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11/16/2013 07:23:41 PM · #1 |
Images of people who lost their lives climbing Mt. Everest.
Discuss. |
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11/16/2013 07:32:21 PM · #2 |
Fascinatingly morbidly creepy.
I'm speechless. |
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11/16/2013 07:32:32 PM · #3 |
| I'm torn between fascinatingly morbid and morbidly fascinating |
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11/16/2013 07:34:51 PM · #4 |
Morbid. Reading the captions, I find it equally morbid that the bodies are used as markers for climbers.
Different strokes for different folks... |
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11/16/2013 07:35:47 PM · #5 |
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11/16/2013 08:10:57 PM · #6 |
| Very morbid. But morbid is pretty much always fascinating. And often quite beautiful. These are all three in my eye. Mankind is often quite foolishly morbidly lovely. |
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11/16/2013 08:26:54 PM · #7 |
pretty morbid....why would any1 climb that mountain is beyond me
I have lived life on "the edge" alot....but I would never want to do that 1
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11/16/2013 08:46:09 PM · #8 |
| I was actually reminded of the story of Otzi the Iceman... so I changed my opinion to morbidly fascinating! |
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11/16/2013 08:52:27 PM · #9 |
@ Leo - that was what also prompted the question in the thread title. The dehumanization of a body into a marker.
And the incomprehension of knowing someone is going to die if you leave them there. And yet still leave them there.
And fascinating that they're all left lying there. And that some are skeletonized and some are mummified... |
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11/16/2013 09:02:11 PM · #10 |
| Fascinating. It's at a level beyond morbidity, IMO. That's a different world on the mountain, and a different reality. I had a friend who was that type of a mountaineer; he summited Everest 3 times. He used to mention these bodies, pretty much in passing, the point being it seemed natural enough when you were up there, if somewhat less so in retrospect. |
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11/16/2013 09:28:04 PM · #11 |
| I find it to be fascinating myself. But then I tend to be fascinated by the different avenues of death and the journey that lad the people there. |
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11/16/2013 09:35:41 PM · #12 |
Originally posted by tanguera:
@ Leo - that was what also prompted the question in the thread title. The dehumanization of a body into a marker.
And the incomprehension of knowing someone is going to die if you leave them there. And yet still leave them there.
And fascinating that they're all left lying there. And that some are skeletonized and some are mummified... |
I suppose if these were bodies from hundreds/thousands of years ago, and the photos were of scientific or journalistic in nature, It would be on the "fascinating side." And perhaps some of these photos are journalistic in nature, but it leaves me wondering if some photos of the bodies are more "touristy", as in "Hey, look what I saw on the way up to the summit..." show my pals kind of pics.
The knowing someone is going to die if you leave them there is an entirely different discussion... The risk of an extreme sport/activity.
Still strikes me as morbid. That's just me... :(
Message edited by author 2013-11-16 21:37:16. |
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11/16/2013 10:15:07 PM · #13 |
I've watched a lot of the documentaries' about climbing Everest. It seems to be a fact of life on the mountain, if some one is dying trying to save them will also kill you. I think Fascinating, yet morbid, simply due to the fact people are willing to do something so dangerous, just to say they did it. Not to mention the positions of the bodies, some on the trail, arghh that alone would be enough for me not to want to climb that mountain.
In 1000 years, people are going to discuss Why people were living so high on a Mountain as the population of dead bodies grows to the size of a small town! |
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11/17/2013 04:25:39 AM · #14 |
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Fascinating. It's at a level beyond morbidity, IMO. That's a different world on the mountain, and a different reality. I had a friend who was that type of a mountaineer; he summited Everest 3 times. He used to mention these bodies, pretty much in passing, the point being it seemed natural enough when you were up there, if somewhat less so in retrospect. |
This is critical. Most do not understand the difficulties of extraction at this kind of a location. Even an extraction at lower altitudes takes immense amounts of manpower. It took a team of 31 individuals days to remove two bodies, and this was an expedition that was created EXPLICITLY for body/debris removal. Attempting rescue for an incapacitated climber typically ends in the climber dying anyway and often you being taken as well. Conditions and circumstances up there simply do not play by the same rules as most are accustomed to in domestic life, and the issue is compounded by the fact that there is an increasingly large number of individuals who are simply not qualified to be up there in the first place. |
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11/17/2013 05:01:44 AM · #15 |
Originally posted by Leo:
And perhaps some of these photos are journalistic in nature, but it leaves me wondering if some photos of the bodies are more "touristy", as in "Hey, look what I saw on the way up to the summit..." show my pals kind of pics. |
There are no tourists up there. Anyone who climbs seriously enough to even consider climbing Everest, has lost a friend or two to a climb. You climb not to court the risks, but in spite of them, knowing full well if you make a small mistake, or just flat out get a run of bad luck, the mountain can kill you. And if it does, you will be left there, among the markers on the trail. You have to come to terms with those risks, or you have no place on the line. A callous view of those remains is hard to imagine from a small group that knows that their fate may be to join the corpses on display.
Before you go on certain climbs, or even hikes into the higher foothills from the Nepal side you have to sign a form that says you will be financially responsible for any helicopter evacuation that you may need, and are offered the chance to buy evacuation insurance, with the understanding that rescues will not come if the weather is bad (or in the 80's above a maximum height, just above mid camp. They fly much higher now). China will not allow any helicopters on their side of the mountain at all. If you get hurt on a clear day, people will risk their lives to save you, if the odds look good for their survival. The risks of someone dying trying to sled down or fly out a corpse are so great that it simply can not be done. So the corpses of the dead become memorials. It is a view of death we rarely see in our era, where we hide away the dead and try not to imagine death being close. Up there, it is very close.
Message edited by author 2013-11-17 05:14:45. |
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11/17/2013 06:06:57 AM · #16 |
Originally posted by BrennanOB:
Originally posted by Leo:
And perhaps some of these photos are journalistic in nature, but it leaves me wondering if some photos of the bodies are more "touristy", as in "Hey, look what I saw on the way up to the summit..." show my pals kind of pics. |
There are no tourists up there.
So the corpses of the dead become memorials. It is a view of death we rarely see in our era, where we hide away the dead and try not to imagine death being close. Up there, it is very close. |
It's understood there are no "tourists" on Everest. My point being why do you (the person who took the picture) need to take a picture of the corpse of some climber who died up there... I like your point that the dead become memorials; let them be.
Addressing the OP's questions, images of the dead on Everest - fascinating or morbid? Morbid.
Carry on. |
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11/17/2013 07:23:47 AM · #17 |
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11/17/2013 10:44:10 AM · #18 |
Both. They're not mutually exclusive. How can exposed, frozen corpses be anything but morbid? How can anything related to Everest not be fascinating?
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11/17/2013 11:16:01 AM · #19 |
Originally posted by bvy:
Both. They're not mutually exclusive. How can exposed, frozen corpses be anything but morbid? How can anything related to Everest not be fascinating? |
MORBID:
characterized by or appealing to an abnormal and unhealthy interest in disturbing and unpleasant subjects, esp. death and disease.
"he had long held a morbid fascination with the horrors of contemporary warfare"
synonyms: ghoulish, macabre, unhealthy, gruesome, unwholesome
***************
I'd contend that these images don't fall into the "abnormal and unhealthy" category, but that's really a matter of personal opinion in the end... |
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11/17/2013 01:11:14 PM · #20 |
Touché. Of course, I was appealing to a more casual definition: morbid as a synonym for gruesome. Which I think it is. Which makes it no less fascinating.
Message edited by author 2013-11-17 13:39:21. |
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11/17/2013 02:26:25 PM · #21 |
| I'm still pondering 'genius or fool?' and you land a 'fascinating or morbid?' on me... |
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11/17/2013 02:48:48 PM · #22 |
I'm going to have to go with morbid.
I understand that it is a different world on the mountain. You see and do things there, you would do no other place.
In some ways it reminds me of war...
However, this is not the mountain. This is not that reality. To expect the uninitiated to react like the veterans, is a bit of a stretch for me. |
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