who at that time were making slow but upward progress. I encountered them on an exposed position on the Southeast Ridge, above 28,000 feet, exhausted on my way back to Camp 4. Even if I had tried to communicate with them, we would have had to talk through our masks, and we did not even speak the same first language. Furthermore, based on the NYT article, we are told that their own guides had pleaded with them to turn around, and that those pleas went unheeded. My skills as a physician were useless at that time\u2014these climbers needed to turn around and go down, under their own power.<\/p>\n

This footage has already been shared with the families of the fallen, thanks to Nilanjan Patra.<\/p>\n