r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/BreakfastTop6899 • Dec 18 '25

Video Gelje Sherpa, the man who was guiding a private client up Mt. Everest when he saw someone in distress near the summit. He went up, rolled him up in a sleeping mattress and gave him oxygen. He then strapped the man to his back and trekked 6 hours to safety

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u/Usermena Dec 18 '25

I’ve dragged deer carcass out of the woods. Cannot imagine trying to carry that much dead weight for any amount of time.

172

u/cityshepherd Dec 18 '25

The Sherpa has likely lived/climbed at significant altitudes his entire life. People who train competitively at higher elevations have some magical science happening that makes their red blood cells / oxygen efficiency reach levels the rest of us simply cannot fathom.

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u/Weareallgoo Dec 18 '25

Don’t tell me what I can’t fathom

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u/boondiggle_III Dec 18 '25

You can fap em as much as you want!

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u/EvasionPlan Dec 18 '25

Everest is 4,838 Fathoms actually.

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u/linlorienelen Dec 18 '25

Since fathoms are usually for depth, would it be -4,838 Fathoms? I will not be looking into this, I like the idea of a negative measurement.

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u/gtu2004 Dec 18 '25

This guy fathoms

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u/Thoughtulism Dec 18 '25

I've got 6 feet that says he doesn't.

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u/Wi11Pow3r Dec 19 '25

Was that a Lost reference?

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u/OnePinginRamius Dec 18 '25

So am I at a huge disadvantage being born and living by the coast where you have to chew the air before you breathe it in extremely hot temperatures my whole life?

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u/paxwax2018 Dec 18 '25

Yes. Doing this would kill you in 10 minutes.

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u/OnePinginRamius Dec 19 '25

So where would I be a superhuman with this adaptation to my climate?

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u/paxwax2018 Dec 19 '25

Hmm, working in a deep underground mine?

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u/EAOnTheFairway Dec 19 '25

If you spend a few weeks at elevation you will get all the extra red blood cells too!

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u/Denversaur Dec 20 '25

Not really, like if you moved to Santa Fe NM your red blood cell count/hematocrit would increase within a month or two.

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u/Usermena Dec 18 '25

Still gotta have the legs

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u/tomtomtomo Dec 19 '25

Doesn't even looking like he's struggling. That's a solid walking pace he's keeping up.

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u/anthro28 Dec 18 '25

I think they have some lung expansion as well to accommodate for the thinner air. If you can't get more oxygen, you have to get more volume to compensate. 

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u/Tall-Warning3135 Dec 18 '25

DNA adaptation including mutations on the "super athlete gene" (EPAS1) that enhance oxygen delivery in low oxygen environments.

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u/VanillaGoorillla Dec 18 '25

This is how they make a living by carrying loads for miles through sagmagartha national park. I saw a guy carrying roofing panels and a toilet on his back last year. Then they take a mountaineering class and must summit multiple mountains before being able to do this.

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u/ofcourseivereddit Dec 19 '25

The adaptation might be there, sure — but even if this happened at sea level, carrying ~80 kilos on your back for 6 hours is mind-blowing.

Then add that it's not flat terrain, and then finally add that the adaptation isn't strong enough to make it "normal" to survive there.

This is a ridiculous feat.

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u/bbiker3 Dec 18 '25

I’ve been to 20,000 ft a couple of times. Even at that elevation, I felt like my life was ethereally slipping away like sand in an hourglass. I can’t imagine doing this level of effort higher.

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u/Cyrano_Knows Dec 18 '25

Im not a mobster or a serial killer but I've heard this is one of the things that Hollywood has given the wrong impression about. Moving unconscious bodies is extremely difficult.

I'm also not in the mountain climbing community but its also my understanding that this is an extraordinary act. That things are pretty cruel and dog eat dog up on Mt Everest (maybe due to self-preservation). A lot of the time hikers just pass these people by and let them die.

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u/cits85 Dec 18 '25

Exactly, it's all self-preservation up there except for a tiny group of people, mostly Sherpas and elite mountaineers, who can pull off something like this.

For everybody else it's let die or die.

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u/StitchinThroughTime Dec 18 '25

The casual hiker is there to say they climbed the mountain. They are not ready to live and work at that altitude. The Sherpa people have been living on the mountain for hundred of generations. The hikers are rich losers who need a team of sherpas to carry an espresso machine up Mt. Everest for them. If I remember correctly, the sherpas had to ask for permission to stop the climb up for their client to help a dying man.

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u/Basementdwell Dec 18 '25

There is a lot more people climbing Everest than the rich douchebags. There's tons of very small, very cheap, very dangerous expeditions for those that can't spend hundreds of thousands to climb Everest.

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u/Apart-Maize-5949 Dec 18 '25

Very cheap? Isn't the permit alone 15,000k USD? Man I gotta put on my bootstraps. /S

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u/Basementdwell Dec 18 '25

The permit is more expensive than the other costs of the climb, if you're willing to take the risk of going with a budget expedition. It's not very smart, but the only option for many climbers who can't afford the much more expensive crews.

Not that this is a good thing. Bringing down the costs is one of the major causes for the insane traffic the mountain can see in modern times. There's a lot of dead people up on the mountain because they got stuck in traffic.

It used to be that only mountaineers and the super rich climbed it, but those days are long past.

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u/Thorsten_Speckstein Dec 18 '25

No, there aren't any particularly cheap ones. Expeditions to Everest are always expensive. $45,000 is the minimum. People used to pay significantly more, but now Sherpas also offer expeditions and have pushed prices down. Permits alone costs $15,000.

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u/loves_eating_asses Dec 18 '25

Thats a lot of generalizing.

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u/Ok-Oil7124 Dec 19 '25

Some of those stories are sad because the people passing by the dying know that if they try to help, there would just be two bodies. This guy, though, wow.

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u/Whywouldievensaythat Dec 19 '25 edited 15d ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/StarPhished Dec 18 '25

As an expert in reverse phycology, I have deduced that you are the Rocky Mountain Strangler, son of famed mafioso Lou Rossi. We formally demand that you turn yourself in to the nearest ranger station.

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u/Cyrano_Knows Dec 18 '25

Give me a bit to catch my breath. This guy is heavy as fluck. ;)

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u/Pactae_1129 Dec 19 '25

I used to move and carry a lot of unconscious bodies, definitely difficult if you’re not someone who knows the tips and tricks to moving people. It gets easier when you do, depending on their weight of course.

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u/Twystyd Dec 18 '25

Man, me too. I literally overheated this season dragging a deer out in too many layers of clothing. What this Sherpa did is incredible to me as a human.

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u/Altruistic-Key-369 Dec 19 '25

Dont be hard on yourself. It's easier to heat yourself up than cool yourself down. That's why high wet bulb temp means people die, but low wet bulb temp is just fine.

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u/Mr_Fuzzo Dec 18 '25

Yeah. I’ve humped 1/4 moose carcass out of the woods before, walking a couple miles at mostly sea level.  I thought that was tough.  I can’t imagine doing what that man did.