I just completed reading a book about the youngest-ever climber to reach the summit. His dad owned the climbing company, so he had a lot of help, but the physical torture he put his body through boggles my (8 feet above sea level) brain. Although climbers try to acclimate their bodies to the altitude and thin air, there is a point above which you cannot acclimate and your body starts dying, mostly from edema, I think. Thus, it is a mad dash for the summit, and you gotta observe a strict time limit.
Long story short, the young climber let his also-14-yrs-old Nepalese friend reach the summit while he held the camera below and documented, but did not join him on the summit, because his friend (actually a sherpa-in-training) was very poor and the product endorsements and fame would allow him to support his family.
Knowing what pricks mountain climbers can be, I thought that was a very nice thing to do.
It turns out that the subject of the story was being crassly used by his father to drum up business for his mountaineering company.
Google "Everest corpses" for a look at those that did not make it. Mallory is there, I think. His clothing, blown away by years of wind, exposes his naked back that has been bleached white by the sun. That he made it as high as he did with archaic equipment is all the more awesome (wool socks! tins of sardines!)
watch your mouth! o.k. i know what you mean. ;)
I like the corpse they call “Green Boots.”. He’s an Indian officer who died in the late 80s and whose body is used as a landmark. It’s a weird, morbid form of immortality, to be sure, but an oddly fitting end to a mountain climber I would think.