MovieChat Forums > Everest (2015) Discussion > Who Does Beck Weathers Blame?

Who Does Beck Weathers Blame?

posted 9 years ago by Speranza9
9 replies | jump to latest

If you haven't seen David Breashears' Storm Over Everest, I'd strongly recommended it. It's a great insight into the real life tragedy. You can find it, as I did, on YouTube.

Towards the end, Beck Weathers says - and I'm paraphrasing - that when people are not watching, an individual's true character comes out. He said that after the storm hit Everest, everybody's true character came out and some can be proud of their actions and others can not.

So who does Beck blame?

- Rob Hall for his leadership failings on the day of the tragedy?
- Anatoli Boukreev for saving everybody in the Huddle (all members of Boukreev's Fischer team) except himself and Yasuko Namba (both members of Hall's team)?
- The other guides, Beidleman and Groom?
- His teammates who were safe in their tents (albeit exhausted)when he was in a hypoxic coma (including Taske, Kronkauer, Kasischke and Hutchison)?
- The Sherpas?

Does anybody have any theories on who it is that Beck blames?

[–] palisade-1 9 years ago

Does anybody have any theories on who it is that Beck blames?

I've read his book, and heard a number of talks he has given on the subject of his Everest experience. He does not appear to "blame" anybody but suggests that people are responsible for their own decisions. For example, he had options to descend with other climbers who offered to assist but he chose to wait for Rob, who never came.

An interesting take on the "blame" required comes from a book by Graham Ratcliffe, A Day to Die For, which presents some new information on responsibility for the disaster. It's worth a read.

http://www.adaytodiefor.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Day-Die-Everests-Disaster-Survivors-ebook/dp/B004SOYW94

[–] Speranza9 9 years ago

Thanks for your comments Palisade-1. Much appreciated.

Like you, when I read "Left for Dead", I didn't get any sense that Beck blamed anybody for his plight. The author of "Neverest II" - and what a curious read that was! - suggests the full title should be "Left for Dead by Anatoli Boukreev". But I didn't get that sense from Beck's text.

If you watch "Storm Over Everest", though, Beck seemed more critical than he did in his book. He makes the point that Anatoli only saved those from his team from the Huddle and, as I said in my post, he ends the documentary by essentially saying that he doesn't know how some people live with themselves.

I've actually developed quite an affection for Beck. His is an amazing story. I like what Lou K said about him in "After the Wind" - he simply got up one more time than he fell down.

By the way, I've also read "A Day to Die For". Yes, I've developed quite the little obsession since seeing the movie! Ratcliffe certainly harbours a lot of anger, which seems out of proportion to his involvement. After all, he and his team mates arrived at Camp 4 late on May 10, slept through the night and then headed back down in the morning. His involvement was tangential at best. Unless somebody wants to know, I'll let people read the book to discover the source of his anger.

[–] Bullish_Captain 8 years ago

Like you, when I read "Left for Dead", I didn't get any sense that Beck blamed anybody for his plight. The author of "Neverest II" - and what a curious read that was! - suggests the full title should be "Left for Dead by Anatoli Boukreev". But I didn't get that sense from Beck's text.

If you watch "Storm Over Everest", though, Beck seemed more critical than he did in his book. He makes the point that Anatoli only saved those from his team from the Huddle and, as I said in my post, he ends the documentary by essentially saying that he doesn't know how some people live with themselves.

I've actually developed quite an affection for Beck. His is an amazing story. I like what Lou K said about him in "After the Wind" - he simply got up one more time than he fell down.

By the way, I've also read "A Day to Die For". Yes, I've developed quite the little obsession since seeing the movie! Ratcliffe certainly harbours a lot of anger, which seems out of proportion to his involvement. After all, he and his team mates arrived at Camp 4 late on May 10, slept through the night and then headed back down in the morning. His involvement was tangential at best. Unless somebody wants to know, I'll let people read the book to discover the source of his anger.

The ones lucky enough to survive, all trying to make a buck off their story. 

[–] jimprideaux2 8 years ago

I blame the weather. If not for the storm perhaps all would have survived.

[–] Speranza9 8 years ago

I'm pretty sure Doug Hansen's death had nothing to do with the weather. He collapsed and became immobile before the storm hit.

It follows, that Rob Hall's death also had little to do with the weather and a lot to do with his decision not to turn Hansen around before the summit and to stay with him after his collapse. I guess we will never know if Rob tried to descend after Hansen died but failed because of the weather or because he was already exhausted, out of oxygen and possibly frost-bitten.

The same thinking applies to Andy Harris. He only went back to assist Hall because Hall let Hansen summit too late etc ect.

Re Weathers...I've come to suspect he was referring to his team mates who didn't come to assist himself and Yasuko Namba.

For example, John K spent an hour searching for Andy Harris on the South Col (who wasn't there) on the morning of 11 May. He clearly had the energy to do so, was no longer snow blind and was not prevented by the storm (at that stage) to venture outside. Who knows what the outcome would have been if he and the AC team members all went to Weathers and Namba early on 11 May to bring them back to the tents. They were only 300 metres away.

Beck didn't wake and make his way back to camp until late afternoon on the 11th...

[–] infracaninophile 8 years ago

Who knows what the outcome would have been if he and the AC team members all went to Weathers and Namba early on 11 May to bring them back to the tents. They were only 300 metres away.

I'm sure, but can't cite the source at the moment, that indeed "members of the AC team" did go out to look for Beck and Yasuko the next morning. Two different physicians, including AC team member cardiologist Dr. Stuart Hutchison, pronounced Beck dead, not just hypothermic. I don't know what they diagnosed Yasuko with. So it wouldn't be reasonable for them to drag a presumably dead body back to camp, as they had no way to carry a corpse down from Camp IV.

If Beck is criticizing anyone, it may be Woodall and O'Dowd, whose behavior was beyond contemptible.

[–] jimprideaux2 8 years ago

Maybe not.

Its true that Doug collapsed for reasons other than weather but if the weather remained calm I saw no reason why a rescue effort would not have been successful. If true for Doug then also true for the others. I am not arguing that any one of them could have gotten off the mountain under their own efforts, maybe yes, maybe no. But all could have been rescued with no more than minor to moderate injuries.

I did not mean to be cheeky in blaming the weather. Only to point out that it was the factor despite the efforts or mistakes of others. I am not into mountain climbing. I watched the movie the other day not knowing who would survive or not. So I am not in the position to accuse anyone of any particular negligence. But I think mistakes are made on every expedition, little or otherwise. But nothing terribly bad happens in most cases because the weather allows for do-overs and is kinder to those with diminished capacity.

[–] Speranza9 8 years ago

To Infracaninophile, I have done some quick research and you could be right, but I am still not sure.

In "Into Thin Air", Krakauer, initially says that when he returned to his tent on the South Col on the morning of 11 May, after spending an hour searching for Andy Harris, Dr Hutchison told him that Beck and Yasuko were dead.

Several chapters later, however, he describes how Dr Hutchison went with a Sherpa to where Beck and Yasuko were lying and found them `close to death'. That is, they were still breathing. We know that is true, at least about Beck, because he is still breathing to this very day.

Krakauer proceeds to describe Dr Hutchison returning to the tents where Krakauer, Hutchison, Taske and Groom convene a meeting and decided they should let nature take its course with Beck and Yasuko and `save the group's resources for those who could actually be helped'. I think the reference to `resources' is primarily a reference to the available bottled oxygen. No point wasting a finite quantity of oxygen on two colleagues who are bound to die anyway.

Based on Krakauer's account, it seems to me a decision was made to leave Beck and Yasuko for dead. Given that Beck ultimately lived, it's possible Yasuko may have lived too if she was carried back to the tents and given oxygen and dex. We will never know.

To Jimprideaux2, I totally take your point. I have overlooked that the weather may have prevented rescuers from lower on the mountain coming to the aide of Hall, Hansen and Harris. In addition tot he Adventure Consultants and Mountain Madness teams, there was another team (including Graham Ratcliffe) which arrived late on 10 May plus the South Africans (not that they were much use).

By the way, I don't want to be misunderstood. I am not making any moral judgments about what people did or did not do (except perhaps the said South Africans). Sitting in my office on a beautiful winter's morning at sea level in Sydney, I can't judge what people should have done when they were confronted by a storm whilst hypoxic, exhausted, sleep deprived and, in some cases, snow blind and/or frost-bitten.

I just found it interesting that one of the main players, Beck Weathers, seemed to harbour some resentment.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

Forgive my simplicity, but I imagine that whomever Weathers blames - aside from himself, and if anyone - likely depends on his state of mind when he's asked the question, and his answers must vary accordingly.