U.S. Climber Gives Up Everest for Rescue

On their way up Mt. Everest, this American guide and his team stopped to rescue another climber. By doing so, they ruined their own chances of finishing the climb.

Only a few weeks before, another man died while climbing Mt. Everest. As many as 40 people are believed to have passed him. No one tried to rescue him.

People are questioning how so many climbers could be so callous. This article explains some of the reasons why climbers would not want to risk their own treks to help rescue another person.

While the American guide said that not rescuing the man would haunt him, the wife of one of the Canadians in the team also mentioned that while she is proud of her husband for stopping, she also thinks it will probably haunt him for the rest of his life that he did.

For most of us, it probably seems clear that rescuing a human life is more important than climbing Mt. Everest. But then most of us would probably not be willing to risk our lives to climb a mountain, and we probably cannot really understand what goes on in the minds of the people that embark on this perilous adventure.