David Sharp

Who was David Sharp?

David Sharp was an English mountaineer and Cho Oyu summiter who died near the summit of Mount Everest. His death caused controversy and debate, because he was passed by a number of other climbers heading to and returning from the summit during his solo attempt with no support or team.

New Zealand double-amputee climber Mark Inglis revealed in an interview on 23 May 2006 that he thought that Sharp had died, and that Sharp had been passed by 40 other climbers heading for the summit who made no attempt at a rescue. Sharp died under a rock overhang known as "Green Boots Cave", sitting with arms clasped around his legs, next to and to the right of the body of green-booted Indian climber Tsewang Paljor who died in the same place in 1996 under similar circumstances and remained on the mountain as a macabre landmark. The overhang is located alongside the main climbing trail approximately 450 m below the summit and 250 m above Camp 4. Climbing solo with oxygen, Sharp had made an attempt to reach the summit during the late afternoon and, presumably having reached it, had descended during one of the coldest nights of the year.

The Inglis party passed Sharp during their ascent around 1 a.m. and noticed that he was still breathing but due to the difficulty of mounting a night-time rescue, continued toward the summit. Mark Whetu instructed him to follow the line of LED headlamps stretching back to Camp IV before moving on. Most of the other ascending climbers passed Sharp without offering any substantial assistance. Everest guide Jamie McGuinness reported that on reaching David Sharp on the descent some nine hours later, "... Dawa from Arun Treks also gave oxygen to David and tried to help him move, repeatedly, for perhaps an hour. But he could not get David to stand alone or even stand resting on his shoulders, and crying, Dawa had to leave him too. Even with two Sherpas it was not going to be possible to get David down the tricky sections below base camp." He made no provisions for Sherpa or guide support for his summit bid. He also carried no radio with which to contact Asian Trekking, primarily because Asian Trekking lacked the capacity to effect any rescue operation. The following week three other climbers from Asian Trekking also died during summit attempts, Vitor Negrete, Igor Plyushkin, and Thomas Weber.