Daksha Morjaria 景一

Reaching the summit of Mount Everest， the worlds highest mountain， is every climbers dream. However， despite improvements in equipment and weather forecasting systems， the treacherous2 trek3 continues to claim a few lives annually. The 2019 season has been the deadliest since 2014.

登上世界最高的珠穆朗瑪峰，是每個登山者的夢想。然而，盡管裝備和天氣預(yù)報系統(tǒng)有所改進(jìn)，但這場危險的跋涉每年仍會奪走幾條生命。但2019年登山季是自2014年以來死亡人數(shù)最多的一次。

Even more concerning， the fatalities4 were not caused by an act of nature， but were the result of a traffic jam due to the large number of people waiting to get to the peak！Thanks to climber Nirmal Purjas viral photo of the long queue， the deaths were instantly attributed to Nepals relatively lax policy in issuing climbing permits. However， experts say there is more to the story.

更令人擔(dān)憂的是，死亡不是由不可抗力造成的，而是由于大量等待登頂?shù)娜说膿矶略斐傻?！由于攀登者尼馬爾·普爾亞的（登山者）排長龍的走紅照片，這些死亡立即被歸咎于尼泊爾在發(fā)放登山許可證方面相對寬松的政策。然而，專家們說，事情還遠(yuǎn)不止如此。

While the Everest climbing season， which spans about seven to twelve days during the months of April and May， is always short， the 2019 season has been even shorter. High winds and fresh snow made it impossible for Sherpas to begin the arduous task of attaching ropes， used by commercial climbers to ascend and descend the mountain， until April 20， 2019. Though they managed to get to Camp 4， which is located 8，000 meters above sea level by May 1， inclement weather prevented the Sherpas from completing the final 850 meters to the peak until May 14.

雖然珠穆朗瑪峰的登山季在4月和5月期間大約持續(xù)7到12天，總是很短，但2019年的登山季卻更短了。大風(fēng)和新雪使夏爾巴人不可能在2019年4月20日之前開始架設(shè)給商業(yè)登山者用來上山和下山的繩索這項艱巨的任務(wù)。盡管他們設(shè)法在5月1日到達(dá)海拔8000米的4號營地，但惡劣的天氣使夏爾巴人無法在5月14日之前完成通往頂峰的最后850米。

The following day， 113 commercial climbers， who had been waiting at Base Camp 4 on the South Col， the final launching pad for the summit push， rushed to the peak. On May 16， Seamus Lawless of Ireland became 2019s first casualty5. The Irish professor fell from an altitude of 8，300 meters. On May 17， a day after reaching the peak， Ravi Thakar was found dead in his tent at Base Camp 4. The 28-year-old climber from India is believed to have died of altitude6 sickness.

第二天，一直在南坳4號大本營等候的113名商業(yè)登山者向頂峰發(fā)起沖鋒，那里是沖頂之前的最后一個出發(fā)點。5月16日，愛爾蘭的謝默思·勞利斯成為2019年的第一位身亡者。這位愛爾蘭教授從海拔8300米處墜落。5月17日，在到達(dá)山峰的第二天，拉維·塔卡爾被發(fā)現(xiàn)死在他4號營地的帳篷里。據(jù)信，這位28歲的印度登山者死于高原病。

While strong jet stream winds paused the slew of additional eager climbers for three days， good weather returned on May 21. Predicted to last for just a few days， it resulted in massive congestion7 of climbers on May 22 and May 23， with lines forming both at the Balcony， the final resting stop before the summit， and on the Hillary Step. Named after Sir Edmund Hillary—who， along with Sherpa Tenzing， was among the first to reach the summit in 1953—the nearly vertical8， 11.8-meter-high rock face is the last real challenge to get to the top of the mountain. It is climbed using fixed ropes and can only be used by a single ascending or descending climber at a time.

強(qiáng)勁的急流風(fēng)使更多渴望登頂?shù)娜藭和Ａ巳欤?月21日，好天氣又回來了。好天氣預(yù)計會只持續(xù)幾天，導(dǎo)致了5月22日和23日登山者的擁堵，在“陽臺”——登頂前的最后一個休息區(qū)，和“希拉里臺階”上都排起了長龍?！跋＠锱_階”以埃德蒙·希拉里爵士的名字命名。他和夏爾巴人丹增是于1953年第一批登上峰頂?shù)娜恕！跋＠锱_階”這座幾乎垂直、高11.8米的巖面是登上峰頂前的最后一個真正的挑戰(zhàn)。攀爬上去需要用到固定的繩索，一次只能由一個人上下。

The bottleneck to reach the peak resulted in five or six-hour delays at more than 26，000 feet —an elevation at which each breath contains only one-third of the oxygen found at sea level—making the already difficult climb even more so. While most safely arrived back at Base Camp 4， the conditions proved fatal for nine climbers， who either ran out of oxygen or died from exhaustion on the descent.

到達(dá)峰頂?shù)钠款i導(dǎo)致了在超過26000英尺高度上5到6個小時的延遲——在這個高度上，每呼吸一次只有海平面上氧氣的三分之一——使已經(jīng)很艱難的攀登更加困難。當(dāng)大多數(shù)人安全回到4號營地時，有9名登山者的情況是致命的，他們要么耗盡氧氣，要么在下山的過程中死于精疲力竭。

Simon Lowe， the managing director of UK-based mountaineering expedition company Jagged Globe， who successfully led 12 climbers to the summit on May 23， says， “The queue this year isnt the problem. But it exacerbates9 an underlying issue， and that is incompetent10 climbers being led by incompetent teams. If you go up with a bare minimum of bottles of supplementary oxygen and stand in a queue for ages， that is going to cause problems.”

英國登山探險公司Jagged Globe公司的總經(jīng)理西蒙·洛在5月23日成功帶領(lǐng)12名登山者登上了峰頂，他說：“今年的排隊不是問題。但它加劇了一個潛在的問題，那就是不合格的登山者由不合格的團(tuán)隊帶領(lǐng)。如果你帶著最少的氧氣瓶上去，排了很長時間的隊，那就會出問題?！?/p>

Despite the tragedies， the Nepali tourism board does not plan on restricting the number of permits next year and may even increase them to attract more tourists and climbers. “There has been concern about the number of climbers on Mount Everest， but it is not because of the traffic jam that there were casualties，” Mohan Krishna Sapkota， secretary at the countrys Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation， told The Associated Press. He instead believes the deaths are because of poor weather conditions， insufficient oxygen supplies， and equipment. The official told the news service， “In the next season， we will work to have double rope in the area below the summit， so there is better management of the flow of climbers.” Hopefully these measures， along with better prepared climbers and guides， will ensure the mountain does not claim more lives in the future.

盡管發(fā)生了悲劇，但尼泊爾旅游局并未計劃明年限制許可證數(shù)量，甚至可能增加許可證數(shù)量，以吸引更多的游客和登山者?！叭藗円恢睋?dān)心珠穆朗瑪峰上的登山者人數(shù)，但并不是因為擁堵造成人員傷亡，”尼泊爾的旅游和民航部部長莫漢·克里希納·薩普科塔告訴美聯(lián)社。相反，他堅持認(rèn)為死亡原因是惡劣的天氣條件、氧氣供應(yīng)不足和裝備問題。這位官員對新聞社說：“在下一個登山季，我們將努力在峰頂下的地區(qū)設(shè)置雙繩，以便更好地管理登山的人流?！毕Ｍ@些措施，連同準(zhǔn)備得更充分的登山者和向?qū)?，讓這座山在未來不會奪走更多的生命。

▲Discussion議一議：

1. What do you think of the behavior of climbing mountains？你對登山這種行為有什么看法？

2. Do you know anything about the environmental problems around Mount Everest？ How to protect the environment around Mount Everest？你對珠穆拉瑪峰的環(huán)境問題有什么了解嗎？你認(rèn)為應(yīng)該怎樣保護(hù)珠穆朗瑪峰附近的環(huán)境呢？

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