World’s tallest mountain has killed over 426 but climbing it is easier | Science | News
Mount Everest is in the Himalayas (Image: Getty)
Climbing the world’s highest mountain above sea level is becoming increasingly safe; but still 1% of those brave enough to try to conquer it lose their lives. British scientists discovered. Mountaineer Paul Firth and Dr. from the University of Lancashire. Jeremy Windsor has developed their research on high-altitude fatalities on Mount Everest since George Mallory’s first recorded summit attempt in 1921.
New Zealanders Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to finally reach the 8,848-metre (29,031 ft) summit on 29 May 1953. More than 426 people have died on Everest expeditions and more than 200 bodies remain on the mountain. But now Firth, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and his colleagues claim that deaths have been cut in half, thanks to advances in air technology, oxygen delivery, logistics and nutrition.
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Stamp celebrates Sir Edmund Hillary’s success (Image: Getty)
Senior lecturer in Mountain Medicine at the University of Lancashire, Dr. Jeremy Windsor added: “Climbers have died on Everest for more than a century.
“We investigated more than 100 deaths on the mountain using eyewitness accounts and medical reports. Our results show that the death rate has halved compared to previous years.
“This change can be attributed to many factors, including improvements in weather forecasts, clothing and communication. These results have implications for all of us who enjoy the mountains!”
Posted in Journal of Physiology It shows that mortality rates during expeditions fell by half between 1921 to 2006 and the first period in the more recent years 2007 to 2024, with the mortality rate dropping from 1.4 percent to 0.7 percent.
Firth said: “Contrary to perceptions and media reports, things are actually safer now, but are still very dangerous.”
Firth wanted to better understand what happens to the human body at high altitudes to guide efforts to make climbing safer.
This initial research, published in 2009, found that brain edema likely plays a role in many more high-altitude deaths than previously understood.
The condition thrives in low-oxygen areas, such as Everest’s “death zone” above 26,200 feet, or five miles above.
Fluid leaks into the brain, causing headaches, extreme fatigue, coordination problems, and impaired judgment; Any of these pose a danger when a single mistake could cost you your life.
The research took into account a number of recent changes that have lowered the death rate. Today, most trials are carried out on standard routes known to use fixed ropes.
In addition, weather forecasts have greatly improved, as have communications systems, allowing for a freer flow of information about what awaits you high up on the mountain.
Advances in logistics, clothing, nutrition, hydration, and oxygen delivery systems have reduced climbers’ risks from cold, hunger, thirst, and poor weather.
Firth said: “Fewer people are becoming isolated, left behind and dying alone. We estimate that teamwork has improved and everything being connected as a whole has helped significantly, but we think there are many other things that we can’t measure that may also be contributing.”
Commemorative plaque honoring George Mallory and Andrew Irvine (Image: Getty)
Climbing Everest has always been a life-threatening endeavor. Two people died on the first expedition in 1921, but their deaths occurred on the way to the mountain. During the second expedition in 1922, seven porters lost their lives due to an avalanche.
Four people died on the third attempt in 1924, including George Mallory and Andrew Irvine, who disappeared on the first known attempt to reach the summit and whose remains were only found in recent years.
Mallory’s body was found along with personal belongings in 1999 by the Mallory and Irvine Research Expedition at an altitude of 26,760 feet (8,160 meters).
The expedition provided clues but there is no conclusive evidence as to whether they reached the summit. When asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Everest, Mallory replied: “Because it’s there.”
According to the current study, funded in part by the MGH Department of Anesthesia, just over half of the deaths occurred in the “death zone,” where the air holds only one-third of the oxygen at sea level.
Most of the deaths now occur in good weather due to lack of oxygen and extreme cold at that altitude, Firth said. Improved forecasting reduced losses directly linked to bad weather.
The new study highlights the growing popularity of climbing in recent years, with 1,921 summits climbed in the 85 years to 2006 and 9,823 summits in the 18 years since.
Although the death rate has dropped, climbers continue to die on the mountain almost every year, and many years have seen many deaths. One such year was 2004, when seven people died on Everest.
The study highlighted disparities in the deaths of climbers and local sherpas who provide professional porters and guide services.
Three-quarters of deaths among climbers occur high up on the mountain, on “summit day,” the final ascent to the summit, or during the descent.
On the contrary, the vast majority of sherpa deaths occur lower on the mountain as they prepare the route for their clients.
