Graves of Mt. Everest
The
body of David Sharp still sits in a cave, known as “Green Boots Cave”,
at the top of Mount Everest. David attempted the climb in 2005 and near
the top, stopped in this cave to rest. His body eventually froze in
place rendering him unable to move. Over 30 climbers passed by him as
he sat freezing to death. Some heard faint moans and realized he was
still alive. They stopped and spoke with him. He was able to identify
himself but was unable to move. Brave climbers moved him into the Sun
in an attempt to thaw him but eventually, realizing David would be
unable to move, were forced to leave him to die. His body still sits in
the cave and is used as a guide point for other climbers nearing the
summit.
Bodies of those who died at Advanced Base Camp are also left lying where they succumbed to the cold.
George
Mallory died in 1924 and was the first to make an attempt to reach the
summit of the world’s highest mountain. His body, still perfectly
preserved, was identified in 1999.
Climbers
often stack rocks and packed snow around the bodies in an effort to
protect them from the elements. Nobody knows why this body
skeletonized.
Bodies
lie on the mountain frozen in the position they were in when the person
died. Here a man had fallen off the trail and too tired to rise, died
where he fell.
It
is assumed that this person died while resting against a snow bank
which has since evaporated leaving the body in this odd raised position.
Some
die from falls leaving their bodies in a location where they can be
seen but not recovered. Bodies that are located on small ledges are
often rolled off to hide them from view of other climbers only to be
buried by falling snow.
Wind
and environment sometimes leaves clothing in tatters as seen in this
“collection” of bodies lying at the bottom of a dangerous cliff.
Sun and wind have dried this body leaving a “mummified” corpse.
Green boots
The
body of “Green Boots” (an Indian climber who died in 1996) lies near a
cave that all climbers pass on their way to the peak. Green Boots now
serves as a waypoint marker that climbers use to gauge how near they are
to the summit. Green Boots became separated from his party in 1996 and
sought this mountain overhang (really a small, open mouthed cave) to
use as protection from the elements. He sat there shivering in the cold
until he died. The wind has since blown his body over.
Other lost souls left behind on Mount Everest.
Francys
Arseniev, an American women who fell while descending with a group
(that included her husband), pleaded with passerby’s to save her. While
climbing down the side of a steep section of the mountain, her husband
noticed she was missing. Knowing that he did not have enough oxygen to
reach her and return to base camp, he chose to turn back to find his
wife anyway. He fell to his death in the attempt to climb down and
reach his dying wife. Two other climbers did successfully reach her but
knew carrying her off of Mount Everest was not an option. They
comforted her for a while before leaving her to die. Feeling great
remorse, they returned eight years later vowing to find the body and
enshrine it in an American flag (they succeeded). After details of the
disastrous climb became known, it was realized that Francys Arseniev had
become the first woman from the United States to reach the summit of
Mount Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen.
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