At 8,848 meters above sea level, the world's highest peak, Everest, no one can stay in this area for more than 48 hours without oxygen.
High altitude pulmonary edema, the most common problem caused by thin air, is not even the number one cause of death for climbers on Mount Everest. There are also sudden blizzards, ice avalanches... all in front of pulmonary edema.
Moreover, most people died on the way down after successfully reaching the top, and the ecstasy of fulfilling their wishes was intertwined with the tragedy of being buried in a foreign land.
There are a million causes of death, but there is only one way to survive: to get out in time before the oxygen runs out. For climbers it may be a spiritual home, but for the body it is a place that cannot last long.
Two epic figures who climbed Mount Everest said the same thing to explain why they risked their death to climb Mount Everest, British mountaineer George Mallory (1886.6.18-1924.6.8～9) and New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary (1919.7.20~2008.1.11).
Maybe climbers have the same reason. Because it's there, Mallory said. He climbed to the summit of Mount Everest with a friend in 1924 and never came back. His body was only found in 1999, and the cause of death was a fall and a head injury.
Hillary also has the same reason, The mountain is there. In 1953, he climbed the summit of Mount Everest with his guide Tenzing Norgay and took pictures, becoming the first climber to be recorded as the summit. The steps he built, named the Hillary Steps, became the last danger to the summit.
There was once a mountaineer who lasted 30 hours on the summit of Everest without a sleeping bag, without oxygen, and in a blizzard. A snowstorm can further reduce the oxygen content of the otherwise thin air by another 14%. So he almost challenged the limit of vitality.
He was once the first non-Sherpe (Sherpa) to reach the Himalayan summit five times, and he was also the founder of a controversial commercial mountaineering named Rob Hall (1961.1.14-1996.5. 11), New Zealanders. In order to accompany one of his sluggish customers and allow the financially-strapped ordinary postman to fulfill his life's dream, he risked delaying the summit by more than 2 hours, and ended up at the summit with his customers, including friends who came to his rescue. Died in a mountain crash in 1996.
Rob Hall's remains remain on the southern slope of Mount Everest, which is only 100-200 meters away from the summit. His story has been written into the famous mountaineering literature "Into thin air" and was made into two films, including "Everest" in 2015. " (Chinese name "Deadly Altitude"). The last words he left in the world were to say to his wife, "Bye my love." He was 36 years old when he was strong and strong, and his daughter Sara Hall, who was born the following year, is now 19 years old. At the end of the film, she is smiling brightly , full of energy, the most comforting healing from the tragedy of 20 years ago.
The commercial mountaineering team organized by Rob Hall took a group photo before the mountain disaster in 1996. In the photo, four people died in the subsequent mountain disaster, and the bodies of two of them have not been found. Another man miraculously survived but lost his hands.
Climbing Mount Everest only has a window of a few days each year, and climbers have to perform physical training for up to a month in the area above 6,000 meters above sea level. Most people only stay at the peak for less than half an hour, and must The world retreats to camp, as failure to do so quickly can lead to life-threatening situations. More than 200 corpses are currently left on the mountain, most of them in the death zone above 8,000 meters.
"Desperate Altitude" tried to restore a piece of history, but the change of the Chinese title was a huge failure. Because this film is a biopic, not a commercial film, let alone a thriller, although the film crew really boarded the 6,000-meter altitude scene so that no company is willing to underwrite it, it did not choose to blindly render the blizzard to people. The suffocating powerlessness and despair in the book, but spends a lot of time showing the daily life that is not terrifying, completely describing the climber's family, their life choices, their destination, and their legacy to people, and does not The so-called humility of the status or the prominence of the reputation is used to distinguish the role of the scene.
All these elaborate designs may not suit the audiences attracted by the Chinese title, and the horror of death and sex may be what they want to see more. But in another two decades, the thriller will be stale and forgotten, and this biopic will light up the hearts of many.
Tsewang Paljor, a climber who was killed in a blizzard in 1996, has for 20 years been his body a signpost for climbing Mount Everest, known as the Green Boot. A total of eight climbers were killed at the time.
Thanks to Rob Hall's contribution, commercial mountaineering has become popular, making it possible for ordinary people to climb Mount Everest, under the service of Sherpas. Everest is no longer mysterious, and there are endless climbers. After the last Hillary steps, many ordinary people did not rely on physical fitness to climb Mount Everest, and some even hired Sherpas to carry themselves up. Anyone from the age of 13 to 80 has climbed the summit of Everest today. But the honor of reaching the top is almost reduced to a certificate that can be purchased with money today.
The commercial mountaineering pioneered by Rob has brought many tortures. At the same time as ordinary people realize their exciting dreams, the result is the crowding that the holy mountain cannot bear at all, the filth of human beings brought up by people, and some The life of an over-the-top climber and a Sherpa with meager pay.
An extreme test of life and death is also an extreme torture of human nature. In the death zone, helping others is killing yourself, not helping others is killing others. If Rob insisted on not letting Doug reach the summit, they would have had time to descend before the snowstorm, and his best friend Andy would not have rescued him. Death, at that moment, should you choose kindness or reason? Persist, or give up?
Why do people go to Mount Everest to die? Those who died on the mountain foolishly chose to climb the mountain, disregarding the feelings of their family members, making foolish judgments, and being brave rather than giving up decisively. Stupidly incriminate others and die together and become garbage on the mountain. Why can't I let the mountain stay there and stay at home by myself?
Yes, some people think so.
Sir Edmund, the first ever to climb Mount Everest, with the help of as many as 400 Sherpa helpers and 20 guides, fulfilled Mallory's wish 31 years ago. He also subsequently helped the Sherpas build hospitals and schools.
Tenzing's son graduated from the school built by Edmund. When the mountain disaster occurred in 1996, he was the guide of the IMax filming team, and the Imax team actively participated in the rescue afterwards.
Today, Sherpas are the best assistants for climbing high-altitude snow-capped mountains around the world. Although many of them died serving climbers (in 2014 alone, 15 Sherpas were killed by ice avalanches on the Kombu Glacier while preparing for climbers), their mortality rate was climbers one-sixth of .
But the elusive Everest does not decide people's fortunes as is often thought, and while Sir Edmund himself died at the age of 88, his wife and daughter died in a plane crash en route to a Sherpa hospital. The love of his life died for his love of the mountain.
But now, some commercial climbers no longer have this love for mountains or people. They regard Sherpas as hired workers who can exchange money for their lives. Commercial mountaineering has become a cold exchange, and the peak has become a show of life. props.
Those who go to the top just to show off, I don't know how to stop them, but they really shouldn't go at all. They are not climbing, just trampling. If it is not out of reverence for nature, but desires a certificate and a few photos to climb the mountain by any means, or even brush the sense of existence and climax on the mountain without knowing awe at all, I will name them "pseudo-climbers".
For Everest, people are invincible. These people go up the mountain just to show the insignificance of the elevated human nature. When they go down the mountain, they will still be seen and laughed at.
I like the answer given by the Russian mountaineer Anatoli Boukreev (1958.1.16-1997.12.25) who appeared in the film as to why he died on Everest. At that time, he was the guide of another mountaineering team formed by American Scott Fischer at the same time. After the biggest mountain disaster in the history of Mount Everest in 1996, the American mountaineering club Alpine Club awarded Boukreev the highest honor the following year for his work on the mountain. Recognition of the active rescue in the disaster. It was also a redress for critics, including the author of "Into thin air," who believed he was responsible for Scott's death.
However, joy and tragedy intertwined again, just three weeks later, on Christmas Day, he was lost in an avalanche while climbing Nepal's Annapurna Snow Mountain in winter, after climbing 18 peaks above 8,000 meters, creating many of the shortest ascents Human records of time and anaerobic climbing. The mountaineering genius eventually died in his own dreams.
In Anatoli's mind, the mountain is not an arena for pursuing personal ambitions, but a church for practicing faith.
Why go to Everest to die? As a sub-health patient with low blood oxygen level, slow heartbeat and heart disease, I once climbed a mountain of more than 5,000 meters in Tibet, risking my mental retardation and slight risk of my life. This is my life choice that is closest to the death zone (although there is still a huge difference of more than 2,000 meters). It was windy and snowing at that time, and the whole mountain was close to the top without any plants, but there was a lake at the top. After a few kilometers of crazy mountain roads, I didn't think about why I came here. It's like a long-scheduled party, and you have no reason not to show up. In the gust of wind, birds with huge wings hovered over my head, and I could feel my own soul hovering overhead. Climbing to the top of the mountain is an indescribable beauty, suddenly discovering the most majestic and compassionate side of nature, and suddenly feeling that every stone on the mountain has its own meaning of life and existence, shining in the light of nature's love.
The mountain is there, no matter whether you climb it or not, it will never change, you will see it with a smile, move around and multiply, it is all here.
The mountain is there, never speaking, it accepts and preserves all traces of human beings, who are loved and who are discarded, all here.
The mountain is there, never taking, it nurtures all things, and occasionally takes, the miracle of love, the cruel separation, the fate or the tragedy, are all here.
There may be various absurd rhetoric about the behavior of climbers in the world, whispering at the foot of the mountain.
The real climbers who died in the dead zone, together with their beloved mountain, live forever and never grow old.
The mountain is there, and all life adventures are the price of love and faith.
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