Alternative Explanations

Savage and Torgler stress that results should be treated with some trepidation and explore alternate hypotheses to check soundness. For example, knowledge and technological changes could affect survivability, explaining the changes over time among non-commercial groups but not the death/success relationship difference between the groups. It is possible that less experienced climbers choose not to join commercial groups, but instead opt to directly hire Sherpa for themselves for a ‘solo’ expedition although the pricing structure would make it extremely expensive. Additionally, the authors explore the emotional attachment relationship between climbers and Sherpa with and without repeated interaction and its affect on helping behaviour. They also explore the role of moral obligation, religion and interaction between members of expeditions in relation to burial and body retrieval.