The number of climbers who died while climbing Mount Everest has long exceeded two hundred. The bodies of only a few of them were removed from the mountain and buried. The slopes of Everest are literally littered with the dead, petrified in the permafrost under the black and blue dome of the sky
In May 2004, a Sherpa named Pemba Dorje was returning from the summit of Everest after a successful ascent. At an altitude of 8000 meters, he made a short rest to warm up with tea. Not a single living creature can stay here for a long time due to the lack of oxygen. After taking a few scorching sips, Pemba hid the thermos in his backpack. The Sherpa was about to continue his journey when he suddenly saw something incredible: black shadows were approaching right at him. They were human silhouettes! Their eyes burned, and their arms were stretched forward. In the complete silence, quiet words were clearly heard: the shadows begged the Sherpa to give them at least some food. They came quite close when Pemba turned his back sharply to them and, without looking back, went downstairs.
- I think, - said Pemba Dorje, answering journalists' questions, - that these were the souls of the climbers who died during the ascent of Everest. Their bodies were left unburied on the icy slopes of the mountain.
At one time, Ang Tsering Yu, President of the Nepalese Mountaineering Sherpa Association, said:
-We believe in the existence of the spirits of people who died on the mountain, and we consider it necessary to perform a special ritual from time to time to calm their souls. We burn juniper on the side of the mountain, scatter rice, read prayers.
Man with two hearts
In August 1980, legendary Italian climber Reingold Messner made his famous solo ascent of Mount Everest without oxygen. Messner is called a man with two hearts and iron lungs. It should be added that Reingold is distinguished by a rational mind and is able to give an impartial assessment of what is happening. And so, when he was on the outskirts of the summit, in the ringing void of rarefied air, a voice touched his hearing. They were getting clearer, closer. Outlines of people appeared behind the translucent fabric of light snowfall.
- Mallory, Irwin ?! Reingold whispered.
This was the name of the British climbers who disappeared on Everest in 1924 on the slope Messner climbed.
In the book by the English psychoanalyst Sir Oliver Lodge "Why I Believe in Immortality" there is an episode telling that friends of Mallory and Irwin had a seance with the deceased. They managed to obtain information that the climbers reached the summit and died during the descent, and their bodies are under the rock ledge not far from the summit.
Messner felt the presence of his predecessors on the lifeless slope of Everest. But he knew for sure that if he was distracted from the goal, he would die. Therefore, he threw away extraneous thoughts and feelings and continued on his way. And only a piercing wind, as if from eternity, brought to Reingold the voices begging him for something.
A rope that connects times?
It is known that a lack of oxygen at high altitudes can cause auditory and visual hallucinations in humans. But what if thin air, strong ultraviolet radiation and other factors of height, acting on the human body, awaken in it an incredible ability to penetrate into another reality, see the invisible? Let's leave this question unanswered for now. And we will descend from Everest to an altitude of 7000 meters.
In 1975, Nick Ascot, a member of the British Everest Expedition led by
Chris Bonington, on the slope of this mountain he encountered a phenomenon that threw his practical European mind into confusion. Nick climbed from Camp Four to Camp Five, holding on to a specially fixed rope. His watch read 3.30. Moonlight flooded everything around. The snow seemed to glow in the dark. On the nearby rocks, one could see deep cracks, and in them there was a shiny greenish ice. The visibility was excellent. Having climbed 60-70 meters above the fourth camp, Nick suddenly felt that someone was following him. He turned and saw a dark figure behind him. The climber thought that someone from the team was trying to catch up with him, and stopped.
The pursuer also seemed to stop or move very slowly. Nick shouted, but there was no answer. After waiting a few minutes, Nick continued to climb. He turned around three or four more times, but the picture did not change. The climber clearly saw a man wandering knee-deep in the snow. It seemed that this man is now overtaking Nick, then again lagging behind. The next time Nick turned around, there was no one behind. But the whole slope up to the fourth camp was in full view!
The figure disappeared as if it had disappeared into the moonlight.
Reaching his goal at six o'clock in the morning, Nick Ascot contacted the fourth camp by radio. He was informed that not a single living soul, except for him, went to the fifth camp. So the person Nick saw was not a member of their team. And there were simply no other teams …
Here is what Chris Bonington says about this:
- Nick Ascot was not high enough to be the victim of a hallucination. He had good altitude acclimatization. Moreover, he is distinguished by the analytical mind of a mathematician. I believe it was an interesting psychic phenomenon, time travel. He suddenly became able to see the events that had taken place here two years earlier. Sherpa Janbo worked with Nick in the fall of 1972 and died in an avalanche in the fall of 1973 while climbing with Japanese climbers.
This is the Chris Bonington version. But maybe the spirit of the Sherpa who died in an avalanche wanted to ask for something or even warn Nick out of old memory?
Shadows coming from the mountain
Let's go down another one and a half kilometers. Most recently, I was at Everest at an altitude of 5500 meters. I was accompanied by a young guy from Canada.
We climbed up from Gorak Shep, the last shelter near Everest. No one else was there. On a clear, almost windless day, we camped by a stone covered with moss. Our gaze opened a wonderful view of the highest peak in the world. In good weather at this altitude, the sun is hot, I took off my warm yellow sweater and put it on the stone. A little later, we looked at a more convenient place ten meters below the gentle slope and moved there.
The summit of Everest riveted my eyes. The crystal of glaciers, the cold shine of the snow-capped rocks, the dark jaws of the terrifying abysses, it seemed to me, were very close. And I already saw the thread of the route of Chris Bonington's expedition in 1975, the places of their high-altitude camps. I imagined Nick Ascot climbing from one camp to another. Over there, a dark figure was climbing up behind him … And suddenly a shadow flashed before my eyes! The Canadian at this time selflessly photographed Everest and saw nothing unusual. After a moment, I felt someone's gaze on me and looked around sharply. Before my eyes was the very stone at which we settled down before, but without the yellow spot of my sweater. Perplexed, I went to the stone. Just a few minutes ago, my old sweater was here (I left it on the mossy stone myself),and now disappeared without a trace! There is no one around. It is impossible to walk the path unnoticed. By the way, the Canadian's black gloves, which he took off and also left by the stone, also disappeared to make it easier to hold the camera.
Who could steal an old sweater and worn gloves? Is it really … a shadow ?! Yes, the shadow that floated before my eyes - I had no other answer. So the hungry ghosts from the slopes of Everest are still cold ?!
Six realms of existence
According to the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, the whole world is divided into six realms of existence. These are the spheres of gods, demons (asuras), people, animals, as well as the spheres of hellish torments and hungry spirits (pretas). If you place these spheres on Everest, then the goddess Miyolansanma lives at the very top, who, despite the long list of climbers who died in the mountains, gives people a long life.
In general, to contemplate the gods and goddesses live is the lot of the chosen, great masters of meditation. We, mere mortals, are sometimes given to meet their earthly incarnation. Few can also see the fiery sphere of hellish torment.
However, with people possessed by demonic nature, I happened to repeatedly encounter during travels in the Himalayas. From the animal kingdom at the foot of Everest, you can most often find a loaded yak with a bell around its neck. These long-haired animals tolerate cold very well and are indispensable for expeditions …
In the village of Kumjung, not far from Everest, a Yeti scalp is on display in a local museum under a glass bell. But what sphere this creature belongs to is still unknown. From the human world there are climbers, mountain tourists and their guides and assistants, tireless Sherpas. And very close to these mountain lovers, one might say, in parallel, is the sphere of hungry ghosts. In the highlands, in the thin air, where our consciousness undergoes a change, becomes thinner, sensory perception sharpens, and we meet with the world of hungry ghosts, the world of unsatisfied desires. After death, the souls of people who have not achieved their goals, have not realized their ambitions during their lifetime go there … So they wander like dark shadows, eternally hungry, dissatisfied, not finished their earthly affairs, stretching out their ghostly hands to us.
Oleg POGASIY
Secrets of the 20th century 2010