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Three climbers involved in a high-altitude brawl on Mount Everest have abandoned their expedition after fending off a group of angry Sherpa guides.
Ueli Steck of Switzerland, Simone Moro of Italy and Jonathan Griffith of Great Britain met with the Sherpas and Nepalese authorities today to clear the air, according to an update on Moro’s Facebook page.
“I wanted that the meeting with everyone at base camp ended with my words that underlined the esteem I have for the Sherpa and Nepal, but I also stated that this violence killed our climbing dream and that we are leaving,” Moro said in an interview with Planet Mountain.
The drama unfolded Saturday at 24,500 feet, according to a statement posted on Moro’s website, after a Sherpa accused the three of knocking ice onto a fellow guide below and injuring him.
The lead Sherpa began “shouting and banging the ice with his ax erratically,” Moro said.
The trio and the Sherpas, who are known for providing support to foreign trekkers and mountain climbers, descended to Camp 2, at which point Moro said they were outnumbered by 100 Sherpas who punched and kicked them and threw rocks.
“They were throwing stones,” Steck told the BBC. “One tried to use a pocket knife to hit Simone Moro. Luckily, he just hit his belt off his backpack.”
The situation calmed down after 50 minutes, at which point Moro said the men were told “if they weren’t gone in one hour that they would all be killed.”
The the three retreated to the base of the mountain, Moro said, “feeling that given the current situation this was the safest place to be.”
He suggested the lead Sherpa may have been dealing with bruised pride after the three climbers passed him, prompting him to start the fight.
“Whatever the reason may be, there is no reason to instigate vigilante rule and to try and kill three visiting climbers,” he said.
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I side with the Sherpas….those guys can catch another jet and do their dream climb elsewhere. kicking ice on a sherpa is not cool!
Posted by: elmerFudd | April 29, 2013, 5:48 pm 5:48 pm
So three rich guys offended their guides and had to end the vacation early. Yawn.
Posted by: Jimmy Z | April 29, 2013, 6:24 pm 6:24 pm
Amateurs vs. Professionals. These climbers need to pay attention to their guides. That’s what guides are for.
Posted by: Nobland | April 29, 2013, 7:54 pm 7:54 pm
I’m sure the foreign climbers think they’re God’s gift to the climbing world…and there in lies the problem…I for one am glad they could not complete their climb…if they had their heads would have been so big it wouldn’t fit thru any bar doors where they surely would gather for years to brag about their ascent…
Posted by: ralph3200 | April 29, 2013, 8:43 pm 8:43 pm
There is more to the story, than meets the eye. Something highly unusual happened. The Sherpas would not react in that manner, otherwise.
Posted by: Laurie | April 29, 2013, 9:56 pm 9:56 pm
Sounds like 3 arrogant, self-absorbed climbers nearly killed a sherpa guide below them and these 3 arrogant brats couldn’t care less. They’d rather mischaracterize the ’cause’ of the turmail as a sherpa hurt-ego over-reaction.
KEEP IN MIND – this is entirely consistent with the dishonesty most climbers routinely engage in, as they take credit for “conquering Everest” without ever giving the indispensible sherpa the magnitude of credit they richly deserve. Climbers won’t hesitate to pass a dying climber in need of help, simply because they want to finish their climb. Climbers are self-absorbed narcissistic sociopaths.
Posted by: Reflecting Pool | April 29, 2013, 10:43 pm 10:43 pm
Recently coming from Nepal I had outstanding experiences of love and compassion from all the Nepali people we met. I also met many tourists who liked to go about things their own way regardless of input from locals. It’s too bad when people open their lands for eco-tourism and these things happen.
I agree that there’s more that meets the eye here with interviews on one side of the story. A highly unusual story.
Posted by: Alex | April 29, 2013, 10:53 pm 10:53 pm
As I found that Ueli Steck of Switzerland, Simone Moro of Italy and Jonathan Griffith of Great Britain were not friendly, they were moody. They were not using safet y to climb. Sherpas were helpful adill helpful. These people were drunk and tried to attack sherpas. That i why , this inciden occured.
Great Sherpas for good jobs.
Again, Sherpas are professiona and really good people. May be the climbers seem not cultural persons, seems errogent, unfriendly and unprofessional. Sherpas tried to help them, they ignored. There is NO BLEM for Sherpa.
Posted by: Ken Webd | April 29, 2013, 11:14 pm 11:14 pm
Hopefully they were given a refund of the $60,000 each that it takes to do this climb. Maybe it’s the Sherpas that have the attitude problem. It takes a lot of training to do these climbs.
Posted by: Les | April 29, 2013, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
These are probably the same kind of climbers who will go around someone who is dying and complain about it slowing them down.
Posted by: KB | April 29, 2013, 11:20 pm 11:20 pm
“There is more to the story, than meets the eye. Something highly unusual happened. The Sherpas would not react in that manner, otherwise.”
I agree with that
Posted by: famous internet guy | April 29, 2013, 11:35 pm 11:35 pm
@ Nobland. Steck is possibly the most accomplished climber in the World. He doesn’t use guides. He’s the guy who rescues the guides. Him taking orders from a bunch of union Sherpas working the commercial tourist trade is like Tiger Woods taking orders from the local caddies. The only interesting question for me is what was he doing on such a crap tourist route?
Posted by: rak | April 29, 2013, 11:48 pm 11:48 pm
And BTW, the Sherpas have no authority to issue orders to anybody. They’re just union employees of “Adventure Tourist” outfits.
Posted by: rak | April 29, 2013, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
I don’t believe the climbers’ account for one second. The Sherpas are experts and this incident is so wholly out of character given the sheer number of climbers they lead to the top of Mt. Everest. As others have noted, climbers notoriously abandon the ill to die on the mountain just so they can have bragging rights about reaching the top.
Posted by: indeecee | April 29, 2013, 11:53 pm 11:53 pm
we can not judge the story unless we fully know the situation. however if the climbers were threatened be killed, that was not acceptable. The sherpas are hired to safety of the climbers.
Posted by: sr sohn | April 29, 2013, 11:55 pm 11:55 pm
Typical. Euro climbers interviewed. Not any Nepali sherpas. Euro-fantasies of control over nature thwarted. Oh poor Euro climbers! What – tragedy – couldn’t fulfill their selifsh aspirations? Cry me a river. Journalists need not to feed this vanity.
Posted by: Savita | April 30, 2013, 12:13 am 12:13 am
These three so-called professional climbers have no shame. First, they have left all their garbage, dead climbing friends, and other dead climbers all over the foothills and mountains of this beautiful country. And, now they treat the Sherpas like their dead climber friends and other dead climbers and the thousands of tons of garbage they leave behind in this beautiful country. They should be banned from this beautiful country for life.
Posted by: Dennis | April 30, 2013, 1:47 am 1:47 am
Ueli Steck of Switzerland, Simone Moro of Italy and Jonathan Griffith of Great Britain, go home. I have a berm in my back yard, about 4 to 5 feet, you can climb without and conflicts from the Sherpas and Nepalese.
Posted by: ZZbar | April 30, 2013, 4:32 am 4:32 am
I heard on CBS news that the Swiss team passed the sherpas while they were trying to fasten ropes on the climb. One of the Swiss climbers accidentally knocked ice down on the sherpas and one man was injured by the ice. I truly want to hear the Sherpas side of this story. Unfortunately for us, they are still on the mountain and not easily reachable for interview.
Posted by: anne | April 30, 2013, 8:18 am 8:18 am
namaste, honor the mountain, honor the mountain, namaste
Posted by: mel friedman | April 30, 2013, 8:18 pm 8:18 pm
This poster Rak is on every site implying the sherpas are unskilled “union workers”. Only a complete ignoramus has that opinion of sherpas who are genetically adapted to living at high altitudes and live there(!) As a group, the sherpas are the most experienced, most well-respected climbers in the world. This is not my opinion. It’s pretty much universal. They are the ones carrying up the equipment, picking the routes, and setting up the ropes and ladders so that others can climb safely. Also, they are buddhists who not exactly known to be violent people to say the least. Considering this is the first incident of its kind in 50+ years at Everest, who is more likely to be culprit here, the sherpas or a couple of obnoxious climbers?
Posted by: Theadverb | May 1, 2013, 12:40 am 12:40 am