Death Zone of RAINBOW VALLEY

It’s name is “Rainbow Valley Everest”, approximately 8000 meters high in the Himalayas. But its “fame” lies in another juxtaposed title- “Death Zone” of the world’s highest peak. It is still having maximum dead bodies of the climbers who lost their lives and could not go forward or return. It also has landmarks like “Green Boots,” and “Sleeping Beauty” but these are names given to the corpses still left there for decades. The name ‘Rainbow Valley Everest’ has a rainbow in it because of the colourful jackets, boots and bags these bodies are covered with. High-altitude climbers come across these rainbow-colored dead bodies when they summit Everest in the region that is difficult to survive.

The Rainbow valley Everest is difficult to cross, and many climbers give up mid-way in fear of losing their lives. It is also called the ‘death zone’ because the area has the highest death rate of any other part of the mountain.

Some manage to ascend or descend from it but lose their lives every year due to several reasons. The bodies on the death zone trail were pushed across the route to make way. This led to the creation of an eventual graveyard for the bodies that lay in the rainbow valley of Everest. On a positive not the climbers are reminded by the bodies to always stay focused and alert.

More than 300 climbers have died in Mount Everest so far most of whom are in the death zone due to extreme weather, avalanches, and exhaustion from continuous climbing besides its topography. The oxygen level in the Rainbow valley Everest is one-third of that on sea level. Breathing in an air that has low oxygen while climbing in harsh weather can exhaust a climber and result in “summit fever.” This often leads to climbers making mistakes when they cannot think rationally due to the environment of the death zone. “Summit fever” is a mountaineering term that describes the drive or compulsion of a climber to reach the summit no matter what the cost in that abnormal condition.

There are instances when a rigid climber shouts back at the Sherpa or companion who advise him not to proceed further. There are also scenes when a climber clings on to fellow mountaineers who leave him knowing his fate and other inescapability like bad weather. What remains is only an echo of their last voice.

The white mountains, temperature and sky kissing height that look so beautiful in photos can start to haunt one if he or she gets lost, catches mountain sickness, or gets even minor injuries.

There is also a Bottle neck in the valley which is an approximately six hours steep climb to the summit that is one of the hardest parts of this journey. One mistake that leads to a fall can kill a climber on the spot. With no medical team and days of journey to the base camp, mountaineers seldom survive and die within the Rainbow valley Everest region. Anyone who dies on Everest is reserved on Everest forever because of ice and snow, so the bodies keep piling up.

Among the landmark dead bodies most famous is that of Green Boots, an Indian climber named Tsewang Paljor who died over two decades ago. As if taking a nap, the climber lies on his side under the protective shadow of an overhanging rock giving the shape of a small cave.

He has pulled his red fleece up around face, hiding it from view, and wrapped his arms firmly around his torso to ward off the biting wind and cold. Paljor’s legs stretch into the path, forcing passers-by to carefully step over his neon green climbing boots.

Another famous dead body is that of Francys Arsentiev became the first woman from the United States to reach the summit of Mount Everest without the aid of bottled oxygen, in 1998. She died of frostbite and her husband, also a famous climber, then died searching for her during descent. The frost bite had distorted her face with blotchy redness and had turned her skin hard and white. The effect gave Francys the smooth features of a wax figure and led to the remark that the fallen climber looked like Sleeping Beauty, a name the media eagerly seized for the headlines.

Prior to her in 1979, a German Climber Hannelore Schmatz became the first woman to die on Mt Everest. She made it to the top with her group but got stuck during the descent. During the frigid night, she fell on her back and died. Schmatz’s body remained preserved in the ice with eyes remained open and her hair flying in the air. Strong winds drifted her away, but her body still lies in the Rainbow Valley Everest.

In 1999, the oldest known body was found on Everest. George Mallory’s body was found 75 years after his 1924 death after an unusually warm spring. Mallory had attempted to be the first person to climb Everest, though he had disappeared before anyone found out if he had achieved his goal. George’s body was found in 1999, his upper torso, half of his legs, and his left arm almost perfectly preserved.

In contrast there are, however, other incidents when a climber was presumed to be dead but returns to the base camp after days though in a very bad state. His shocked wife even dreams of him coming to her bed in a mountain suit. She wakes up and cries while dreaming of his “ghost.” But she gets a lifetime surprise when he speaks to her on sat phones reaching the basecamp.

Dead bodies on Everest don’t lie normally; extreme weather drifts them, and they are pushed and walked upon by climbers. A recent climber expressed how he felt about a body on Everest as ‘a man who was wrapped like a mummy’.

Dead bodies are seldom removed because carrying a body all the way down is extremely risky and might also result in the death of the rescuers themselves. Some rescuers, mostly Sherpas known to the mountains, have died during few retrieval operations. The body becomes heavier in cold conditions, and one must restive it by chiselling ice and snow in that hostile atmosphere. To get a body rescued from Everest, people spend 70,000 to 200,000 US$ where a group of rescuers search for the body and carry it down. Because helicopters cannot go to the death zone as their highest limit is reached at 8000m.

Because it is highly expensive to retrieve a body, only the bodies of those people who have insurance (in case it includes return of the body) or rich family members are removed from Everest. In some cases, because of the love for the mesmerising mountains the climbers wish to be left there if they die and normally their families and friends honour it as their last wish.

However, over the years, the death rate has decreased. The Nepalese government, which allows most climbers, has also set some strict rules in deciding who is allowed to climb Everest, which shortlists only the expert high-altitude climbers. Since 1924, when the expedition to Mt. Everest first began, approximately 5000 climbers have summited the mountain and 305 died in the process till 2021.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle