Everest continues to evoke massive controversy and the world's highest peak is in danger of being submerged in a torrent of bile from various members of the elite band who climb the Himalayan mountain.

Latest broadside comes from Russell Brice, who owns a commercial expedition enterprise which concentrates on the northern, Tibetan routes up the mountain.

One of his teams was criticised when other mountaineers claimed it walked past British climber David Sharp as he was dying at 8 400m in May this year.

His blog on the Himalayan Experience website recounts a sorry tale of poor radio communications, lack of information and frustrations as Brice's own team hit troubles on their climb, which he was supervising remotely from the North Col camp. Brice has taken a lot of flak from some luminaries in the high-altitude climbing fraternity and his Internet report goes some way to giving an insight into the difficulties and dangers of climbing in the death zone.

grough has no experience of such extreme climbing and can only be saddened by the fact that backbiting and mudslinging seems to be the order of the day for the disastrous 2006 Everest climbing season.

It's hard to imagine for those, like grough, who quake at the prospect of Sharp Edge with a sprinkling of rainfall, what it must be like in the confusion and mayhem of a crowded Everest climb. It's just a shame that what should be the pinnacle of human climbing descends into such negativity from time to time.

Read Russell Brice's article here and gain an insight into a world most of us struggle to imagine.