A very sad story from the New York Daily News about a swimmer who died during the Brooklyn Bridge swim last weekend:
"... Solon said his uncle, who was born in Brooklyn but lived in San Francisco, swam two hours a day and was in great shape."It's shocking," he said. Police said Baglione's quick thinking gave the doomed swimmer a fighting chance.
"She did a great job," a police source at the scene said while a shivering [Melody] Baglione stood nearby, wrapped in a towel.
"She performed CPR and everything. It was heroic."
[Link]
There was once a Mt. Everest Climber that succumbed to altitude issues and though alive other climbers passed him on the way up and the way down from the summit because the amount of effort and shared oxygen to save the climber could have possibly led to their own demise. Wimps!
His name was David Sharp and here was the report: [Link]
When I read that I was outraged and Jamie was nearby and said it best, "I would rather say I rescued someone off of Mount Everest rather than say I climbed it!"
I think what Melody Baglione did was not just a heroic effort but a courageous and compassionate one as well.
5 comments:
Very sad indeed.
The Everest story however, is seriously disturbing.
There have been several who've been left on Mt.Everest to die, but there are some upbeat stories about rescues too. Shortly after David Sharpe's death an Australian was given up for dead but was rescued by other climbers (story here, and a year later another successful rescue of an abandoned climber was made (story here). Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mt.Everest along with Tenzing Norgay commented about David Sharpe's death saying "There have been a number of occasions when people have been neglected and left to die and I don't regard this as a correct philosophy" - a very understated statement to be sure.
In my opinion, "Climbing" Everest is an act of selfish vanity and an excuse for self esteem for the affluent.
The trek is dangerous with a 2.5 - 3.5% death rate even for the people that pay between $50,000 and $100,000 to be guided to the top and back.
With that kind of "investment" I do believe the money and the vanity was a key factor in the majority of climbers who walked by Mr. Sharpe.
I respect Edmund Hillary and it is my belief he climbed it fair and square with no advantage whatsoever.
I feel that the groups that charter so-called "Everest Adventures" are nothing but expensive whores and the pretend "climbers" are their "Johns"
I rock climbed for a 2-year period ever weekend in sun and snow. I gave it up when I felt like I ran out of 9-lives.
It does seem a little pointless to claim you've climbed Mt.Everest when you've used ladders, ropes and even stairways cut into the rock by previous climbers.
Although I did not know Rich personally, we did share some pool time together at the Terra Linda Rec Center. I saw his face in the paper this morning and I am stunned. Here is the article in the Marin IJ. http://www.marinij.com/marinnews/ci_13329615
It is great to know that there are people that are willing to put their competitive issues aside to help a fellow swimmer. I know you would do the same thing as Melody did, as would I.
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