David Sharp (15 February 1972 – 15 May 2006) was an English mountaineer who died near the summit of Mount Everest. His death caused controversy and debate because he was passed by several other climbers heading to and returning from the summit as he was dying, although several tried to help him.
Sharp had previously summited Cho Oyu and was noted as a talented rock climber who seemed to acclimatise well. He appeared briefly in season one of the television show Everest: Beyond the Limit, which was filmed the same season as his ill-fated expedition to Everest.
Sharp had a degree from the University of Nottingham and pursued climbing as a hobby. He had worked for an engineering firm and took time off to go on adventures and climbing expeditions, but had been planning to start work as a school teacher in autumn 2006.
Early life David Sharp was born in Harpenden, near London, and later attended Prior Pursglove College and the University of Nottingham. He graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree in 1993. He worked for a global security company Qinetiq. In 2005, he quit this job and took a teacher training course and was planning to start work as a teacher in the autumn of 2006. Sharp did not believe in using a guide for mountains he was familiar with, local climbing assistance, or artificial enhancements, such as high-altitude drugs or supplementary oxygen, to reach the top of a mountain.
Expeditions and summits Mountaineering summary While growing up in England, Sharp climbed Roseberry Topping. At university, he was a member of the Mountaineering Club.
Sharp took a six-month sabbatical from his job to go on a backpacking trip through South America and Asia.
2001 Gasherbrum II expedition In 2001, Sharp went on an expedition to Gasherbrum II, an mountain located in the Karakoram, on the border between Gilgit–Baltistan province, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Xinjiang, China. The expedition, led by Henry Todd, did not summit due to bad weather.
2002 Cho Oyu expedition In 2002, Sharp went on an expedition to Cho Oyu, an peak in the Himalayas, with a group led by Richard Dougan and Jamie McGuinness of the Himalayan Project. They made it to the summit, but one member died from falling into a crevasse; this opened up a slot on the group's trip to Everest the following year. Dougan regarded Sharp as a strong climber but noted that he was tall and skinny, possessing a light frame with little body fat; in cold-weather mountaineering, body fat can be critical to survival.
2003 Mount Everest expedition Sharp's first Mount Everest expedition was in 2003 with a group led by British climber Richard Dougan. The party also included Terence Bannon, Martin Duggan, Stephen Synnott, and Jamie McGuinness. Only Bannon and McGuinness reached the summit, but the group incurred no fatalities. Dougan noted that Sharp had acclimatised well and was their strongest team member. In addition, Sharp was noted for being a pleasant person at camp and having a talent for rock climbing. However, when Sharp started to get frostbite on the group's ascent, most agreed to turn back with him from the summit.
Dougan and Sharp helped a struggling Spanish climber heading up at that time, giving him some extra oxygen. Sharp lost some of his toes to frostbite on this climb.
2004 Mount Everest expedition In 2004, Sharp joined a Franco-Austrian expedition to the north side of Mount Everest, climbed to , but did not reach the summit. Sharp could not keep up with the others and stopped before the First Step. The expedition's leader was Hugues d’Aubarede, a French climber who was later killed in the 2008 K2 disaster (his third attempt to climb that mountain), but who became, on this 2004 expedition, the 56th French person to summit Everest. D'Aubarede's group reached the summit on the morning of 17 May and included Austrians Marcus Noichl, Paul Koller, and Fredrichs "Fritz" Klausner as well as Nepalis Chhang Dawa Sherpa, Lhakpa Gyalzen Sherpa, and Zimba Zangbu Sherpa (also known as Ang Babu).
D'Aubarede and Sharp disagreed on using supplementary oxygen while climbing. D'Aubarede said it was wrong to climb alone and attempt summiting without supplementary oxygen. In emails to other climbers, Sharp stated he did not believe in using extra oxygen. He joined four climbers on this expedition, so Sharp relented on that point of disagreement.
2006 Mount Everest expedition Sharp returned to Everest two years later to reach the summit on a solo climb arranged through Asian Trekking. Sharp was climbing alone and intended to reach the summit without using supplementary oxygen as he did not consider it a challenge to climb Everest with supplementary oxygen.
Sharp was climbing with a "basic services" package from Asian Trekking that did not offer support after a certain altitude reached on the mountain, or a Sherpa to climb with as a partner. This option had been available to Sharp for an additional fee. He was grouped with 13 other independent climbers – including Vitor Negrete, Thomas Weber, and Igor Plyushkin who also died attempting to summit that year – on the International Everest Expedition. This package provided a permit, a trip into Tibet, oxygen equipment, transportation, food, and tents up to the Mount Everest "Advance Base Camp" (ABC) at an elevation of about . The group Sharp was in had no leader, although it is considered good climbing etiquette that members of the group make some effort to keep track of one another.
Before Sharp booked his trip with Asian Trekking, his friend McGuinness, an experienced climber and guide, invited him to join his organised expedition at a discount. Sharp acknowledged this as a good deal but declined so he could act independently and climb at his own pace. Sharp opted to climb alone without a Sherpa and decided not to bring supplementary oxygen or a radio to call for help if he encountered problems.
Sharp was transported by vehicle to the Base Camp, and his equipment was transported by yak train to the Advance Base Camp as part of the Asian Trekking "basic services" package. Sharp remained there for five days to acclimatise to the altitude. He made several trips up and down the mountain to set up and stock his upper camps and further acclimatise himself. Sharp likely set out from a camp high on the mountain below the Northeast Ridge to make a summit attempt during the late evening of 13 May. He needed to climb what is referred to as the "Exit Cracks", traverse the Northeast Ridge, including the Three Steps, reach the summit, then climb down to return to his high camp.
Sharp either managed to reach the summit or turned back near the summit to descend very late on 14 May. Sharp was forced to bivouac during his nighttime descent at about on the mountain under a rocky overhang known as Green Boots' Cave, situated near the so-called First Step without any remaining supplementary oxygen due to bad weather conditions, possible equipment problems, and likely a degree of altitude sickness due to a lack of oxygen.
Sharp's predicament was not immediately known as he was not climbing with an expedition that would monitor climbers' locations, he had not told anyone beforehand of his summit attempt (although other climbers spotted him on his ascent), he did not have a radio or satellite phone to notify others, and two other more inexperienced climbers from his group went missing around the same time. One of the two missing climbers was Malaysian Ravi Chandran (also known as Ravichandran Tharumalingam), who was eventually found but required medical attention after getting frostbite.
Members of the group of climbers Sharp was with, including George Dijmarescu, realised Sharp was missing when he did not return later in the evening on May 15 and nobody reported seeing him. There was no immediate concern as Sharp was an experienced climber who had previously turned back when he had experienced problems, and it was surmised that Sharp had sought shelter at one of the higher camps or bivouacked somewhere higher up on Everest. High-altitude bivouacs are very risky but are sometimes recommended in certain extreme situations.
Sharp died under the rocky overhang, sitting with arms clasped around his legs, next to Green Boots.
Accounts of the fatal climb Himex expedition – first team Himex had organised several teams to climb Everest during the 2006 climbing season expedition. The first team was guided by mountain climber and guide Bill Crouse. At around 01:00 on 14 May, during their ascent near the North route known as the "Exit Cracks", Crouse's expedition team passed by Sharp.Everest: Beyond the Limit, season 1, episode 3 When Crouse's team descended around 11:00, Sharp was seen again higher up on the mountain at the base of the Third Step. After Crouse's expedition had descended to the Second Step, more than one hour later, Sharp was seen above the Third Step climbing very slowly, only having moved about .
Turkish team A team of Turkish climbers also reported encountering Sharp. They left their high camp in the evening on 14 May and were traveling in three separate groups.
In the late evening to early morning, the Turkish team members encountered Sharp while ascending. The first group encountered Sharp around midnight, noticed he was alive, and thought he was a climber taking a short break. Sharp supposedly waved them on. Others who later noticed Sharp thought he was already dead. It is thought that Sharp might have fallen asleep between these two encounters. Sharp's wanting to sleep was noted by other climbers in later encounters, and a quote attributed to him telling people that he wanted to sleep was reported by some news stories.
Some of the Turkish team summited early in the morning on 15 May, while others turned back near the summit due to medical difficulties. The Turkish team members who turned back reencountered Sharp at about 07:00, one of them being the Turkish team leader, Serhan Poçan, who had thought Sharp was a climber who had recently died in his previous passing. In the daylight, Poçan realised that Sharp was alive and in critical condition.
Sharp had no oxygen left with severe frostbite and some frozen limbs. Two Turkish climbers stayed, gave him something to drink, and tried to help him move. They were forced to leave due to low oxygen but intended to return with more. Their initial effort to help was complicated by trying to safely get Burçak Özoğlu Poçan, the climber in their group having medical issues, down. Serhan Poçan placed radio calls to the part of his team descending the summit about Sharp and continued descending with Burçak. Around 08:30, two other members of the Turkish team cleaned out Sharp's iced mask to provide oxygen, but had to descend when they themselves began to run out. Later, the remaining Turks and some Himex expedition members attempted to further help Sharp.
Himex expedition – Second team The second team of Himex climbers included Maxime Chaya, New Zealand double-amputee Mark Inglis, Wayne Alexander (who designed Inglis' prosthetic climbing legs), Discovery cameraman Mark Whetu, experienced climbing guide Mark Woodward, and their Sherpa support team, including Phurba Tashi. The team left their high camp around near midnight on 14 May. Chaya and the Sherpa porter/guide were ahead by about half an hour.
At about 01:00, Woodward and his group (including Inglis, Alexander, Whetu, and some Sherpa porters) encountered an unconscious Sharp. He was afflicted with severe frostbite but noticeably breathing. Woodward noted Sharp had thin gloves and no oxygen and they yelled at Sharp to get up, get moving, and follow the headlamps back to the high camps. Woodward shined his headlamp in Sharp's eyes, but Sharp was unresponsive.