Mt Everest (a blog)
- Thread starter WayneDougan
- Start date
You’re not gonna get me pissed off about this. Not being allowed to climb higher on Rainier is a big disappointment to me, so much so that I’m going back next summer. Going with a private guide as opposed to RMI’s 3-day outfit.
Not aiming this at the guy named in the OP.
But I think those photos of dozens of people standing in line like the crowds at Space Mountain in Disneyworld just to take their selfies at the summit, while leaving behind tons of litter and excrement at what should be a sacred site has permanently wrecked the ‘cool’ factor of climbing Everest.
But I think those photos of dozens of people standing in line like the crowds at Space Mountain in Disneyworld just to take their selfies at the summit, while leaving behind tons of litter and excrement at what should be a sacred site has permanently wrecked the ‘cool’ factor of climbing Everest.
Let’s not go overboard. Only like 500 people summit Everest every year. Not exactly Disney World up there.
Certainly not if Mt Everest doesn't charge $100 for parking.
Yeah, but I'm just talking about the 'cool factor.' Probably fewer people shoot an elephant every year than climb Everest. Back in Ernest Hemingway's day, say the 1930s, that was seen as cool. Hang those tusks on the wall, and spin a yarn about the bull charging you while you stood your ground. Now it is seen as pathetic and wasteful to blast some lumbering, endangered beast.
Sir Edmund Hillary climbing Everest? The epitome of cool. Standing in line with a bunch of dentists and socialites who ponied up $45,000 to be escorted through the accumulating debris? Not really cool anymore.
But the great majority of those 500-600 climbers all do it within a small window of just a few days in May. It's not like it's 500 summiters spread out over the entire year. It's 500 in one or two weeks, then practically zero the rest of the year.
Still, I know, if it were Disney World, there'd be somebody on top to take your ticket, and there would be concession stands selling gloves and extra oxygen for $10,000.
Even MdWIldcat55 would have to agree that climbing K2 is still pretty damn cool.
Only if they do it without ropes, crampons and tents.
Amateurs. Try tackling Campbell Hill in OH. Highest point in the state at 1,549 ft.
So what you're saying is that you're gonna pay somebody more money to make sure you get to the top.
So what you're saying is that you're gonna pay somebody more money to make sure you get to the top.
Running the numbers I think it’s a bout the same, but pretty much. Rainier’s no joke. Somebody died there a few weeks ago, four guys just got rescued.
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So you aren't living life unless you risk your life? That is essentially what you are saying.
ummm... yeah... good luck, godspeed.
good for your boy, but I'm not climbing that thing unless I'm being hunted by a yeti... he see any of those in his blog?
good for your boy, but I'm not climbing that thing unless I'm being hunted by a yeti... he see any of those in his blog?
as a point of clarification to an earlier post by someone else, the bodies do not rot on Everest.
![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
Just wanted to say I’m not a big mountaineering buff, but I do like Gordon Lightfoot’s classic song about Everest.
“The legend lives on,
From the Nepalese on down,
Of the big hill they call Gitchagoomee,
The hill it is said,
Will sure freeze your ass dead,
If you don’t know what the hell you are doing”
“The legend lives on,
From the Nepalese on down,
Of the big hill they call Gitchagoomee,
The hill it is said,
Will sure freeze your ass dead,
If you don’t know what the hell you are doing”
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George Mallory and Sir Edmund Hillary would in no way approve of what summitting Everest has become.
Okay I preface with that is awesome that dude accomplished that feat and I am very interested with all stuff concerning Everest but I just could never see myself risking a climb.
1) Everything he described from the blaring sun to the bone chilling cold sounds effin miserable. Hard pass.
2) Everything he described and I had read previously says the Icefall is absolutely effing terrifying. Like shit your pants terrifying.
3) Time at the camp sounds boring as shit. Wifi isn't even good enough to watch pornhub.
4) When he mentioned the 90 person group of Korean/Chinese and their 180 Sherpas I nearly lost it. That is gd ridiculous.
5) Equally ridiculous or maybe more so is when near the summit he had to lift some Asian chick up 4ft ice stairs while Sherpas pulled her up. That is everything that is wrong with the current Everest climbing situation today.
6) Robin, the dude in his group that died, is mentioned twice before that. First during their training trek up to Camp 2, he can't go past Camp 1 due to altitude issues and retreated to base camp. ::redflag1::
Then while they are deciding at Camp 2 when they should push to the top, Robin elects to wait a few days because he still had a cold and the others leave him. ::redflag2::
As previously stated in the blog, at the altitude of Camp 2 any illness or injury is not going to get better or heal until returning to a lower location. It sounds like Robin should have listened to his body. But now his wife who cheered him on on Instagram is a widow and has no body to bury, lovely story.
7) Ian, having quite an impressive climbing resume, makes it to the top but due to his own mistakes in which he admits to and the ridiculous traffic jam is lucky to barely make it off the mountain alive. Seriously if not for the safety tethers one he barely connected in time he would have fallen thousands of feet to his death 2 different times and make his wife a widow after only one year of marriage. Kudos.
In closing I don't feel sorry for these climbers. I feel sorry for their families.
1) Everything he described from the blaring sun to the bone chilling cold sounds effin miserable. Hard pass.
2) Everything he described and I had read previously says the Icefall is absolutely effing terrifying. Like shit your pants terrifying.
3) Time at the camp sounds boring as shit. Wifi isn't even good enough to watch pornhub.
4) When he mentioned the 90 person group of Korean/Chinese and their 180 Sherpas I nearly lost it. That is gd ridiculous.
5) Equally ridiculous or maybe more so is when near the summit he had to lift some Asian chick up 4ft ice stairs while Sherpas pulled her up. That is everything that is wrong with the current Everest climbing situation today.
6) Robin, the dude in his group that died, is mentioned twice before that. First during their training trek up to Camp 2, he can't go past Camp 1 due to altitude issues and retreated to base camp. ::redflag1::
Then while they are deciding at Camp 2 when they should push to the top, Robin elects to wait a few days because he still had a cold and the others leave him. ::redflag2::
As previously stated in the blog, at the altitude of Camp 2 any illness or injury is not going to get better or heal until returning to a lower location. It sounds like Robin should have listened to his body. But now his wife who cheered him on on Instagram is a widow and has no body to bury, lovely story.
7) Ian, having quite an impressive climbing resume, makes it to the top but due to his own mistakes in which he admits to and the ridiculous traffic jam is lucky to barely make it off the mountain alive. Seriously if not for the safety tethers one he barely connected in time he would have fallen thousands of feet to his death 2 different times and make his wife a widow after only one year of marriage. Kudos.
In closing I don't feel sorry for these climbers. I feel sorry for their families.
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Where can I get me one of dem Mt. Everest fast passes?
Weird photo of Everest. Doesn't look like the classic photos from the southwest face or north side.
Honest question: at Denali )or any other mega peak) if someone has to be rescued do they have to reimburse the rescue entity or how does that work?
Rich is somewhat relevant. Ian makes good money; not doctor money, but good money. Plus he's young - so it's not like he's sitting on millions. Plus his wife works and they don't have kids (they are putting that off until after Everest). As for taking two months off, our company allows you a sabbatical, which I assume is what he did.
Ian came back to work yesterday. Looks like he's been through a war.
You can say he's rich, it's ok. Not too many upper-middle income people have 30-40K to blow on climbing a mountain. I envy what he did and will enjoy reading the blog.
I climbed the Grant Teton during a 8-week Outlook Leadership school out west which, in all fairness is like a foothill compared to Everest, and witnessed a college student die due to not being roped up during the snow climb and fell to his death. Helicopter flew up with a body bag and it was a very chilling effect during my descent down "The Saddle". Pretty cool viewpoint from the top being able to see into 3 states at the time.
Okay. How about Tenzing Norgay?
I suspect most mountaineering enthusiasts or historians consider these guys mountaineering pioneers/royalty.
Who gives a f#ck about what a dead midget Nepali thinks either? That little bastard was lucky Ed dragged him along for the ride.
