But even if the Frenchwoman could make contact with someone, who would be able to help before the climbers succumbed to the harsh conditions in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth?
These are the choice we make. Here's a great Reddit Summary of how insane the rescue was.
rocketyak (might find this interesting?)
Thanks for sharing. That's insane.
From the Reddit summary:
I had to convert that to feet: 3600. Holy shit. And they were doing this at 6000 m elevation, at night, in the winter. Adam Bielecki and Denis Urubko are climbers who deserve to have their names remembered for this, for doing the humanly impossible to save a life.
3600 feet elevation in 4.5 hours at 6000 m at night in the winter. So that was 800 vertical feet per hour. It isn't comparable in almost every relevant way, but on my Basin hike a month ago I covered 848 vertical feet in 1:56 in the last push to the summit. On an official trail, in the daylight, at 1000 m. Oh, and it was 50 degrees warmer and I still got frostbite. I can't fathom being outside at that elevation in that temperature, and then add to that it's a rescue mission, not an ascent carefully planned for years.
I would really like to see Everest. There are a number of guides that do treks to base camp. I'd like to do that. But there's nothing that could get me to sign up for an 8000 meter summit. The people that do them are just superhuman.