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2016/06/03 11:54:54
Subject: Heartwarming story of the week - Briton saves fellow climber on Everest
Briton Leslie Binns abandons Everest peak to save fellow climber
Spoiler:
A British ex-serviceman abandoned his Mount Everest climb some 500m from the summit to save a fellow mountaineer.
Leslie Binns, 42, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, turned around to save Sunita Hazra, an Indian woman, who was scaling the summit ahead of him.
He said he felt "immensely proud" to have saved a life but wished he could have also helped save another climber, who died on the descent.
Mr Binns was blinded in his left eye after an explosion in Afghanistan.
He was in the Army for 13 years, serving in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and was blown up four times. He has been awarded two medals, including the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for finding improvised explosive devices in Afghanistan in 2009.
Ms Hazra, who is 32 and lives near Kolkata in India, left hospital on Wednesday.
Her brother Kingshuk Chatterjee told the BBC the family "cannot express our gratitude" to Mr Binns for saving her.
"He's the reason why she is still alive now," he said. "He is a very brave man."
Sunita Hazra
Image caption
Ms Hazra's hand had been ungloved and became swollen
Mr Binns, who now works in private security in oil fields in Iraq, said the incident happened when he was on a climb in the early hours of 21 May.
He was approaching an area nicknamed "The Balcony" - where climbing teams store spare oxygen bottles - when he noticed a "commotion" ahead of him.
"I noticed someone sliding down the fixed climbing lines towards me.
"All I could hear were the screams of terror as the person gained momentum. I braced myself to try and stop whoever it was, and managed to do so.
"At this time I didn't know that this was Sunita Hazra. I helped her upright and looked at her oxygen regulator. It was registering empty."
Mr Binns helped Ms Hazra recover and she attempted to continue her descent by herself, but collapsed after about 20 metres.
"It was at this point I decided to cancel my summit bid to help Sunita," Mr Binns said. He was about another 12 hours away from making the final ascent to the top.
"I climbed down to her and called my Sherpa. I told him we are not going up and we would give Sunita my spare oxygen bottle and take her down."
He says the descent was a perilous and difficult one, and on the way the three climbers found another man who was also struggling to descend, bringing him along with them.
Leslie Binns on Mount EverestImage copyrightLESLIE BINNS
Image caption
Everest's summit was about 500 metres away when Mr Binns turned back to save a woman's life
Mr Binns said Ms Hazra and the other climber "kept collapsing", adding: "I fell into waist-deep crevasses no less than five times, which was very tiring, and we were also crossing blue ice which was very dangerous as we kept slipping."
Eventually he and Ms Hazra managed to reach his camp, but due to exhaustion and difficult weather conditions they were unable to bring the other climber along.
"I gave Sunita my sleeping bag in my tent. We then tried our best to get her warm by patting and rubbing her. She was suffering from hypothermia and her right hand was badly frost-bitten.
"I then remembered we had a flask of ginger tea. I used this to try and re-warm Sunita's hand. I dried it off and told her to keep it in her fleece pocket which would keep it warm."
Mr Binns says that while in his tent he heard the other climber's voice in the distance "but I was too exhausted to go back out - I literally collapsed and fell asleep".
Leslie Binns in front of Pumori mountainImage copyrightLESLIE BINNS
Image caption
Mr Binns, seen in front of Pumori mountain in the Himalayas, has climbed since he was a child
In the morning, Mr Binns learned the other climber had been found and taken to his team. Ms Hazra's Sherpa came to collect her and help her to continue down the mountain.
But when Mr Binns continued with his own descent that next day, he came across the body of the other climber, who had died during his journey downwards.
Mr Binns believes Sherpas took the body down from the mountain, and is unsure as to how the climber eventually died.
Mr Binns said: "I truly regret not being able to do anything more for him. But I had nothing left in me that night and I tried my level best to rescue him, but he could not be moved. No summit is worth a life.
"I am immensely proud that I helped Sunita. I just wish I could have done more."
Mr Binns, who has climbed "all the major peaks in the UK", is now in Kathmandu and due to return to the UK to see his fiancee and daughter on 6 June.
"I wish Sunita and her family all the best and hope she makes a full recovery," he said.
If you can't access the original BBC web site I am sorry for the crappy formatting of the spoiler text.
TL/DR:
This climber was 500m from the summit and noticed an Indian woman in trouble. He gave up his attempt to help her get back down to a safer level, along with his Sherpa. There was another man also in trouble that e tried to hlpe but was not able to get them both down and the other guy died.
The reason why this story is heartwarming is because Everest has become a "dude ranch" of mountaineering with hundreds of relatively novice climbers every year being shepherded up to the summit by small groups of pros and large numbers of Sherpas.
For various reasons this has led to a rapid increase in the death toll. One of the things about these incidents is the times that climbers have been accused of ignoring other people in trouble because they want to make their slot on to the top. There's money, ambition and often some stupidity involved, it seems.
The whole story is complicated, of course, and can't be reduced to a simple "selfishness" theme. The "death zone" is not a place to be caught out by any extra danger including the difficulty of helping someone else who is in trouble.
But that's why this guy is extra-special. He's held on to the old code of mountaineering that says someone's life is worth more than reaching any number of peaks.
It sounds as though Mr Binns 'just' did his job. Ex-services, bravery awards, climbed for most of his life. He might have gone hoping to get to the summit, but it sounds like he'll never make it there. Every trip, he's going to find another climber in trouble, and stop to help.
I hope he does get to the top one day, and Ms Hazra was lucky he was there. It reads as though the rest of her group kept going, though the group's Sherpa might have left them to carry on.
Everest has become a bit of a sick joke to be honest. If you have enough money you can launch a summit bid, even if you are not actually capable.
So now we end up with lots of people on there who lack the skills required and also lack the spirit of mountaineering and this leads to people dying, including the Sherpas who have to guide these inexperienced people and lug a lot of gear as the people they're guiding lack the fitness to be able to carry their own share. Sadly I don't think anything is going to be done about it as Nepal needs the money these people bring.
A shame really.
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