UKH

I spotted this news today reporting deaths on Shishapangma.

"Migmar Sherpa and his American client Anna Gutu died in one avalanche, and Tenjen Sherpa and his American client Gina Marie Rzucidlo died in another. Gutu and Rzucidlo were in a competition to become the first American woman to climb the 14 8,000-metre peaks. They had both separately climbed 13 and were on the final summit push of their 14th."

Words sort of fail me. OK people have died trying to be 'the first'; but this beggars belief. Have the major mountains really become just a circus? With two Sherpas as collateral damage?

https://gripped.com/profiles/tenjen-sherpa-and-migmar-sherpa-die-guiding-cl...

Would be interesting to know whether different risk decisions were made because of the time pressure on the planned ascents. I would have thought the same planning and decision making went into these ascents as normal, in which case the ascents being part of a record attempt wouldn't have any bearing on the accident, but I've no idea if that was the case or not.

With respect to the people involved, it may be a 'race' in name only.

To climb13, 8,000 peaks means that each climber was a credible and experienced mountaineer. Not like two tourists being dragged up Everest because they are rich. It might not be the out and out sprint, as implied by the article. Any number of factors determines who gets to the top, or not. The chances are they probably knew each other. We don't know if one team came to the aid of the other.

As you mention, people have died trying to be the first. You could make the 'circus' comment about almost any big peak. You could make it about a number of British peaks, that have been climbed countless times.

RIP to all involved.

No it doesn't.

Makes you think, if they were both such credible and experienced mountaineers, they could probably just have gone out together, without a Sherpa guide each 

Obviously every death is tragic, but everybody knows what modern himalayan climbing is these days. That goes for both sherpa and clients. They know exactly what game they are playing, you can't be shocked by it in 2023. 

There is a bit more detail here:

https://explorersweb.com/what-happened-shishapangma-climbers-speak/

Not a very edifying picture. 

Interesting article - thanks for sharing. While the toxicity is awful and the outcomes tragic I still don't quite understand how this contributed to two parties being swept off the mountain by 2 separate avalanches. Is it climber error? Are the avalanches linked? Would two parties on the mountain that didn't have this urgency to get to the top have done anything differently? Or is it just a tragic coincidence?

An earlier article on ExplorersWeb does say that other climbing parties aborted their summit attempts at lower altitudes than those hit by the avalanches. However, it is not clear whether they retreated before or after the avalanches. 

From what I've seen one of those being guided had no prior 8000m and all but no previous mountaineering experience. If that's accurate the heavy lifting these Sherpas are undertaking to get clients up so many peaks in such a short space of time is mind blowing 

Interesting article. This bit in particular caught my attention:

"She managed to hire Tenjen Lama, who was in Tibet guiding for Seven Summit Treks. Tenjen was the powerhouse who helped Kristin Harila summit all the 8,000’ers in just over three months and shared her record."

I didn't follow Harila's story but I did read some of the reports and it entirely passed me by that one Sherpa had guided her on all 14 summits and was therefore the joint record holder. I think this says an awful lot about this sort of climbing and about attitudes to the Sherpa. 

If it brightens up later I'm going to go pottering about soloing and bouldering at a fairly obscure gritstone crag. I'm pretty sure there won't be anyone else there. If I don't fancy a route for any reason I'll back off because I'm there to have fun and I'm under no pressure, internal or external. It's hard to get ones head around the fact that my planned afternoon and the 8000ers circus both fall under the broad heading of 'climbing'.

Interesting article. After a few paragraphs  I was getting red flashing lights about the risks and likely outcomes.... What a zoo!

We are all tourists, both in the mountains and on our brief visit to the mortal world

"Gina called Anna the Instagram climber"

Says it all really

Anyone who needs guides and fixed ropes to climb an 8000m peak is not a credible mountaineer.

This just seems so incredibly sad. 

RIP and condolences to their families. 

I first saw the inadequate reports on various papers' websites, but the link posted by Harry Jarvis makes it even worse.

Mountaineers are people who not only physically climb mountains, they are people who love being in the mountains. Climbing a mountain is in itself reason enough to do it for a mountaineer.

These people are not mountaineers, they are mountain-tourists. To them climbing a mountain is merely a means to an end, a necessary effort on the way to whatever it is that is their end point - fame, notoriety, bragging rights, whatever.

It is sad that these people have lost their lives but they really just shouldn't have been there. And it is an even greater shame that sherpas have been dragged into this mountain-tourism because that's maybe the only way they can move out of poverty.