Failed Annapurna Rescue Gives Hope

High altitude mountaineering has garnered something of a reputation for callous disregard for others over the past decade, so while the recent death of top Spanish climber Inaki Ochoa de Olza on Annapurna was undoubtedly a tragedy, the efforts made by his fellow mountaineers to save his life as he lay helpless in a tent high on the mountain tell a different story to the one we've become used to.

The idea that it's futlile even to attempt a rescue at very high altitudes seems to have become the norm on Everest, where the driven amateurs on commercial expeditions to the mountain routinely pass dead bodies on the way to the summit. Ranulph Fiennes, last week, described passing three frozen corpses high on the mountain before turning back.

On Annapurna the story was somewhat different. When Ochoa collapsed high on the mountain as he attempted to climb the 13th of the 14 8,000-metre summits, first his climbing partner stayed with him and asministered care and drugs.

Then top Swiss climber Uli Steck and his partner abandoned their own attempt to climb up from base camp and take over Ochoa's care and an appeal went out to other acclimatised mountaineers in Nepal to come and help.

Tragically the Spaniard died after five days, but some 14 of his fellow climbers came forward to lend their assistance triggering plaudits from the likes of Chris Bonington.

Following his death, Ochoa's family issued a heartfelt statement thanking those who'd tried to save their son:

"It is about impossible to personally express our gratitude to all those who helped us at overcoming our pain of losing Iñaki."

"We would like to tell that through the words of so many cheer messages, through the vital cooperation and the work developed along those intense days of personal efforts at fighting his deadly disappearing, have been an important medicine to sooth our pain."

If you'd like to know more, there's an excellent article title 'Into the death zone' at www.independent.co.uk by Jonathan Brown.

Commercial Pressures?

Of course it's easy to pass judgement on others while sitting comfortably at sea level, but it's hard not to observe that while on Everest, the majority of climbers now seem to be part of guided commercial attempts, the mountaineers who came to Ochoa's aid were, like Ochoa, elite mountaineers.

It's a maybe a little cynical to suggest that it's all too convenient for summit ambitions to believe that rescues are impossible high up, but it's hard not to surmise that there's an element of that rationale going on. Moreover, a small number of climbers, including OM member Conan Harrod, have been successfully rescued on Everest, even though far more have been abandoned to their fate.

At any rate, it's uplifting to see that there is still a real community among mountaineers, even if events on Everest don't always suggest that that's the case.

There's more background to the rescue and its aftermath at www.mounteverest.net and www.everestnews.com.