Climbing Expedition Pullouts from Everest 2021

Climbing Expedition Pullouts from Everest 2021 

The pullout of expeditions from Everest with the lame excuse that there were too many parties at EBC spreading COVID, raises some serious questions.

Everest North Base Camp Party in 2019

Let's review how COVID is dealt with in medicine, and compare this with how it's managed by professional climbing expeditions:

1. You don't take healthy people into a possibly contaminated area. As an example, it is common practice that for open joint cases such as a total knee replacement, these are never performed in operating rooms where bowel cases have been in recently. (You don't want intestinal bacteria in your new joint...) 

The first mistake made would have been to even hold an Everest expedition in 2021. By April 1, in India, the curve had an unmistakably steep slope that peaked on April 24. It was obvious that Nepal would follow the same trend, and yet expeditions proceeded.

India COVID trends

Nepal COVID trends

Reputable trekking outfits such as Kamzang Treks (Kim Bannister) and climbing expeditions such as Alpenglow (Adrian Ballinger) decided to sit out the season. Taking customers to Nepal for the months of April and May was thus like a general moving his soldiers from a safe place into trench warfare with questionnable protection.

2. If the operating room next to ours has a case with a clear infection, that does not mean that infection will make it into ours. In medicine we have strict protocols to prevent such issues - and they work.

Typical Hospital Manual with Detailed Protocols

If one shows up at Everest with a dozen customers or more, one would at least expect that such measures would be implemented. A rope with a sign hanging from it saying "don't come in" doesn't cut it - sorry. Certain expeditions even had access to US nurse specialists in the prevention of surgical infections, and they turned them down for "lack of funds".

We still believe that if such measures were implemented properly, one can steer clear from COVID, even at Everest Base Camp. After all, we do it every day in the hospital environment. This is not rocket science - just a set of protocols that are to be followed, day in day out, to maintain strict sterility. 

To drill this point on how infections can be controlled, insurance companies in the US will NOT reimburse a hospital for any expenses incurred after a post-op infection. Hospitals have reacted by, guess what, having very strict protocols - and they work!  

 3. A PCR test is performed on everybody that is to have surgery these days, Everybody who is part of the staff that the patient comes into contact with is not only vaccinated but is also tested periodically. This creates a tight shield to prevent viral infections from entering the surgical wards.

Not sure how Everest expeditions handled this one. Were ALL their sherpas, porters, cooks, customers, and guides tested? How often? Were ALL vaccinated? Was there a sort of martial law in place were NO ONE was to come into contact with outsiders from the group? Who was enforcing this? All this will need to be clearly documented if lawyers get involved due to trip cancellations.

4. Who pays for this mess? As mentioned above, Medicare, followed by all other insurance companies in the US will NOT reimburse hospitals for expenses incurred after an infection. But note the low penalty percentages (1-1.9%)because hospitals have implemented proper procedures.

When Hospitals pay for Complications - These go Way Down!

I wonder if the insurance companies for this season's climbers will follow the above guidelines. After all, why reimburse a climber or company for going into a high risk infection zone? Did the expedition outfit have a right to collect a large fee knowing that there was a high risk of not being able to deliver?

I suspect before pulling out, that these expedition outfits weighed this option, and are under the belief that their customers will be reimbursed by their trip insurance, while they take their money home.

5. If a patient at a US hospital contracts an infection, who is liable? This is a thorny question that has been the source of many lawsuits. The usual people to blame are the attending physician or surgeon, the nursing staff, and of course, the hospital. In the US, it all comes down to who pays for the complication. Neither the patient himself, nor the hospital next door ever get the blame, by the way.  

In mountaineering, legal issues are still a rarity, but COVID may allow lawyers to cross the line into this arena.

Recently, the French government decided to pursue lawsuits against Air France and Airbus for the accident in Brazil in 2009. Arguments will be that the pilots flew the Airbus into a thunderstorm, and that once complications ensued from a faulty plane, they could not handle it and crashed. This sounds eerily similar to how certain companies have behaved at Everest.

And what about long-term COVID complications? If a climber has long term COVID complications from such an expedition, who will pay for these?

Did the expedition outfit create a shield company to prevent lawsuits such as these? Are customers even aware that these things go on?

Lastly, what about the Sherpas and porters who have been infected. Who is covering for their expenses or for losses in their families? 

5. Returning home. In medicine, we also have strict protocols in place as to how a patient is returned home after a procedure, whether the patient will require home supervision, and who pays for all this.

According to the US Embassy in Nepal website all flights are closed out of Nepal until May 31. Who is going to pay for the lodging of the expedition customers after they return to KTM? If a customer contracts COVID in KTM, who is responsible? Is it the expedition? The hotel? The client? All this seems to be a minefield from the legal viewpoint!

6. Will we ever know the truth? In medicine, every time there is a bad outcome, it is thoroughly investigated with thousands of pages of reviews from the hospitals themselves, lawyers, and expert witnesses. The system is far from perfect, but at least there is an attempt to find out what caused the accident. This is similar in aviation. 

In the case of mountaineering, Nepal has been very successful in clamping down on all information coming from base camp. They do not allow pictures of lines on the summit ridge, let alone of crowding at the summit. They do not publish a daily count of infections from EBC. We have a news blackout!

The expedition outfits are playing along too! And so we are in the realm of disinformation and fake news. We will not know why they are really pulling out. 

But one thing is for certain: Blaming parties at base camp (which I'm sure are thrown by the Russians and that everybody usually goes to) is a pretty lame excuse!