Attention getter: Mount Everest has had more than 4,000 people trying to reach the top. 660 people have have actually made it and 142 have died trying to get there.
Preview: From what I've discovered, I have found that the death tolls on Everest are really high. A man with the last name, Breashears, explains in an internet article how it took a team of 12 people eight hours to get a dead Taiwanese man off of the mountain.(http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/everest). In one of my examples of deaths, you will notice that a cause of death was from a falling cornic for another group of climbers.
Thesis Statement: Mount Everest is a deadly feat only a lucky number of people will ever get to conquer and there are many reasons why. (Body Paragraph One) The first thing I will discuss is the evidence to back up my claim, such as people's actually stories from the mountain. (Body Paragraph Two) I will then talk about a specific story that supports the fact that many people have died on Mount Everest and then tell what the contributing factor to this specific story was. (Body Paragraph Three) After all is said and done, I will then mention other contributing factors that I think may be causing this problem.
Body Paragraph One
- There is a sad story about a man named Scott Fischer. He was a very good, experienced climber. A very bad storm was the cause of death. He was trapped and it was said that he was probably dying from pulmonary or cerebral edema.
- It's really sad when the local people, (Sherpas) don't like to go near the dead bodies left on Mount Everest.
- According to statistics, 175 bodies of dead people were found and reported in 2002. Also, there were known to have 41 bodies on the north side alone.
Body Paragraph Two
- One story I read really sticks out about two men with the last names, Boukreev and Sobolev. There was a Russian group of three that were trying a new way to climb Mount Everest when an avalanche occurred because of a falling cornic.
- They were climbing alpine style-which means they were climbing without oxygen, normal equipment used in assistance to climb, and camps and ropes.
- The contributing factor to these two deaths is the falling cornic. It collapsed and caused an avalanche. Luckily, one man lived to tell the story.
Body Paragraph Three
- Another contributing factor could be the weather. You heard the story from the first body paragraph about how Scott Fischer died because of a nasty storm.
- Other contributing factors are the fact that one-third in the fraction compared to sea level, requiring climbers to breathe four times as fast, or about 50 times a minute.
- Less oxygen leaves more room for pulmonary edema, in which the lungs fill with fluid, or cerebral edema, in which the brain does.
- One last contributing factor that may be causing deaths on Mount Everest is hypothermia and there are many more factors such as: Exhaustion. Hallucinations. Impaired decision-making ability. Insomnia, due in part to a subconscious fear of suffocating. Frostbite. A parched throat that often produces a hacking cough violent enough to crack ribs.
- And let's not forget all of the dangers such as these: Triple-digit wind chills, sudden blizzards, avalanches, mile-deep crevasses, teetering 12-story ice chunks, sheer terrain.
Conclusion
Thesis Statement: Climbing Mount Everest is a hard goal to reach, and this is proven through all of the stories of people who tried and died.
Summary: All of these stories are about men who died trying to reach the top, and they all had unexpected things happen to them. Mother Nature is just that unpredictable.
Solution: Be prepared if you plan to climb the mountain, and watch the news for weather reports. You also should probably carry an oxygen bag that I saw climbers used in a recent climb in a movie I watched in class last trimester. It shouldn't matter the cost, your life is that important. This bag will supply you with oxygen that will feel like you are down at base camp. Lack of oxygen was the cause of a lot of the sicknesses that occurred. And because of this, you should make sure you get as much oxygen up there on the mountain, as you need. If that means carrying more, then carry more. Buy the warmest of clothing to make sure you don't get frostbite. Before you attempt climbing to the top, make sure you are okay physically and mentally and everyone else is okay too. And get hold of your pride, and make plans for in case you can't climb to the top. If Plan B is to not climb the mountain, then go with it if someone is not okay. Do not let your pride get in the way.
Clincher: I'll leave with a quote by Alex Noble: "If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day." This means that in all decisions you make on Mount Everest, you need to be at peace in order to make the correct ones.
Bibliography:
http://www.ask.com/web?q=definition+of+Alpine+Style+&qsrc=1&o=333&l=dir
http://classic.mountainzone.com/climbing/boukreev/
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/everestarticles/deadly
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_good.html
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hatt0047/everestarticles/deadly
http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/s6695.html
http://classic.mountainzone.com/climbing/fischer/fischer.html
