This one is an extraordinary one isn't it? What is the value of the sanctity of life? It generally seems to be said that different rules and different ethics apply 'up there' than down here on planet earth. Yet we have the very recent rescue of Lincoln Hall and there have been other rescues, almost as many as the bodies strewn around the summit, where people gave up their ambition, oxygen, etc. Recently in Tasmania Australia many men risked tonnes of earth and rock crashing on them to rescue two of their fellow workers- different situation but good illustration of the 'one life or the many' or 'value life above all'. I have been in situations where sharing the last water in a 47 degree desert offered a chanc e of life for both of us and I know many similar stories. Risking one life against a number doesn't seem to be a factual presentation of the considerations on examination of what has happened in recent decades on that grand old woman Goddess. Many HAVE been rescued in very risky circumstances indeed. Ethically I reject the notion that rules of the value of life and death apply differently to SOME people on ONE particular part of the planet. It is indeed money and ego over human life. As with most notions, an intelligent human being does not need to experience, literally, an event in order to understand and analyse the practical, social, political, or ethical implications to all of us. This event is indeed about the ethical value of a human life over other agendas. The 'one life against many' argument does not hold significant water given the history of climbs over the last two decades (which is not dismissing the risks which are very real). One chooses to ascend and descend and one chooses how one is going to live life and value life up there as much as one does it down here on, dare I say it, ground zero, or, I should have said, planet earth?