TO CLIMBERS, IT'S ABOUT RISK : 8 DEATHS ON MOUNT EVEREST UNDERSCORE CHOICE TO TEST LIMITS.Byline: Lisa M. Hamm Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. The eight climbers who died in a blizzard on Mount Everest knew before they started that even if they reached the world's highest peak, it could all end in disaster. So why did they spend $60,000 or more apiece, travel as far as halfway around the world, spend years in preparation and leave families behind to challenge one of the most dangerous mountains on Earth? Some people would scoff at climbers who embark on a journey to the top of the world. Psychologists might call them thrill-seekers, but mountaineers attribute their passion to a voyage of self-discovery. ``How do you explain it to someone who doesn't feel it?'' sighed Jolene Unsoeld Jolene Unsoeld, (born 3 December 1931), an American politician, served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. She represented the Third Congressional District of Washington as a Democrat. , a former congresswoman who lost both her husband and her daughter to the lure of the highest peaks. ``Life is not meant to be wrapped in a cocoon cocoon: see pupa. of total safety,'' Unsoeld said. ``It's only by stretching our limits that we as human beings grow.'' Exhausted climbers straggled down Mount Everest on Tuesday after one of the worst tragedies since its conquest in 1953. The blizzard roared in May 10 without warning, killing seven men and a woman. Twenty-two people survived. The climbers died descending the 29,028-foot summit. The dead included some of the world's most skilled climbers as well as amateur adventurers. One victim left behind a wife seven months pregnant. They knew the risks: A fickle storm or an unexpected avalanche could bury them, they could freeze to death or lose limbs to frostbite frostbite (chilblains), injury to the tissue caused by exposure to cold, usually affecting the extremities of the body, such as the hands, feet, ears, or nose. Extreme cold causes the small blood vessels in the extremities to constrict. , or drown on fluid that might fill their lungs from altitude sickness altitude sickness: see decompression sickness. altitude sickness or mountain sickness Acute reaction to a change from low altitudes to altitudes above 8,000 ft (2,400 m). . Dr. Seaborn Beck Weathers, who was plucked off Mount Everest in the highest-ever helicopter rescue Monday, suffered severe frostbite on his hands and face and may lose all or part of his hands, his colleagues said. ``He said he was planning to hang up his boots. And I'm happy to help him with that,'' said his wife, Peach Weathers. Her husband, a pathologist, was on his way home Wednesday to Dallas. Unsoeld's husband, Willi, who was in the first American First American may refer to:
Yet Jolene Unsoeld, who has climbed to 18,000 feet, bemoans the fact that her grandchildren aren't old enough to climb with her. Lou Whittaker
Whittaker and his twin brother Jim were born and raised in Seattle. , who has twice scaled Everest and now guides people up Mount McKinley in Alaska and Mount Rainier in Washington, said he read the words of Helen Keller while trapped for eight days by a storm on Pakistan's K-2, the world's second-highest peak. ``Security is mostly a superstition,'' wrote Keller, a deaf and blind woman who went on to speak, read, earn a college degree and become a writer. ``Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Sandy Hill Sandy Hill (French: Côte-de-Sable) is a neighbourhood in Ottawa, Ontario located just east of downtown. The neighbourhood is bordered on the west by the Rideau Canal and on the east by the Rideau River. Pittman, in 1995 photo, was one of 22 cli mbers who survived the blizzard last week. Associated Press |
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