For years, and in the face of the utter indifference of all those who set out to sneak their way to the top of Everest (8,848 meters), the milestones marking the way forward were mummified human bodies representing the contenders for wishing for the summit watched not having the same luck looking away or enjoying the picture, pure curiosity. Some corpses remained curled up in a fetal position, seeking the warmth they had missed; others seemed seated and apparently ready to get up and get on with the work: death had caught up with them while trying to regain the strength needed for the descent. The most disrespectful were photographed at his side… The images went viral, as did the snaps of the garbage dumps that contained the top of the planet. Several Sherpas removed the remains after numerous protests, a gesture that is as cosmetic as it is a fundamental dignity. Now the family of Icelander John Snorri, who died on February 5, 2021 in the no less iconic K2 (8,611m), begs for respect for his memory… and for his remains hanging from the ropes of the gorge. at about 8,300 meters above sea level.
This summer, the overcrowding of the mountain in Pakistan’s Karakorum threatens to create new drama, traffic jams and nonsense. There are about 400 suitors packing the Pakistani giant’s base camp, and Snorri’s family fears photos of his remains will be flying around the web: he doesn’t even ask for the body’s rescue and burial near the last high camps, for those who could take on the task of not endangering. Mingma G, one of the ten Nepalese who made history this winter of 2021 by signing the mountain’s first winter, has offered to rescue Snorri’s remains and bury them, or at least keep them away from climbers and their cameras. In a mountain as pyramidal and vertical as K2, the simple gesture of cutting the ropes entangling the Icelander’s body would be enough to make them disappear forever.
Snorri, a client of Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara, and Chilean Juan Pablo Mohr believed to have signed the second winter ascent of K2, but something went wrong during their descent and neither returned to the safety of Camp 4. The following summer, Ali Sadpara’s son Sajid returned to the second highest mountain on earth to search for his father. He found him near the gorge, rescued his body as well as that of Juan Pablo Mohr and, with the sole help of two other climbers (the Bolivian Hugo Ayaviri and the Canadian Elia Saikaly), buried them next to Camp 4. The remains of Snorri, in one more technical area, would have required a very technical rescue at an altitude where survival is already a feat.
The first to find the disappeared explained that their deaths surprised them on the descent, since they were connected to the fixed ropes by descenders and not by the blockers with which they ascended by pulling on the ropes previously fixed. So they had neither died in an accident nor got lost on the lonely slopes. So everything points to a case of exhaustion in extreme cold and an attack on the top, which started very low at about 7,300 meters and had a huge gap to fill in perspective.
no logs
Sajid Sadpara had last seen his father alive near the neck of the bottle. There, she unknowingly bade him goodbye forever when his artificial oxygen regulator stopped working, saving him from a tragic fate. Sajid decided to wait for the trio at camp 4, but by the next morning they had not returned. Knowing then that the wait would be in vain, he decided to save his life by leaving the mountain on the run, although he was determined to return to clarify the facts that caused the loss. Canadian filmmaker Elia Saikary came forward by funding the search expedition and expecting to record a documentary he is continuing to work on. But the Sherpas working the route were the first to report the warning that the three bodies had been found.
The images recovered from the cameras of the three deceased did not show whether or not they had reached the summit, and it is unknown if they were able to recover the tracks from their GPS tracking devices. Did they reach the summit too late and pay for it on the descent? Did they choose to turn back later than their bodies could endure? Have the artificial oxygen regulators that Sadpara and Snorri at least carried safely with them failed? Icelandic mountaineer John Snorri’s family is now going through a true emotional ordeal, much like that of all the relatives of those who disappeared in the mountains. How do you get the image of a loved one out of the sight of everyone who walks by their side?
Only in the most remote mountains on earth, where helicopters are rarely operational, do these cases of abandoned human bodies appear in the eyes of climbers. It is an issue on which there is no clear protocol of action, as it is believed that saving certain bodies could lead to new deaths. Large teams of well-paid specialists (by whom?) could solve the case involving John Snorri’s family with relative ease, but he will always factor in the doubt of a possible accident during the task. Meanwhile, human decency should prevent morbid images from circulating.
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