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“
...[B]uddhists prefer to cremate the dead. The smoke carries the spirit to the sacred realm above...When someone dies above the timberline and it's hard to find firewood, a sky burial substitues for cremation. Although outsiders consider sky burials barbaric, [to Buddhists] this was the sacred wqy to free the soul. During a sky burial, Buddhist lamas or others with religious authority carry the body to a platform on a hill. While burning incense and reciting mantras, they hack the corpse into ch
...more
”
― Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
― Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
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[Everest’s] fatality rate - the percentage of climbers who went above Base Camp and died - had averaged 0.7 the previous decade [1998 - 2008]…In 2008, the fatality rate of those leaving [K2] base camp for a summit bid was 30.5%, higher than the casualty rate at Omaha Beach on D-Day.
”
― Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
― Buried in the Sky: The Extraordinary Story of the Sherpa Climbers on K2's Deadliest Day
