{"id":5532,"date":"2014-12-28T15:30:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-28T21:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5532"},"modified":"2024-03-18T17:49:18","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T22:49:18","slug":"morbid-fact-du-jour-for-december-28-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=5532","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour for December 28, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever I read about people climbing Mt. Everest or other similarly dangerous high altitude peaks the title of a Tegan and Sara DVD comes to mind: \u00a0“It’s not fun, don’t do it.” I just went camping overnight on Christmas and even on a relatively warm evening for December in Indiana it was cold enough in my tent to make me question my sanity. And I didn’t have to deal with the prospect of altitude sickness, frostbite, or plunging to my death down an icy chasm. But thank goodness some people are crazy enough to attempt to climb Everest & co. because if not, I wouldn’t be able to share this excerpt from an article by Matt Dickinson entitled “The Other Side Of Everest” which details an interaction he had during his 1996 expedition as…<\/p>\n

Today’s Comatose Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/h2>\n

By 8 p.m., we were into the third round of melting snow, when footsteps approached from outside. A figure crouched down at the entrance to the tent, red-eyed and desperate. It was the Hungarian climber who, with Reinhard Wlasich, the Austrian, had been attempting the North Face without oxygen.<\/p>\n

His first words were in French but when he saw our blank faces he changed to English.<\/p>\n

“I need some… have you a way to help… some oxygen and some gas… please.’ His speech was slurred and barely understandable. He sounded like he was suffering from the onset of high-altitude sickness.<\/p>\n

“Take it easy and calm down a bit. Now what’s the problem?” Al made some space for him to kneel in the front of the tent.<\/p>\n

“My friend is dying. I want you to try and help me rescue him. We’re in that tent over there.” He pointed out into the night.<\/p>\n

“You’re talking about Reinhard?”<\/p>\n

“Yes. Reinhard. He’s dying. If we don’t get him down the mountain he’ll be dead. You have to help me.”<\/p>\n

“What about the Norwegian doctor – Morton. Has he seen him?”<\/p>\n

“He did. This afternoon.”<\/p>\n

“And what did he say?”<\/p>\n

“He has oedema – on the lungs and cerebral.”<\/p>\n

“Is he conscious?”<\/p>\n

“He’s in a coma.”<\/p>\n

“Well, if he’s in a coma he is <\/em>going to die. There’s no way anyone can get him off the mountain. Have you got oxygen?”<\/p>\n

“It’s finished. Can I take a bottle?”<\/p>\n

“You can take as much as you need. Have you got a regulator?”<\/p>\n

“Yes. But if we go now we can rescue him.”<\/p>\n

“How?” Al was icy calm.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know. We can carry him. I have to do something!” The Hungarian was distraught, and beginning to vent his frustration as anger on us.<\/p>\n

“There’s nothing we can do. No matter how many people we had up here, we still couldn’t get him down to [camp] five. Think about the rocks, how are you going to lower him down?”<\/p>\n

The Hungarian went quiet. In his heart he knew that Al was right. Even if Reinhard had been conscious, a rescue would have been impossible. The fact that he was in a coma was as good as a death sentence here at 8,300 metres (27,231′).<\/p>\n

“How much longer do you think he will live?”<\/p>\n

“I don’t know. He’s hardly breathing.”<\/p>\n

Al and I exchanged a glance. The same thought occurred to both of us at the same time: the Hungarian, determined to stay with his fellow climber right to the bitter end, was now putting his own life in danger.<\/p>\n

“Listen. Your friend is definitely going to die. You have to get off the mountain or you’ll die too. Do you understand?” Al was speaking forcefully now, driving the news as hard as he could into the Hungarian’s confused mind. He went quiet once more as this sank in.<\/p>\n

“You’ll be dead by tomorrow night if you stay here. So take two oxygen bottles now, get through the night, and come back at first light to take another bottle to get you back down to five. OK?”<\/p>\n

The Hungarian nodded slowly.<\/p>\n

“You’re doing as much as you can by staying with him. But he can’t be rescued. If you stay here now you’ll be putting other lives in danger. Are you still fit enough to get down tomorrow on your own?”<\/p>\n

“Yes.” His reply was barely audible.<\/p>\n

He picked up the two oxygen bottles and walked off into the night, the very picture of a broken man. I wondered what kind of hell he was returning to: within a few hours Reinhard would be dead by his side.<\/p>\n

Culled from: High: Stories of Survival from Everest and K2<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Creepy Curios Du Jour!<\/h2>\n

When I go to an antique store, I’m always on the lookout for old medicine bottles. \u00a0Specifically, old quackery bottles. \u00a0Cricket<\/strong>\u00a0found some good ones on a recent scour:
\n“Thought I’d share some of the great stuff I found in a local junk store – tiny little place packed with fun stuff! Still some liquid in Cardui, in case i get to feeling bad.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nCardui was used to cure painful menstruation. \u00a0Like most medicines of the day, it was 19% alcohol, so I think that explains how it worked!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And these are old embalming fluid bottles – to restore the skin from the grey of death to that pinkish glow. \u00a0Great stuff, Cricket<\/strong>! \u00a0Thanks for sharing. \u00a0If you have a curio you’d like to share, please send it my way<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever I read about people climbing Mt. Everest or other similarly dangerous high altitude peaks the title of a Tegan and Sara DVD comes to mind: \u00a0“It’s not fun, don’t do it.” I just went camping overnight on Christmas and even on a relatively warm evening for December in Indiana it was cold enough in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts","category-ghastly","category-sundry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5532"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13354,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5532\/revisions\/13354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}