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Source: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/q/21710
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

<p>I have watched many documentaries about accidents on Everest and what I learned is, that it is impossible to rescue anybody from the death zone. It is simply too hard for the sherpas, or anybody else to carry somebody. So, when a climber is unable to stand on his own feet, he is left there, basically to die. If other groups on the way up or down encounter the individual, they leave them there and continue upwards or downwards.</p>

<p>Now, I realize, that it is hard and dangerous enough to carry your own body weight up and down and attempting to carry someone would result in critical danger for the rescuer. </p>

<p>But are there, or have there been discussions of developing a method to somehow rescue people in these situations?</p>

<p>What I have in mind are the following, probably stupid ideas, sorted from least to most preposterous:</p>

<p>1) Abort ascents, organize a rescue group and bring the person more supplies: oxygen bottles and blankets, maybe even a tent or other way of keeping them warm, until they get better. Maybe even put them in a portable compression chamber. This should be theoretically doable.</p>

<p>2) Put the person on a sleigh or ski and let them take their chances riding down some of the way at least or have multiple people pull them, which should be less impossible, than carrying them.</p>

<p>3) Have the person paraglide down in tandem with a sherpa or alone (after a short instruction). Let's assume, the person is well enough to wait for someone to carry the chute up to them.</p>

<p>4) Put the person on a rebreather with full face mask on. This should be able to eliminate the oxygen starvation or at least give them more time.</p>

<p>5) If the groups is 10 people strong, attach the climber to a hammock or some rope contraption and divide the weight among the group.</p>

<p>6) Have a rope installed on one of the steeper, longer walls or slopes and let the person down, until he reaches a lower point, even if that lower point is not very easily accessible, just to kill some altitude.</p>

<p>What ideas so far have been explored by the community in order to solve this problem? What discussions are there or have there been?</p>

<p>I know that most of these are probably stupid, but somehow I can't believe, that the only option there can ever be is to leave people for dead there. There have been well-known climbers, who criticize the practice of leaving people for dead. However, as far as I know, those well-known climbers haven't provided practical solutions to the problem.</p>