Another problem is climbing outfits are allowing less experienced climbers to climb who really have no business being on top of Everest because they are likely to die up there because they don't understand their situation or what their bodies can survive and what they can't survive enough to stay alive in those conditions.
Note: I can remember when I climbed just Mt. Shasta (at 14,161 feet) about 1/2 of the height of Everest. I remember being 22 years old and how light headed I felt at altitude as I climbed this mountain to the top in 1970. I felt like I was about 4 or 5 years old in mental abilities when I reached the summit and worried that I would have it together to make it back down. Also, my climbing buddies had either already summited or had turned back already by the time I summited so I had no one to rescue me if I got into trouble. As I summited I had to drive a sea gull off a cliff because it couldn't take off and fly at 13,000 feet. So, as I drove it off the cliff it took several hundred feet of drop before it got enough air under it's wings to fly off and be okay. This is how thin the air is at 13,000 and 14,000 feet and many people climbing Mt. Shasta get air sick at around 10,000 feet to 12,000 feet. I got air sick years later at about 12,000 feet and had to turn back myself the next time I tried to summit Mt. Shasta and failed. However, at 22 I summited and it all worked out fine but later it didn't work out and I had to turn back because of getting air sick and getting hypothermia so I was starting to hallucinate until I got back down below 10,000 or 8,000 feet.
another problem I encountered was the Sun at 4 pm in August and worrying I might not get down before sunset because I summited at 4 pm. I may or may not have had a flashlight with me, but likely I only had some food, water and warm clothes and a wool hat and gloves and Crampons (clip on spikes for your feet while walking over ice so you don't slip) and I also had an ice axe (for the same reason. I also brought with me greenhouse plastic to slide on that I could fold up when I wasn't using it. So, when I felt safe enough I was sliding down the snow at around 20 to 30 mile per hour down to below Lake Helen. By the time I had slid on plastic while braking with my ice axe at 20 to 30 miles per hour down the mountain, I realized sun would set within an hour. So, I was glad I came down the mountain fast enough to avoid sunset in the snow. So, the sun didn't set until I reached Horse Camp Sierra Club lodge then in August 1970. So, likely I or one of my climbing buddies (there were 4 of us) all met up at Horse Camp lodge at Tree line (which is as high as trees will grow on mt. Shasta.)
I likely had a flashlight because we had to camp the night before at Horse Camp lodge before we summited by leaving at about 2:30 AM so the snow would support our weight better before the sun hit it the next day. So, by noon I was at about 12,000 feet. At 14,000 feet it was sunny with clouds whizing by at about 100 mph and gusts of wind from 12,000 to 14,000 feet that would often blow me down at 100 mph. But, luckily ice wasn't blowing like it was on Mt. San Gorgonio when I climbed that peak within about 2 years of 1970 then. then I used my sliding plastic to protect my face because it was causing my flesh to be cut by flying ice at 100 mph then. But, then it was so loud it was intense so eventually I just slid down on my plastic down into Slushy meadows below San Gorgonio.
Aug 30, 2012 - Uploaded by John Trammell
South Fork "Slushy" Meadows in the San Gorgonio Wilderness of the SanBernardino National Forest ...
Sep 2, 1989 - It's unlikely, however, that you'll be able to climb Mt. San Gorgonio and ... it toward South Fork Meadows, also known as Slushy Meadows.
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