Trouble at the top of the world: Everest climbers complain of theft of oxygen bottles

Colbie Caillat

导读:近日，珠穆朗玛峰登山者的氧气瓶被盗窃的情况有所增加，这让登山者和向导颇为担心，这有可能对他们登顶造成阻碍，甚至危及生命安全，是谁偷了他们的氧气瓶？

There’s a troubling mystery developing near the top of Mount Everest that’s putting climbers’ lives in danger:People’s oxygen bottles are disappearing.

“It is becoming a serious issue up there,” mountain guide Nima Tenji Sherpa told the BBC on Friday.

“I kept on hearing from expedition groups that their oxygen bottles had disappeared and that could be life-threatening—particularly when they have used up what they are carrying on their way up and they are still not on the summit yet,or they plan to use the stocked bottles on their way back,”added Tenji Sherpa,who had just returned from Everest.

While it’s possible to summit Everest without oxygen,it’s not recommended for most climbers because of the mountain’s extreme elevation.Soaring some 5.5 miles above sea level,Everest’s air at its peak can’t sustain life for more than a few hours.Without extensive training,lack of oxygen can bring on serious frostbite,as well as a condition called hypoxia that affects the brain,causing headaches,hallucinations and eventually death.

With the 2017 summit season just underway on Everest(the first group of climbers summited the mountain on May 15),it didn’t take long for reports of the suspected thefts to come in.

“Another 7 bottles of O2have gone missing from our supply— this time from The South Col,”Everest Expedition leader Tim Mosedale wrote on Facebook last week,referring to the location of one of Everest’s final camps before the summit.

Mosedale referenced the high number of“failed summit bids,” as well as the five fatalities happening on the mountain so far this year,noting he wouldn’t be surprised if the oxygen was taken to help those out in immediate need,but that he wished “people would let us know.”

“No one in their right mind would withhold previous oxygen from any team/climber having difficulties.But if those difficulties are as a result of their own oversight or lack of sufficient supply,it’s a difficult situation to reconcile — espe-cially when it potentially affects the success or otherwise of our own team,” he continued. “Indeed,as I’ve mentioned before,lack of sufficient oxygen can easily develop into a life-threatening situation.”

In an earlier post after finding out four of his group’s oxygen bottles had gone missing from another camp,Mosedale wasn’t so understanding,though.

“I’d never normally wish ill on anyone but if these thieving bastards don’t summit,or get frostbite in the process,then that’s karma,” he wrote on Facebook.

珠穆朗玛峰顶附近出现了一个令人不安的神秘现象，氧气瓶离奇失踪，这让登山者的生命处于危险之中。

“这在成为一个严重的问题，”夏尔巴的登山向导Nima Tenji于星期五对BBC表示。

“远征队的氧气瓶消失的事儿我一直有所耳闻，这可能会危及生命，特别是当人们在上山的路上就用完了，然而还没有到达顶峰；或者是他们把库存氧气瓶留到下山时再用。”Tenji补充道。

尽管不用氧气瓶也有可能登上峰珠穆朗玛峰顶峰，但由于山势极高，并不推荐绝大多数登山者这样做。高海拔高度高达5.5英里的珠穆朗玛峰峰顶的空气只能维持几小时的生命。没有强度的训练，缺氧可能会导致严重的冻伤，以及一种称为缺氧的疾病，会影响大脑，导致头痛，幻觉和最终死亡。

2017年登山季（5月15日，第一批攀登者登顶）一到，盗窃事件的报道就发生了。

“我们的另外七瓶氧气也失踪了，这次发生在南坡的South Col地区。”珠穆朗玛峰远征队长Tim Mosedale上周在脸书上写道，这是珠穆朗玛峰顶峰之前的最后一个营地所在地。

Mosedale提到了大量的“登顶失败”的案例，以及今年发生的五起死亡事件，并指出，他并不惊讶氧气被用来帮助那些急需的人，但他希望“这些人（拿了氧气瓶）告诉我们”。

“面对有困难的登山队或登山者，没有人会不提供氧气相助。但是，如果这些困难是由于自己的大意或缺乏足够的供应造成的，那么这个困难就很难调和了，特别是这可能影响到我们自己团队的成功或其他方面的时候，”他继续说。 “事实上，如前所述，缺乏足够的氧气很容易危及生命。”

之前，在他发现另一个营地的四个氧气瓶失踪后，他发了一条没那么富有同情心的帖子。

他在脸书上写道：“我一般来说不会对讨厌的任何人诅咒，但是如果这些盗窃的混蛋不能登顶，或者在这个过程中冻伤，那就是报应。”