Sunday, April 4, 2010

The Dark Side of Everest...

Compilation of videos from TED and National Geographic on the 1996 Everest disaster. Eight people died on May 10, 1996 during summit attempts.



One of the survivors, Beck Weathers, who was left to die - spent a whole night in an open bivouac in a terrible blizzard with both hands and his face exposed. His fellow climbers said that his frozen hand and nose looked and felt as if they were made of porcelain, and they did not expect him to survive. With that assumption, they only tried to make him comfortable until he died, but he survived another freezing night alone in a tent unable to drink, eat, or keep himself covered with the sleeping bags he was provided.

Beck Weathers had his right arm amputated halfway below the elbow. All four fingers and the thumb on his left hand were removed; his nose was amputated and reconstructed with tissue from his ear and forehead and he lost parts of both feet to his injuries. He continues to practice medicine, and deliver motivational speeches from Dallas.
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beck_Weathers


The Dark Side of Everest - A film by National Geographic narrator Paul Boucher
The dark side of everest - part 1
The dark side of everest - part 2
The dark side of everest - part 3
The dark side of everest - part 4
The dark side of everest - part 5