WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Edmund Hillary, the first man to climb Mount Everest, has blamed the commercialisation of climbing the world's highest mountain for the death a British climber, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
New Zealand's Hillary, who conquered the summit in May 1953 with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, said he would have abandoned his own summit bid if another climber's life had been in danger.
"It simply would not have happened. If you have someone who is in great need and you are still strong and energetic then you have a duty really to give all you can to get the man down and getting to the summit becomes secondary."
Inglis told New Zealand television earlier that about 40 people had passed Sharp on their way to the summit, while his party was the only one that stopped to check on him.
"On that morning, over 40 people went past this young Briton. I radioed and (expedition manager) Russ said: 'Mate you can't do anything. He's been there X number of hours without oxygen, he's effectively dead'. So we carried on," he said.
The simple fact is that once you climb above the deadzone, you are already dying. The effort taken to get someone suffering from extreme oxygen starvation down from the summit ridge of Everest is next to impossible. For Sir Edmund to suggest that they attempt to save this man is folly, and ultimately sad, as it takes some shine off Mark Ingles incredible achievement: the first double amputee to climb Everest.
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