A friend of mine climbed Kilimanjaro with us in 1996. He summitted Everest in 2002. In 2001 he looked for Mallory on the north side, and in 2003 he tried the north side ascent. He had to turn back after getting within 200 feet of the summit in order to help a person with a broken leg.

He said at that time the guides were taking people up who had never worn crampons, who had no skills, whose mountain climbing ability was limited to a large checkbook. After 2003 he swore to never go near those mountains again.

There is simply no time to get people up or down the one-way sections, such as the Hilary Step, and one person panicking can and will hold up several hundred people. And time is very, very precious.

The greed of the guides has been unbounded, and one can lay the guilt at the feet of the largest companies, the smallest companies and the world-class climbers who own the companies or who they hire. It's simply a crime.