MOUNTAIN CLIMBING Nepali guide 'abandons' client to rescue climber stranded at Everest death zone

The client was required to pay at least $45,000 (Ksh 6,188,364) to attempt Everest including a permit fee of $11,000 (Ksh1,512,711).

A Nepali guide, Gelje Sherpa, abandoned his Chinese client’s Everest summit bid to rescue a Malaysian climber in a deadly mountaineering season that has seen at least 12 deaths.

According to AFP, Sherpa was guiding his client to the 8,849m peak and planned to assist him to paraglide down but just a few meters from the summit, they came across a lone man clinging to a rope and shivering in the area known as the "death zone".

The area above 8,000m has earned its name because of its thin air, freezing temperatures, and low oxygen levels that heighten the risk of altitude sickness. In addition to that, it is also notorious for its difficult terrain.

"When I found him in that state, my heart did not let me leave him there. It is a place where you have to think of your survival first," Sherpa said, as quoted by AFP.

Sherpa told his client to return without a summit. The client was required to pay at least $45,000 (Ksh 6,188,364) to attempt Everest including a permit fee of $11,000 (Ksh1,512,711).

However, the client did not take the news lightly and did agree to the idea at first since he had spent a lot of money.

It must have been his dream for years and he had to find time to come here to climb. He got angry and said he wanted to go to the summit.

I had to scold him and tell him that he has to descend because he was my responsibility and I couldn't send him to the summit on his own. He got upset," Sherpa said.

He explained that he wanted to take the sick man down the mountain. Sherpa, 30, fitted the ailing climber with his supplemental oxygen supply, improving some of his symptoms, but he was still unable to walk.

The rocky uneven terrain meant that Sherpa, who is about 1.6m tall and weighs 55kg, had to carry the Malaysian in some sections.

"It is a very difficult task to carry someone and bring them down from there. But some sections are very rocky, I couldn't drag him. If I did that, he could have broken his bones, he was already not doing well," he added.

Sherpa hauled the man down nearly 700m for almost six hours to Camp 4 by himself. Joined by another guide, the pair wrapped the climber in sleeping mats and secured him with ropes, dragging him on snowy slopes and carrying him on their backs when necessary.

Finally, they arrived at Camp 3 at 7,162m and a helicopter using a long line lifted the stricken climber down to the base camp. Sherpa was not able to meet the Malaysian climber again but received a message thanking him. "He wrote me 'You saved my life, you are god to me'," Sherpa said.

Nepali guides are considered the backbone of the climbing industry and bear huge risks to carry equipment and food, fix ropes, and repair ladders.

"As a guide, you feel a sense of responsibility for others on the mountain and you have to make tough decisions. What he has done is commendable," said Ang Norbu Sherpa, president of the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association.

Nepal issued a record 478 permits for Everest to foreign climbers this season and about 600 climbers and guides reached the top. 12 climbers have been confirmed dead, and five more are still missing.