What was the real reason why no one truly helped David Sharp on Mount Everest in 2006?

Question

What was the real reason why no one truly helped David Sharp on Mount Everest in 2006?

Answer 1

At that altitude, even the most simple tasks require an extreme amount of effort and expend enormous amounts of energy. If you have ever been to 17,000ft and tried to breathe or move, you would get a small idea of what it is like to be at 29,000ft using supplemental oxygen. This does not account for the cold and wind. It can take hours for a climber to move a few hundred yards under these conditions.

If I was faced with a situation where I knew attempting to save another climber would likely result in both of our deaths I doubt I would do much for the other person. I like to think I would do something for the other person, but that's easy to say now.

Sharp was climbing alone. While this can be viewed as a noble attempt, it is nonetheless stupid. While solo, unsupplied climbs on Everest have been done before, the success of those attempts is even rarer. Multi-person climbing parties are always safer and more successful. Guides and Sherpas are paid to assist their clients in many ways. He used these only to set up his base camp and he had no radio or means to be rescued because he was doing the climb on the cheap. By most accounts, there was nothing that could have been done to save him that would not have resulted in the deaths or at least severe risk to others. Sharp was ill supplied and had no precautions in place in the event something went wrong. He should have taken a cue from the 1996 disaster and other ill-fated expeditions.

Furthermore, Sherpas and Guides from other parties have responsibilities to their clients. While I have not been a high-altitude guide, I have worked as a paid mountain guide. If I were to abandon my clients in the attempt to save a non-client, and something would then happen to my party...all-freakin'-h**l would have broken loose and I would have been out of a job not to mention I would be the subject of numerous lawsuits....if I survived.

If I met a climber who told me he left someone for dead above 20,000ft, I would not look upon that person in a poor light. Climbers who decide they want to climb in that environment should know and accept the risk of death.

Answer 2

There was nothing they could really do.  If they would have seen him when he could walk they could have helped him.  But he couldn't walk.  Getting someone off Everest on a strecher (makeshift) is almost impossible.  It is very sad but he shouldn't have been climbing by himself.