Reaching the top of the world, Mount Everest is a feat that many climbers dream of, symbolizing the challenge and conquest of the natural world by humans.
However, the ascent of Mount Everest is no child's play.
With fierce winds, changeable climates, extreme cold and lack of oxygen intertwined into an insurmountable threshold, not every challenger will be lucky to return.
If you are not lucky, your corpse may remain in place forever, becoming a heavy signpost in the eyes of those who come after you.
Among these icy road signs, there is a sign known as "Sleeping Beauty" that stands out in particular.
Her remains are still frozen on Mount Everest, and whenever explorers pass by, they can't help but stop and sigh.
Mount Everest "Sleeping Beauty": Frozen for 9 years, my son has seen his mother's posthumous photos on the Internet more than once
Natural contest, between life and death
Climbing Mount Everest is a big gamble against the natural world.
This peak at the top of the world is not only known for its steep mountains and icy peaks, but also for its unforgiving environment and extreme challenges.
Climbers here are not only faced with sliding ice and rugged mountain roads, but also the biting cold and lack of oxygen, which test everyone's survival limits.
According to statistics, about 5,000 people around the world have successfully set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, however, nearly 300 people have been permanently asleep in the endless snow and ice during this journey.
The remains of these brave men, perhaps covered in heavy snow and ice, have not been discovered for many years, becoming an unsolved mystery in the mountains.
In May 1998, Frances Asentife of Truride, Colorado, a brave forty-year-old American female mountaineer, made history.
She became the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without relying on supplemental oxygen, a feat that is undoubtedly amazing.
On that day, she joined hands with her Russian husband, Sergei Asentiv, to attack the top of the world.
However, the ruthlessness of fate often inadvertently interweaves triumph with tragedy.
As they prepare to descend the mountain, tragedy struck.
Just 244 meters from the summit, Frances suddenly suffered from a lack of oxygen and collapsed.
Despite being so close to success, she couldn't take another step.
Sergei stopped by his wife's side for a long time, and the struggle in his heart can be imagined, but in order to survive and rescue, he finally made a painful decision.
Sergei eventually chose to go down the mountain alone to ask for help.
But this is a trip with no return in sight.
Sergei may have stumbled into a bottomless ice trench while crossing a steep ice shelf, and has not been heard from since.
At the time, a British-born South African mountaineer, Ian Wodal, was struggling with his team in the harsh conditions of Mount Everest.
In the midst of this extreme challenge, he and his partner Cathy O'Dowd unexpectedly passed by Frances Asentif.
At this point, Frances was still dying, and Wodal noticed that she still had some breath left and tried to help.
But faced with the freezing cold of minus 30 degrees Celsius and the impossible environment of survival, Vodal and Cathy are faced with a difficult choice.
They knew that taking her down the mountain was an almost impossible task; And if she is left alone on the mountain, the thought of continuing to climb makes their conscience uneasy.
Such a dilemma made the two feel that they were deceiving themselves.
In the end, they chose to strengthen the idea of reaching the summit, and instead went down the mountain to the base camp to ask for help.
However, Wodal's mind was clear: the chances of Frances surviving until the rescue team arrived were almost nil.
As they left her and continued their journey, Frances' eyes were filled with reluctance and fear.
Her voice was so faint that she couldn't hear it, but she pleaded with what little strength she had left: "Don't leave me, please don't leave me." ”
They left, filled with anxiety and guilt, leaving Frances alone in the face of the desolate snow-capped mountains.
This scene may have become an indelible memory for Wodal and Cathy in this life.
The soul is broken by the ice peak, and the fate is left in the snow ridge
Early the next morning, when another team passed by, Frances had already passed away.
There was no one to help, and even moving her lifeless body down the north slope of Mount Everest would be a daunting and dangerous task.
The northern slopes are steep and rocky, and every step is terrifying.
Since then, Frances's body sealed by ice and snow has become a bleak "road sign" at the foot of Mount Everest, at an altitude of 8,600 meters, and the world calls it "Sleeping Beauty".
Countless subsequent climbers who challenged Mount Everest, whenever here, all saw the eye-catching purple mountaineering clothes stand out in the white snow.
Wodal's decision with Cathy, leaving Frances to die in the cold wind, sparked controversy and condemnation, and people denounced Wodal as a ruthless person who "couldn't save him when he died".
However, Vodal had his own arguments, claiming that he had done his best in that extreme situation, and that he was powerless. “
In reality, we can only make decisions that we can make in the moment, not with hindsight.
Unfortunately, in this society full of accountability, someone has to blame for every disaster.
In the midst of those doubts and criticisms, these words still cannot hide their helplessness and bitterness.
Wardal's mountaineering companion, Cathy, who later married him, condensed her experiences and mental journeys on the ascent of Mount Everest into an autobiography on page by page.
In her book, Cathy wrote, "Anyone who remains still on a mountain as steep and distant as Mount Everest can die." Many of my mountaineering friends never came back alive, but I never saw them die with my own eyes. The next morning, when another group of mountaineering team passed by her (Frances), she was dead. ”
The angry snow is ruthless, and the blame follows
Because of his failure to save Frances alive, Wodal has been stigmatized as "death or not rescue" ever since, and has long been condemned by the world.
Such accusations followed him and became an unavoidable burden in his life.
Francis's son, Paul, struggled with another kind of pain.
More than once, he stumbled upon photos of his mother's body on the Internet, and each time it was like a hammer in the heart.
"It's so embarrassing, it's like being called by the teacher in front of the class, but being speechless, the helplessness and fear are really indescribable."
Such an experience is undoubtedly a great psychological trauma for a child.
Paul recalls that his mother, Frances, was already a world-renowned rock climber by the time he was just 11 years old, and the first American woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the aid of oxygen.
Paul was puzzled by his mother's decision, "I don't know why she decided not to bring an oxygen cylinder. Perhaps, she was trying to prove something. ”
In an interview with the BBC, he said, "She was with my stepfather, Sergei, and felt like she could conquer everything. ”
Whenever Paul mentions this incident, he has mixed emotions, ranging from pride in his mother's heroism to his deep pain over the loss of his mother.
Wodal's heart is also often shrouded in the shadow of Frances's tragedy on Mount Everest, although he says that he is not responsible, but his inner self-blame and the criticism of others are as inescapable as a drizzle.
Finally, in 2007, he decided to set foot on that icy summit again, to find a dignified home for Frances, to make her peaceful in the embrace of snow.
When Wodar and his party reached the camp at a height of 5,180 meters on the north face of Mount Everest, he made his original intention clear to the outside world through a satellite phone:
This action came from a decision in Wodal's heart, not out of the expectations of others.
When Wodal and his companions set foot on Everest again in 1999, he was shocked to see her body still in place.
Her figure, frozen on the cold slope, seemed to be waiting for something.
At that point, Wodal thought to himself how good it would be if she could get a decent goodbye.
But Wodal also understands that for climbers who are pushing their limits, stopping to bury a body is a luxury.
Therefore, he decided to complete this final mission on his own.
Perhaps, this will also be Wodal's last greeting to Everest.
Although Wodal's wife, Cathy, did not participate in the farewell trip to Mount Everest, her words were full of helplessness and sadness about reality:
Frances's body was like an indifferent signpost in the mountains, and everyone who passed by would glance at her and move on.
Such a scene is an indescribable pain for any sentient person.
Wardal planned to wrap Frances's body in an American flag and bury her at the foot of Mount Everest, the treacherous peak she had bravely conquered.
He planned to build a solid mound for her by covering it with layers of stones of various sizes.
Next to the solemn cemetery, Wodal will deliver a speech expressing that he has finally fulfilled the promise he made to Frances with his mountaineering partner, Cathy O'Dowd, to do her best to finish what she has not done.
In addition, Wodal's plans did not stop there, he also wanted to provide a final resting place for the other two climbers who had unfortunately died.
An Indian mountaineer who died in a violent storm on Mount Everest in 1996; The other is David Sharp, a 34-year-old climber from North Yorkshire, England, who died of lack of oxygen on a lonely descent after a successful summit.
Together with the two Sherpa guides, Vodar was faced with the daunting task of taking into account the weather conditions and his personal strength and willpower in order to decide whether or not he could bury the three bodies in one go.
In an interview, Vodal said:
Seeing the bodies of those who were killed lying alone on the hillside is a great psychological burden for the climbers who came to challenge Mount Everest and the families of the victims.
Although the mission was fraught with risks, at an altitude of 8,600 meters, any small mistake could lead to life-threatening conditions.
But I think it's more meaningful to help others in this way and end my mountaineering career than to sprint to the top again.
The boundaries of morality, the cost of life
Along the lines of faded memories and the traces of time, Vodar exhausted all his savings and returned to the distant and cold land with a Sherpa who had volunteered to join him.
The target is a steep 60-degree slope of Mount Everest, where he and Francis were separated many years ago.
There was an indescribable surprise and heaviness in his heart, because when they arrived, they found that it had been covered with 1.2 meters of snow, and the former "Sleeping Beauty" had long been buried by the wind and snow and disappeared.
In the cold wind, they began to dig with little to no point.
Relying on deep memories and unquestionable persistence, they finally found Francis's body.
Bad weather meant that the planned construction of the cemetery had to be put on hold for the time being.
So, Vodal carefully draped an American flag over her body.
On top of the Star-Spangled Banner, he placed a bear with a heart-shaped pattern, hoping to add a touch of warmth and companionship to her long sleep.
In the midst of the snow and cold, Wodal and his Sherpa friends say a few goodbyes to Francis.
It then took them five hours to place Francis's body in the final resting place of her husband, Sergei.
On that distant hillside, Francis was finally reunited with her lover and lay together in the silence of the snow-capped mountains.
After all this, Wodar said to reporters with emotion:
"It's the hardest thing I've ever done, harder than climbing to the top of Mount Everest."
There was a hint of determination and satisfaction in his eyes, "But I had a strong drive inside me to tell me that I had to do something." ”
Although it is a simple farewell, it symbolizes respect and remembrance of a brave soul.
Wardal eventually found a more peaceful resting place for Francis, and to some extent a release from his years of guilt and insecurity.
In this way, he made up for the unfulfilled promise as much as possible, and this action was undoubtedly more important and meaningful than the conquest of any mountain.
Within the boundaries of morality and conscience, which are universally admired, if there is anything that cannot be saved in the face of death, it must be hard-hearted, and people will denounce it in the name of morality, thinking that it is justified.
However, in an extreme environment like Mount Everest, the situation is very different.
Mount Everest, with an altitude of more than 8,000 meters, is a challenge to the limits of human beings.
Here, known as the "Death Zone", the natural environment is extremely harsh, the air is thin, and it is almost a forbidden area for human existence.
Historically, nearly 300 brave climbers have lost their lives in this area, and nature has ruthlessly taken their lives here.
Even the most professional climbers reach this altitude exhausted, and victory is often at its most imminent.
In this extreme environment, everyone is struggling with their own physical strength and will, and it is still difficult to ensure their own safety, where is the spare power to help others?
If you are desperate to give up the summit that is within reach and instead help others, this is undoubtedly noble, but how will it actually work?
Will you give the only oxygen you have to your companions who have run out of oxygen? This is tantamount to putting oneself to death.
Or try to carry the person in distress down the mountain?
However, when you are already exhausted, this is almost an impossible task.
Not only is it the limit of physical strength, but even the extra few steps seem extremely difficult.
On this steep mountain road, if you try to drag another person down the mountain, it will not only be difficult to walk, but you will also very likely fall into a cliff.
Even at this height, you yourself may be delirious and can't even say whether you can stay awake.
Most of the time, those climbers in distress are dying, and even if they are brought back to base camp safely, there is little chance of successful rescue.
Under such circumstances, any action that stands on the moral high ground to blame others is unacceptable.
Resources:
South African man returns to Mount Everest to bury the victims in order to wash away his reputation and not save his reputation CCTV International May 2, 2007
Mount Everest: The "Holy Land of Death" above the clouds Gao Peihui