A climber who was rescued in the infamous ‘death zone’ on Mount Everest has been criticised after thanking his sponsors rather than the sherpa who carried him down more than 1,000 feet to safety over six hours.
Malaysian climber Ravichandran Tharumalingam was close to death when he was discovered clinging onto a rope with no oxygen up Mount Everest on May 18.
Up on this part of the mountain, known as the ‘death zone’, the temperatures can get below minus 22 fahrenheit (-30C) and oxygen is in short supply.
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When a mountain guide called Gelje Sherpa and his Chinese climbing client found Ravichandran, he was pretty close to death, with little hope of help.
Other teams had simply climbed past him, but Gelje encouraged his client to help him and stop their bid for the summit.
Once the client agreed, Gelje wrapped Ravichandran up in a sleeping mat and carried him on his back down to one of the mountain camps.
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It was a six-hour journey, descending 1,900 feet at extreme altitude, completed with a grown man on his back.
Once Ravichandran made a recovery, he was asked onto Malaysian TV to discuss what happened, and you’d think he’d be grateful to his rescuer.
In a later post on Instagram, the climber – who has made three climbs to the summit of Everest, losing eight fingers through frostbite in 2022 – thanked everyone but Gelje, instead paying tribute to his partners and sponsors.
He wrote: "I am alive today, because I had the best and dedicated Partners — The 14th peaks Expedition Co and Global Rescue Ins.”
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In other posts, he tried to sell t-shirts, promoted another climb, and thanked those sponsors once again.
All of this happened without thanking Gelje.
Obviously, people in his comments were furious about this.
"Hope you'll be donating all profits to the Sherpa who saved you," one said.
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"You're alive thanks to a sherpa," said another.
It has also been reported – though not completely confirmed – that Ravichandran blocked Gelje on Instagram, and others have accused him of deleting negative comments.
Gelje himself shared a post on Instagram suggesting he’d been blocked at some point.
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Eventually, after much criticism, Ravichandran did give some thanks to Gelje, but referred to him under the organisation 14th Peaks Expedition Co.
He doesn’t work for that company, instead running AGA Adventures.
Still, after that brief recognition, Gelje responded: "Thank you, hope you are recovering well.”
UNILAD has contacted both Gelje and Ravichandran for a comment.
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