While reading Alan Arnette's Everest 2007 Page earlier, I came across an interesting, but disturbing, story. It seems that the IMG Team had to come to the rescue of woman who was in trouble just below the Balcony as they were making their descent following a successful summit. It seems the woman, who is described as a Nepalese climber, but non-Sherpani, was "abandoned" by her team on the way up the mountain. It seems the IMG Team found her in what is described as "bad shape" and helped her down to Camp 3 where she was turned over to the Extreme Everest Team which consists mostly of doctors doing high altitude research.
At this time, that is about all we know of the story, but just a year removed from the David Sharp incident, you have to think that this will raise some serioius questions about the ethics on the mountain. It seems that this woman was left behind by her team as they were in the midst of their summit push, and no one bothered to make sure that she could safely get back down the mountain. Considering the out cry from the climbing community last season, it seems so strange that we would have a similar incident this so soon afterwards. Thank goodness the IMG Team were on their way down and were still strong enough, and caring enough, to make sure she reached medical care.
I'm sure we'll hear much more about this story in the days ahead, and I don't want to jump to too many conclusions until we've heard it all, but honestly, it smells like another controversy preparing to boil over. I can see the headlines now: "Climber Abandonded At 27,500 Feet" It'll be interesting to see which team she was a part of. One thing is for sure though, Russel Brice wasn't involved in any way shape or form with this one.
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