Maria Strydom was part of a seven-week expedition to climb Mount Everest. While reports say she succumbed to altitude sickness, Strydom's family found out differently thanks to a random Google search.
According to Australia's 9 News, 34-year-old Maria Strydom's GPS system stopped working while on her Mount Everest climb. The source notes that the malfunction happened Friday morning. However, trackers were given a glimmer of possibility when Strydom's GPS gave off a single signal the following day, May 21. Yet, the beacon may have shown false hope for the Mount Everest expedition.
On Saturday night, Maria Strydom's sister, Aletta Newman, came across a heart-dropping article from the Himalayan Times about the proposed deaths of some climbers attending a Mount Everest expedition. And, specifically, her sister — Maria — was named. She mentioned that it was the "absolute first" she had heard of anything concerning Strydom's climbing expedition.
"It seems that people have this warped idea of vegans being malnourished and weak. By climbing the seven summits we want to prove that vegans can do anything and more...I guess everyone who gets into high altitude mountain climbing casts a fleeting thought towards Mount Everest...Maria Strydom mentioned that, after climbing the following list of mountains, Mount Everest was just the next tackle:"We've all heard stories of frostbite and having to turn around from excessive waiting times due to inexperienced people blocking routes. This can lead to life threatening situations and death where Sherpas and other climbers have to risk their lives to attempt rescues...
"There are certain aspects of the mountain which will be out of our control, such as avalanches and icefalls which have plagued the previous two seasons on Everest. We can't worry about this aspect of the climb and the odds are still very small of being caught up in it."
- Denali in Alaska
- Aconcagua in Argentina
- Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey
- and Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Australia's 9 News reports that the mountaineering expert explained the concept of "altitude sickness" and that it can range anywhere from "high-altitude pulmonary edema" to "high-altitude cerebral edema." Of the aforementioned conditions, the former happens when fluid accumulates in the lungs. The latter happens when the brain swells from the atmospheric and environmental changes.
The expert explained that there's no way to avoid such deaths except by slowly climbing Mount Everest, in order to give the body chances to adjust to the ever-changing conditions. Thus, it was a seven-week expedition.
All in all, what are your thoughts regarding this expedition-gone-wrong? Feel free to express them in the comments below.
[Image via Twitter]