why the deceased are left on mt everest

[-kaffryn-]

i wasnt sure where to put this, and its quite random. but i was watching a programme about mt everest and it said that the dead are just left to lie there.. does anybody know why this is? would their families not want them home?
thanks :)

[Postdog]

Just a guess, but maybe it'd be too hard to recover/bring back bodies.

[sn�gs]

... If they can even locate them to begin with...

[B00]

I'm sure the families do, but Googling your question brought this up, and it might explain why they dont.....

http://ask.yahoo.com/20041102.html

[andy-hughes]

Postdog is right.

Climbing Everest is a seriously challenging undertaking for a fit fully equipped team, and everything they carry has to be absolutely essential. It is more than possible to perish on the descent from the peak, so again, fitness and minimum weight carriage are essential. For that reason, it is simply not safe to attempt to carry the inert weight of an adult climber, and to do so would compromise the safety of every living person in the expedition, so it is usual, although regrettable to leave the bodies of decesased climbers behind.

To date, appropcimately 175 people have perished on Everest, and over forty bodies are left on the north face.

[R1Geezer]

Yes as above, it's just too dangerous to recover bodies, pointless risking lives to collect.

No doubt some of their families would want them back but the climbers themselves often say befoe hand that they do not want anyone risking life and limb to recover their body. To a climber dieing and having your body left on Everest is a bit like a Vikings burial anyway!

[-kaffryn-]

thank you alll for ur answers. thats really interesting :)