Free Republic

An American-Chinese socialite has reportedly died in Hong Kong after plunging from her penthouse naked while carrying her five-month-old daughter in her arms. Luo Lili, 34, who had rubbed shoulders with the likes of Hillary Clinton and Rita Ora, reportedly jumped to her death with her baby after suffering post-natal depression, according to multiple reports from local media. As the only daughter of a real estate tycoon mother who owns multiple luxury development projects in China, Ms Luo appeared to have lived a lavish life, studying and travelling around the world from a young age.(snip) Ms Luo, a single mother,...

Tourist board criticised for new regulations, which also prohibit solo ascents with the aim of reducing the number of accidentsSolo climbers, blind people and double amputees have been banned from climbing Everest under new rules the Nepalese tourism ministry believes will reduce the number of deaths on the mountain. The changes have provoked criticism from the US ambassador to Nepal and a former Gurkha soldier planning to scale the peak after losing both legs in Afghanistan. The new rules have been under discussion for a month and were implemented this week, Nepalese officials told the Himalayan Times. British cancer patient...

Dying Brit climber 'too big' to rescue off Everest By MICHAEL FIELD The New Zealand mountaineer who ordered climbers to leave a dying Briton near the summit of Mt Everest says it was impossible to carry the big man off the peak. Double amputee Mark Inglis was one of four New Zealanders in a group of 40 who walked past dying David Sharp during their descent of Everest on May 15. Most of them were part of a Discovery Channel film crew, which included Queenstown cameraman Mark Whetu. The crew filmed the dying British mountaineer in his last conscious moments...

Sharp unrescuable, says Chinese mountaineer Updated: 2006-05-28 09:14 Chinese female mountaineer Luo Lili regretted David Sharp's death in the Mount Qomolangma but said the British climber was at a nearly unrescuable height. "Mountaineers all know the height above 7,000m is very dangerous and usually deemed as an unrescuable height," said Luo on Saturday, who just returned from a May 15 scaling of the world highest peak. Sharp, 34, ran out of oxygen and died in a snow cave just 300 meters from the summit on his way down the Himalayan mountain. Dozens of people had walked right past him, unwilling...