Mr Kinloch’s tragic death, which took place on May 25 but was only revealed last Wednesday, and the harrowing decision faced by his team-mates, have reopened a wound that plagues the climbing and mountaineering community year after year. During a short two-month season between the end of March and the end of May – when weather conditions are at their kindest and hundreds of mountaineers flock to the Himalaya in a bid to conquer the world’s highest peak – the wider world is left struggling to comprehend the attraction of Everest, along with the life and death decisions that are taken by those on its slopes.