Gelje Sherpa with the other climber on his back – @gelje_sherpa_
It’s been one of the busiest and deadliest seasons for summiting The Mountain So High No Bird Can Fly Over It, also known as Mt. Everest, and if not for a 30-year-old Sherpa named Gelje, it would have become deadlier still.
Gelje Sherpa and a colleague rescued a Malaysian climber who was on the cusp of freezing to death in Everest’s “death zone” where the lack of oxygen and -30C° -22°F temperatures prohibit extended human visitation.
He found the climber around the Balcony Area, which is 27,600 feet, or 8,400 meters above sea level, clinging to a rope.
Carrying him down wrapped in a heating blanket that was strapped to Gelje’s back, the descent took over 6 hours before he found another Sherpa, Nima Tahi Sherpa, to help him. From South Col, to Camp III, they got the climber down to an area accessible by a helicopter, which evacuated him on a long-line stretcher.
“It is almost impossible to rescue climbers at that altitude,” Department of Tourism official Bigyan Koirala told Reuters. “It is a very rare operation.”
Gelje was guiding a Chinese client to the nearly 30,000-foot summit of the mountain when he spotted the Malaysian climber on the 18th of May. A devout Buddhist, Gelje convinced his client to abandon the ascent so that he could rescue the man.
“Saving one life is more important than praying at the monastery,” said Gelje.
The Sherpa are the ethnic group that lives in the mountains of Nepal, but it’s also a very common surname. A slang term for a guide, it actually simply means “Eastern people.”
The Sherpa people hold dozens of world mountain climbing records and have epigenetic adaptations and spiritual beliefs suited for living at high altitudes. All but the most experienced and veteran mountaineers will have a Sherpa guide on their way up Everest.
WATCH the story below from Reuters…
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