WEBVTT - Are there dead bodies on Mount Everest? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.000 from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:12.080 --> 0:00:15.680 the podcast. I'm Josh. That's Chuck. How you doing, Chuck? 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.200 I'm great, man. Let's just stop right here, Chuck, We've 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:20.239 got something to shamelessly plug. I wanted to just get 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:22.200 it over with. I feel really bad about this. I 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:24.600 call it anything other than what it is, right, Okay, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:29.080 So um, everybody, Chuck and I just made and Jerry 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:32.320 Jerry was a huge part of it, agreed, our producer, Jerry. 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:36.120 It would have just been steaming had Jerry not been 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:39.680 involved in this, right, agreed. Chuck and I just recorded 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:43.440 our first spoken word album. Right. We have joined the 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:48.040 likes of Jack Kerouac and Barack Obama except our spoken 0:00:48.040 --> 0:00:52.040 word albums on the economy economics? Right, Chuck, We took 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.080 the path less traveled, did something that's kind of obscure 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.360 and people you know are talking about much of these days. Um, 0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:00.440 And what's it called, Chuck? It is called the Stuff 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.480 you Should Know, super Stuffed Guide the Economy. And it 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:08.080 is super stuff because it's long and detailed and we've 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.520 got interviews with experts. There's we go on site, we 0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:14.280 leave the studio, chicken farm, not just that's not just 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.400 a boiler, worry about it. But yeah. So it's up 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.080 for sailor and iTunes right now, right um, and it 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:22.319 is for sale, it is. I know you folks are 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.640 always saying I can't believe your podcasts are free. Well, 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:27.280 we took your advice, so yeah, thanks for that. Hopefully 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.240 this will allow us to keep doing what we do. Yeah. 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:32.399 So that's have we reached the end of the shameless plug. 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:34.920 So if you want to go buy it, that would 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:37.280 be totally fine with us. That would be great. Okay, 0:01:37.360 --> 0:01:39.840 So that now we've reached them the same as yes, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.040 and it's time to get into your shameless segue. Yeah, 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.160 which is this? Have you ever mountain climbed? I know 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:50.320 you've repelled, but where you ever on a mountain to 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.240 repel mine was one must climb? Now, I've never actually 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:57.600 rock climbed, but I've done plenty of hiking in the mountains, 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.720 but not rock face climbing. That's was there snow in 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:02.400 any of these mountains? Were you up so high that 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:07.559 there's like perennial snow. Really yeah, where like Colorado stuff 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.520 like that. Huh wow, that's pretty impressive. That was shocking. 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.680 I see you like wearing your little shorts and hiking 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:18.519 boots with like thick socks kind of pushed down. Um, 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:20.959 so far, so good. Yeah, and just kind of hiking 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:24.200 along what most people would call like a hill or 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.080 something like that. Certainly not like where there's like kenne 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.120 Saw Mountain kind of yeah, which is I can't say 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:32.560 anything because it's way out of my league. Kenna Saw 0:02:32.639 --> 0:02:36.040 Mountain is let alone the Rockies. I mean, trust me, dude, 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.359 I'm not You won't think I'm a sharpa like scaling 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:43.040 the mount Everest or anything like that. Yeah, And I 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.280 think at this point I can tell you left untoward 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.920 behind and sharpa is now my favorite word right now. Okay, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:52.520 I love that word. It just rolls off the tongue. 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.440 You're cute little guys. Yeah, agreed, Um, okay, So you 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.440 have done some mountain climbing, so so you can speak 0:02:58.440 --> 0:03:01.880 to what we're going to talk about with reasonable authority. 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.120 I can defer to you when I get confused, inevitably, So, Chuck, 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:08.560 have you ever read into thin air? I have not, 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:10.960 but I did read Into the Wild, which is John 0:03:11.520 --> 0:03:13.800 hour That his name, yeah, John crack Our. He is 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:17.720 a journalist for Outside magazine, and he knows how to 0:03:18.280 --> 0:03:23.680 take an outdoor UM event and turn it into a 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:27.000 good book. Into the Wild is a great example. Chris McCandless, 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.600 who actually went to school down the road at Emery 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:33.080 and decided that he was going to go to Alaska 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:37.000 and basically just didn't quite do it right. Yeah, died 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.840 after three months of exposure the elements. I think there's 0:03:40.880 --> 0:03:42.960 some varying theories on why I died, but that's not 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.920 what this is about. Okay, Well, no, we're thin Air. 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:48.360 Into thin Air is much much more pertinent to this 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.920 topic than I think. Okay, So, Um, that's actually about 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:56.960 an an expedition on Mount Everest, um and that took 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.400 place in May. He was actually on this one, right, Yes, 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.680 he was, UM, which is one of the reasons the 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:06.840 book is so incredible. UM. And it was a complete 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:12.200 cluster of a um of an expedition. Eight people died, 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:17.640 accounting for um more than half of the deaths on 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.240 Everest that year. It's one expedition. UM. There was a 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:23.360 rogue storm that whipped up and it killed some people 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:26.360 and others were lost and then they died, but then 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:29.040 other people went after them to try to rescue him, 0:04:29.040 --> 0:04:31.040 and then they died. And it was just more like 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.719 a let's get out of here whenever we can. You 0:04:33.760 --> 0:04:37.240 basically just have to write everybody off right, um. And 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.080 and like, like I said, it's a very very good book. Um. 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:43.320 But one of the things that I took from it 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.880 is that number one, Mount Everest is a total bear 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:52.200 as far as mountains go, completely inhospitable for humans. Yeah, 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:54.000 you want to talk about you want to talk a 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.520 little bit about Everest. Yeah, I guess we should get it. 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.839 Just a couple of stats out of the way. Everyone 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.760 knows just the tallest peak in the world. They call 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:02.560 it the roof top of the world they do, and 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.039 good reason. Quick aside, um, there is a Discovery micro 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.200 site on Everest and it has a three hundred and 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.400 sixty degree panoramic view. You shall remember you show me 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.360 that like my first week here. It's amazing. It was unbelievable. 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:18.720 And I said to myself, that is awesome. And this 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.159 Josh dude has it going on. That's all it takes. 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:23.320 That's how I've collected all of my friends. That's how 0:05:23.320 --> 0:05:25.800 the magic starts. You send him the Everest photo. Yeah, 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:27.480 I just I pay it out a little bit at 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:29.840 a time. Start with the Everest photo. It's really cool. 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:32.400 You're sitting up at night. You actually feel like you're 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.080 there when you look at this panoramic picture, and so 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.400 much so that I don't feel like I need to climate. 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.839 You can almost hear the wind whipping. Yeah, so okay, 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:43.120 So give me some more steps. The tallest peak in 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.560 the world, share which is what's the peak? How? How 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.919 it tall? Is it thousand thirty five ft which is 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.800 eight thousand, eight hundred and fifty meters for our friends 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.960 who don't live in the US or Liberia or Burma? Correct? 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.720 Very well done, uh little shout out insider, shout out 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:02.400 to our SNAr mail or. She wrote in with that, um, 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:05.560 and the mountain itself shares a border with Nepal and Tibet, 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.880 but the actual peak is in Nepal, so India is 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:13.000 not involved, not as far as I know. Um, why 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.920 did you say that you're trying to throw me off 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.280 my game? Yeah, don't worry about it. Checking No one 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:20.880 can throw you after game, right, not even me? Josh 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.360 messes with me sometimes people, but it usually gets cut out. 0:06:23.400 --> 0:06:24.760 I have a feeling this will make it in so 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:26.920 check out. Have a question for you, Shoot, what is 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:31.799 the worst season to go on Everest? Well, really anything 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:35.520 outside of um May in June May to June. Yeah, 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.960 that's when you want to climb Everest. June is the 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.040 time you want to go. Yes, oh well, okay, got so, Josh. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:43.080 An average day, if you want to talk weather, an 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:46.360 average day in May of two thousand and eight was 0:06:46.960 --> 0:06:51.960 minus seventeen degrease fahrenheit, which is mine degrees celsius true 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:57.280 and wins of fifty one eighty one KOs right, very good. 0:06:57.600 --> 0:07:00.240 So that's during the most hospitable time in the year, 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:05.640 barring no like freak storms and unusual activity. Other times 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.800 of the year, the jet stream passes directly by the summit, 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.480 which is in made of June, the jet stream does 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.400 not do that, which is why that's the time to go. 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.720 And you can get winds up to like, you know, 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:20.720 a hundred and twenty miles an hour and miles an hour, 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.360 which would be a hundred and eighty nine kilometers an 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.400 hour and minus a hundred degrees fahrenheit. So which is 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.080 minus seventy three degrees celsius. Right, so you cannot imagine. 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:32.080 Have you ever been up in then a tall, tall building? 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.880 Um get in the wintertime? No outside, Okay, I climb 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:42.800 the Empire. There's no mountain climbing, certainly, no Colorado hiking, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.160 no tall buildings in the wintertime. But you've been to Malta. 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:50.440 Um I just a few years ago, Emily and I 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.480 were at the top of the Empire State Building around 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.840 Christmas time and dude, that's the Empire State Building and 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.600 I thought I was gonna die the wind in the cold, 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:02.760 and that's the Empire stabling. So imagine Mount Everest at 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.760 twenty nine feet Well, were you properly outfitted on the 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:09.880 roof of the Empire stuff? Yeah, you established a base 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.920 camp by then, yeah, on the on the ground floor 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.520 comes out. I was like, what are you doing? Right? Yeah? Okay, So, so, Chuck, 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:19.960 I think we got it down. Mount Everest is not 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:23.320 the place to be, especially with your Empire state allegory. 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.680 That's pretty good, thanks, okay, so um and we've also 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.680 established that people die on Everest. How many was there? 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.120 Eighty nine? So that's the that's the current count, and 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:38.280 you said that two thousand people have died or have 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.760 have successfully summitted Everest. Right, that was as of a 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.040 few years ago. That was the count, And the BBC 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:48.800 told me, well, you so somewhere between there for every stat, 0:08:48.800 --> 0:08:51.000 there's another stat when it comes to stuff like this 0:08:51.120 --> 0:08:53.240 and equal enough isite stant like some guy might have 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:55.240 snuck up to Everest and not officially logged it with 0:08:55.280 --> 0:09:00.760 the BBC. You know. Well, the problem is is that, um, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.480 if you die on Everest, apparently you stay on Everest 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:08.440 pretty much. Yeah, which is what your article is about, right, Yeah, 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.120 it's much. Uh, it's a suicide mission to try and 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:16.040 bring a body down from the death zone. And the 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:18.920 death zone is above twenty six feet. That's like the 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.959 final area, above the final base camp where you go 0:09:22.480 --> 0:09:24.520 to reach the summit, and that's where most people die. 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.000 And not everybody who's died on Everest is still there, 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.920 but a significant portion is, like of the nine, there's 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:35.720 one twenty. And also we should probably say before you 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:38.600 sharpen your pencils and email us, we're working off of 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:42.120 what like two thousand four stats right here, So at 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.000 least several people have died since then. I think I 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:48.280 know at least one guy died in two thousand six 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:52.920 on everest Um. The thing is is you can't even 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:58.320 bring your oxygen canister down. Basically, a dead person and 0:09:58.600 --> 0:10:00.720 an oxygen cancer not the same thing. But it kind 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.600 of puts it in perspective like you are going up 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.840 there and getting back down and you're lucky to escape 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.720 with your life, basically exactly. And from what I what 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:13.440 I've read and had been described to me, to try 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.440 and bring a body down is as suicide mission for 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:20.200 everyone involved. So it's like, you can't save this person 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.640 because you put your entire crew at risk, So you 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:26.520 just have to march on um. Now that's kind of 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:31.439 the predominant view of people who who climb everest Um. 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:34.040 But it seems like it's starting to change, like technology 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:38.800 is advancing enough, and people's gear and and oxygen equipment 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.000 it's getting good enough so that that that sentiment is 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:49.160 almost um being outlived. It's already been outlived obviously. Sir 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:51.800 Edmond Hillary is the guy who summited everest for the 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:55.439 first time. With their debates about that too, did they 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.920 think nor Gay beat him? Uh? Well, George Lee Mallory 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.120 actually is an other climber and there's there's some speculation 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:04.480 as to who actually got there first, because Mallory was 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:06.960 found dead and actually in the article there's a picture 0:11:07.000 --> 0:11:10.319 of his i know, petrified, frozen, headless body. It is 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.920 a cool picture. Yeah, yeah, his head is just pretty 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.280 much withered away. The weird thing is is like if 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.400 you look at his left hand, it's totally intact, Like 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:21.120 it looks like he's just laying there if you just 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:23.800 look at his arm. But where did they find him? 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.040 I mean, did they find him at the summit or 0:11:26.200 --> 0:11:28.079 they think he made it to the summit and started 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.560 to climb down and died maybe exactly. I think that's 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:33.360 the speculation. They did not find they found beneath the summit, 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.439 And there's speculation as to whether what you said, whether 0:11:37.440 --> 0:11:38.800 he made it all the way down and died on 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:40.160 the way back, or whether he never made it all 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.800 the way up and he would have been before Hillary. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.040 So that's that's a pretty big deal. Yeah. He was 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.199 in the twenties, right, Yeah, And it looks like he 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.760 was running around in like a burlap sack. I think 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.600 it's not good climbing. It weathered some over the years. Well. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:59.920 Either way, the first person to be to document their 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:03.000 place at the top of Mount Everest is Sir Edmund 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.240 Hillary and he did it with the nepolie serpa tending 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.160 nor Gay, who's just got the best name. Yeah, he's 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.880 got Sherpa right there. And then Tensing in nor Gay. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:14.160 I love that guy's name. That's that's your fake name 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.200 when you check in the hotels, isn't it. Why did 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.160 you do that? I tell you things in confidence. Thank you, 0:12:20.240 --> 0:12:22.959 Chuck to change my name. This brings up a point though, 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:26.440 that he's he's obviously the most well known serpa ever. 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.440 Have you ever heard of any other Sherpa? I have, 0:12:29.520 --> 0:12:32.080 but I never retained their names, like Tensing nor Gay. Well, 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:33.920 they get a raw deal, as my point, Like you 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.839 always see the guy, you know, the white dude and 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.120 the jam Sport North face gear on top of Everest, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.360 and you don't see like there's like two on the 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.640 outside of the frame. It's their third trip up that week. 0:12:45.720 --> 0:12:47.240 You know, they're like big deal. Did you ever see 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:51.240 the episode of The Simpsons where Homer climbs Mound Springfield 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.640 and the two Sharps are like doing cartwheels on the 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.400 way down and dragging him up while he sleeps at night. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.960 I imagine that that's probably. I think it's a thankless job, 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:02.880 is what I'm saying. I think of the world, they 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.800 need to form a union or something. So how did 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.880 we get on Hillary? Well, you said that he was 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:12.120 the first man. Okay, well, I know, I know what 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:14.199 I was going to say. He lived until two thou eight, 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.080 so he lived to see a lot of people follow 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.480 in his footsteps and die and um. In two thousand 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.280 and six, this guy named John Sharp. I believe he 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:29.920 died on the mountain. I think of exposure maybe, and 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:35.760 as many as forty climbers passed right past him and 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.880 not like him and didn't see him like past him, 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:43.400 noted he was dead, dying, dying, and just kept going 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.880 because that that mentality is still around, like hey, it's 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:50.839 too dangerous, right. The thing that so Hillary came out 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.840 and publicly criticized the people who didn't even do anything 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:57.120 make an attempt um. And then the thing that really 0:13:57.200 --> 0:14:00.280 kind of drove that criticism home was the following year, 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:05.360 a Nepalese woman was successfully rescued by an American climber, 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.240 very experienced American climber, but she was in virtually the 0:14:08.280 --> 0:14:12.040 same spot under virtually the same conditionings, and he got 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:14.960 her out. But forty people walk past this guy just 0:14:15.120 --> 0:14:18.480 under the assumption that, And I can imagine it's drilled 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:21.320 into your head like if you die or you're dying, 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.040 we're going to leave you here. But I don't think 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.480 that's necessarily I don't think that necessarily has to be 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.160 the case anymore as that that American guide proved by 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.520 saving the Nepalese woman. Right, And this is this is 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:34.680 me speculating here, but I bet a certain amount of 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.280 this too, in addition to having that drilled in your head, 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.720 is it's so much effort and a lot of money 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.720 to go on one of these expeditions and not you know, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.520 some people climb it more than once, but a lot 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:48.440 of people this is there there one shot and they 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:52.040 hear this, and they might see someone dying and they think, 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.880 you know, I can't ruin my opportunity to climb Everest 0:14:55.880 --> 0:14:59.960 and potentially die in the process to rescue the stranger 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:01.840 or so it's pretty sad. And I know there's a 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:05.040 lot of controversy. Well there was. There's definitely one guy 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.480 who has probably received the most public eye or of 0:15:08.560 --> 0:15:11.640 anybody who's let somebody die on ever. So his name 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.640 is Ian Woodall, and he actually figures as basically the 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.320 villain in Into Thin Air. He was actually he was 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.280 on the mountain when crack Howard's expedition went pear shaped, 0:15:23.760 --> 0:15:27.760 and um so crack Hower was. You know, these expeditions 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.360 were very close together and oftentime, like coming into the 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.320 same place at the same time, and they try to 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.680 stagger it kind of like golf, except much much deadlier. 0:15:36.160 --> 0:15:39.640 Um where so everybody's not hitting the same points at 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:45.120 the same time, right, Yeah, Well, what All apparently was 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.160 not down with waiting for anybody. I think his famous 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:50.320 quote in the book is will make it to the 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.920 top any time, we damn well please, or something like that. 0:15:53.600 --> 0:15:56.720 So he's unwilling to coordinate with other expeditions. He um 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.920 wouldn't allow another expedi and I think craik Iur was 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.600 expedition to use his radio to call for help um 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:06.720 for whatever reason, I don't remember. I read the book 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:11.120 like a decade ago, but he craik Are definitely doesn't 0:16:11.120 --> 0:16:13.520 like this guy. And basically, if he doesn't say in 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:17.280 so many words, he insinuates that this people died on 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.960 the mountain because of this man's action or in action. Right. So, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.640 and there was actually one another climb that would all 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:29.360 went on where he Yeah, he was with a dying woman. 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:33.720 He and his partner Kathy o' doubt his his wife actually, 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.720 but I think they're they're climbing partners as well. Um, 0:16:37.040 --> 0:16:41.000 we're going on their initial ascent, right, and um came 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.840 upon a woman and what is her name? Her name 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.840 is Francis are Arcentievay. Um. Yeah, and she was laying 0:16:48.880 --> 0:16:51.560 there dying, and so they went over and hung out 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.480 with her for an hour and tried to see what 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.080 they could do. And what happened, well, they left her 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.320 behind and she said apparently the last words she said, 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.440 we're don't leave me behind. And they were forced to 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:06.440 leave her behind. And I didn't know that part about 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:08.480 the end of thin Air that he figured into that book, 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:11.560 but apparently he went back in two thousand seven to 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.880 bury her body up there. He did, with a couple 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.760 of others. She had. He was racked with guilt, apparently, Yeah, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.119 she had. Um. I read an article in the Daily 0:17:22.160 --> 0:17:24.880 Mail about him doing that. Um, And it was right 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.119 before he was actually on the mountain. They were interviewing 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:33.280 a via satellite phone. Um, and apparently Fran as everybody 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.720 called her, had become kind of this um ghoulish landmark, 0:17:38.200 --> 0:17:41.800 like I think Cathy O'Dowd put it, like you get 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.760 to Fran and turn left, because she was right there 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.679 on the trail and and you know, apparently like in 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:51.159 like a kind of a really horrible frozen state. And 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.760 also her husband was on the climb with her and 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:56.800 he died. They assumed they never found him again going 0:17:56.840 --> 0:17:59.960 to get help. Um. So yeah, it's a horrible story. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.160 They both left their a son behind, I believe. Um. 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.520 But yeah, so so what all wanted to go barrier 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.120 and uh he ultimately ended up like lowering down, lowering 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:14.240 her down and dropping her down the north face instead. Yeah, um, 0:18:14.440 --> 0:18:17.600 but yeah, he's not a very well liked person among 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.639 a lot of climbing circles. I get the impression. Well, 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.120 I know there's certainly a lot of controversy around that. Um. 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:26.800 I know that there's also been efforts. It's a big 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.719 trash dump too, which is what's really sad, because like 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.000 you said, people will just dump their gear to make 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:35.320 it easier on the way down. And uh, I got 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:37.679 a good stat for you here. Uh, we're talking a 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:40.520 hundred and twenty tons of trash each year or left 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.800 behind the mountain verse by climbers. Wait each year. I 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.399 thought that was total each year, says ABC News. Holy 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.280 and climbing teams in China. They lead expeditions now to 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:52.680 go up and clean some of the stuff up, and 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.159 they're trying to get some of these bodies down that 0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:58.119 are within you know, safe reach. Because if me think 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.199 about there's a hundred and twenty bodies on Everest, the 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:02.879 ones that are up in what'd you call it the 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:06.760 death zone? Um, they're they're pretty preserved, like you can 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.920 see in that picture of George Mallory, right, Um, so 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.159 they're close to trails generally, so that it I mean 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:19.240 imagine that. Imagine climbing Everest knowing that your own mortality 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:21.520 is at risk and then having like these reminders along 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.919 the way. I felt that way at the Empire State Building. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.080 Did you were there a lot of dead bodies on 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:29.280 the Empire State up the stairs? You know, every couple 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.440 of days it's an elevator. So I got you. I 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:33.359 really had nothing to complain about. There's no stairs in 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:36.920 the Empire State Building like a violation of I'm sure 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:38.720 there are stairs, but you don't climb them to get 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:43.040 to the observation deck. That's why you're still just doing 0:19:43.040 --> 0:19:48.040 the Rockies, buddy. Yeah, so okay, Well, Chuck, UM, I 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:52.560 guess we've answered that question. Dead bodies, Uh, hopefully less 0:19:52.680 --> 0:19:56.200 as they retrieve them, if they can retrieve them, and 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:58.520 hopefully less as time goes on, because I know that 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.160 every year that goes by a fewer and fewer people 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.960 are dying because of climbing technology, satellite phones and stuff 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:08.480 like that, and possibly maybe a change in mentality about 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:11.280 what happens to you if you get injured or you 0:20:11.359 --> 0:20:15.520 get exhausted. It's a new bang up generation of service 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:19.520 as well. Yes, there's no tensing nor days though he's 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.679 he's the one last of a breed. Yeah, well again, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.600 thank you for listening to that. Are their dead bodies 0:20:25.640 --> 0:20:28.240 on Mount Everest? You can read more about it. It's 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.440 a Chuck article, which means it's the market quality. You 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:34.760 can type in dead bodies Mount Everest and it's gonna 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.320 come up in our handy search bar on how stuff 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.760 works dot com and UM while I'm sitting here thinking 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.320 about a new UM pseudonym to come up with when 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:50.320 I check into hotels. Um, Chuck's gonna talk about our blog. Yes, 0:20:50.760 --> 0:20:52.560 our blog is up. It's been up for a little 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:55.320 while now, and we've gotten some of you find folks 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:57.560 leading comments and we'd like to see more of it. 0:20:57.640 --> 0:20:59.720 And I just want to say every Friday, I do 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.960 a little podcast recap on the blog where we just 0:21:03.040 --> 0:21:05.200 mentioned the shows that were release that week. And that's 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.480 a good chance for you guys to to chat with 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:09.080 us about it. If you have any comments about that 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:11.880 week's show, we log on, we'll answer you back, We'll 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:13.720 answer your questions. And uh, it's a good way to 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.400 reach us. Do you want to mention the cartoon? Oh yeah, 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:21.760 even better? There's a for Friday the March. There's a 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:24.239 blog post where Josh and I are actually have been 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.760 made into a comic strip by an artist named Greg 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:31.040