With Mt Everest being in the news a bit because of the number of people climbing there, is it that much of an achievement?

Do people care about this anymore?

If you knew someone that climbed Everest with or without oxygen would you really care?

For me, its interesting to hear about the journey, but other than requiring a fair bit of training, it sounds like actually getting to the top is a bit hit and miss, and very much depending on whether you have lucky weather and oxygen.

Has anyone here climbed it?

What is it that people want out of this sort of thing? Something to talk about? Something to make them special amongst their friends?

I just don't understand it.

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FormulaNova said..
With Mt Everest being in the news a bit because of the number of people climbing there, is it that much of an achievement?

Do people care about this anymore?

If you knew someone that climbed Everest with or without oxygen would you really care?

For me, its interesting to hear about the journey, but other than requiring a fair bit of training, it sounds like actually getting to the top is a bit hit and miss, and very much depending on whether you have lucky weather and oxygen.

Has anyone here climbed it?

What is it that people want out of this sort of thing? Something to talk about? Something to make them special amongst their friends?

I just don't understand it.

I've never done it, but I think I get it. If you were into mountain climbing, it is the biggest. If you want to think you are a high achieving mountain climber you want to achieve the biggest.

I like bike riding and went to Europe to climb up the toughest paved road climb you can climb on a road bike. Before I did it, I wondered what it would be like and if I could do it. Now I have an immense satisfaction in having achieved that. Obviously there is not the same risk of loss of life in my little endeavour, but I think I get the mentality of wanting to achieve the toughest challenge in your chosen interest. For me it was not about bragging to anyone. It did not bother me whether anyone else cared about my achievement. It was about me knowing I achieved the toughest challenge I could put myself up against.

Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

So which hill is toughest? In the Alps or Pyrenees?

Mountaineering faacsinates me because Iam terrible at heights...mainly the question wtf would ya...but humans are bat schit crazy that's all I can come up with.
On the first succesful ascent of the matterhorn 4 of the 5 blokes fell to their death!

I heard quite some time ago that true mountaineers now consider K2 much harder to climb.

everest, whilst its the tallest is now easier. It still has all the dangers of altitude, but all the hard parts have been made easier. Don't get me wrong, its still certainly a challenge and isn't easy, but its a lot easier than it was in The early days.

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log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

That's It? Everyone whose climbed it's because of their massive ego?
Pffft. I could say the same about your political stance diference being there's obviously no therapeutic value in your "hobby"

simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_zone

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log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

The ego is a product of the mind.

Climbing Everest and not telling anyone about it?

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japie said..

log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

The ego is a product of the mind.

Climbing Everest and not telling anyone about it?

Absolutely !!
Have not heard 1 story from the female survivors that lept from my biceps without a parachute

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japie said..

log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

The ego is a product of the mind.

Climbing Everest and not telling anyone about it?

Yeah, that would be interesting... the person that climbed Everest and never told a sole about it.

It would be so rare that I am not sure it would exist at all.

I have met two people at work who tried to climb Everest. One was a painfully pain-in-the-ass guy that had an irritating personality. I think he must have done it to have something interesting to tell people. Sadly in real life, you can't get by on one story alone and need to relate to people. Credit to him, it seemed like he did a lot of training for it.

The other guy went there with his wife and never made it to base camp due to health problems with the altitude. Apparently he almost died getting that far and it was only that his wife insisted that they be evacuated did he survive.
This guy was a nice bloke, and I don't understand why he would have done it other than a sense of personal achievement. For me, that's too much of a risk, and I would prefer to die later than earlier.

It wouldn't be a problem if it was mountaineers doing it. It's obsessed ordinary people and over achieving corporates. They rock up. Pay their money. A team of sherpas drag them to the top. They make it or they don't. They survive or they don't.

My personal opinion is that cool things are cool if you're one of the few doing them. If you're doing something that everybody is doing then that can degrade the experience somewhat.

Is it still a big deal? I think so, 11 people dead this week. If you get into trouble up there it is basically up to you to get yourself out of it. Not that I have any experience but I think getting rescued successfully is less likely than dying so its still one of those things that are truly adventurous. Like sailing around the world, sure its safer now than in the past but its still extremely dangerous.

People do it for the adventure.

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Mr Milk said..
So which hill is toughest? In the Alps or Pyrenees?

Alps......I should have said mountain pass rather than mountain climb, but it was the Stelvio Pass in Italy (24km @ 8% topping at around 2760m). It was a magnificent experience with beautiful weather, great camaraderie with other cyclists and a real test for my wife and I to achieve together.

This post is about as public I have got in telling anyone about it since I did it a few years ago. It was really about personal achievement for me. It was less about not dying on Everest and more about toughing it out for ~3 hours at ~8kph grinding the lowest gear you can run on a double ring road bike...... and then flying down the other side for 45 minutes and getting sore hands from the brakes! Gives a good appreciated when watching the Pros race up these climbs in 1/3 the time.

Everest is a joke they practically nowadays get carried to base camp and fed and watered
the sherpas do all the hard stuff, the "climbers" get the path cut for them all their gear carried and tents set up.
cups off tea on location and extra oxygen carried and placed for them for the ascent.

The sherpas get shafted and rich corporate wankers get carried up the hill almost to the top.

There is no etiquette or honour in it there is no law amongst warriors.

Its the full pirate code up there

take what you can and leave nothing for no one, any man that falls behind stays behind.

corporate climber one sees climber two fall over, doesn't help leaves him there to die picks up his next pre dropped oxygen bottle takes photos at the top for Instagram and gets led back to base camp.

K2 is where the real climbers go to live or die.

Everest is a tourist walk.

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Razzonater said..
The sherpas get shafted and rich corporate wankers get carried up the hill almost to the top.

There is no etiquette or honour in it there is no law amongst warriors.

Its the full pirate code up there

take what you can and leave nothing for no one, any man that falls behind stays behind.

Surely for the sherpas its an income that they have the choice in doing or not? I believe that they are much better suited to the climate and altitude, so they have a better chance of survival than others. From what I have read the Sherpas will often go ahead and leave oxygen for their groups, which is a problem if someone else steals it.

As for the leaving a man behind thing, I don't think its a choice for a lot of people. They are flat out making it themselves and don't have anything in reserve to help anyone else. I think on these sort of climbs you must accept that no one that you aren't paying is going to help you. if you were the one that was struggling to walk and there was a guy behind you that knew the same risks, would you help them? People that would, wouldn't go on this climb normally.

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japie said..

log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

The ego is a product of the mind.

Climbing Everest and not telling anyone about it?

it seems to be a very old fashioned idea. the idea that you've "conqueured" some part of the natural world, seems to belong in a time where we saw nature as a force to beat rather than a force to be at one with or understand.

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FormulaNova said..

Razzonater said..
The sherpas get shafted and rich corporate wankers get carried up the hill almost to the top.

There is no etiquette or honour in it there is no law amongst warriors.

Its the full pirate code up there

take what you can and leave nothing for no one, any man that falls behind stays behind.

Surely for the sherpas its an income that they have the choice in doing or not? I believe that they are much better suited to the climate and altitude, so they have a better chance of survival than others. From what I have read the Sherpas will often go ahead and leave oxygen for their groups, which is a problem if someone else steals it.

As for the leaving a man behind thing, I don't think its a choice for a lot of people. They are flat out making it themselves and don't have anything in reserve to help anyone else. I think on these sort of climbs you must accept that no one that you aren't paying is going to help you. if you were the one that was struggling to walk and there was a guy behind you that knew the same risks, would you help them? People that would, wouldn't go on this climb normally.

I held a similar view in regards to the sherpas until I watched a 60 minute doco, this sparked my interest a bit so I did a fair bit of further research on it and yeah they get shafted hard...

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Razzonater said..
I held a similar view in regards to the sherpas until I watched a 60 minute doco, this sparked my interest a bit so I did a fair bit of further research on it and yeah they get shafted hard...

I think I might have seen something similar, but I can't sit through this doco right now.

What was it that makes them do it, other than the need to get money? I know its not an easy job and they often risk death for someone elses stupid decision, but they do have a choice.

It seems a bit weird. Imagine sitting there telling your mates how great you were climbing Everest, with a tour, and then mentioning that there were oxygen cylinders already there for you near the summit, and how you didn't have to carry much, and didn't have to setup your own camp...

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FormulaNova said..

...
What was it that makes them do it, other than the need to get money? I know its not an easy job and they often risk death for someone elses stupid decision, but they do have a choice.

...

What choice is that? How else are they going to make a living in an impoverished country?

There are some seriously naive and ill-informed statements in here and as usual Loggie is right up there with the front runners.

You need to train hard for a year and spent 40 days on the mountain acclimatizing before you attempt to climb it.

About 800 people per year attempt Everest and about 9 die.

People attempt it for the same reason you'd run an ultra marathon or solo-sail around the world - its just harder and more dangerous.

Only an insipid envious low achiever would scoff at people who push themselves to their limits in whatever their goals were.

Some pretty naive comments about the Sherpas in here too btw.....

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Main said..
There are some seriously naive and ill-informed statements in here and as usual Loggie is right up there with the front runners.

You need to train hard for a year and spent 40 days on the mountain acclimatizing before you attempt to climb it.

About 800 people per year attempt Everest and about 9 die.

People attempt it for the same reason you'd run an ultra marathon or solo-sail around the world - its just harder and more dangerous.

Only an insipid envious low achiever would scoff at people who push themselves to their limits in whatever their goals were.

Some pretty naive comments about the Sherpas in here too btw.....

So, enlighten us! Its no use saying that the comments are naive without correcting that.

Its easy to sit back and say people are wrong, but its always good to find out why.

Looks easy

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Black face?

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FormulaNova said..

Main said..
There are some seriously naive and ill-informed statements in here and as usual Loggie is right up there with the front runners.

You need to train hard for a year and spent 40 days on the mountain acclimatizing before you attempt to climb it.

About 800 people per year attempt Everest and about 9 die.

People attempt it for the same reason you'd run an ultra marathon or solo-sail around the world - its just harder and more dangerous.

Only an insipid envious low achiever would scoff at people who push themselves to their limits in whatever their goals were.

Some pretty naive comments about the Sherpas in here too btw.....

So, enlighten us! Its no use saying that the comments are naive without correcting that.

Its easy to sit back and say people are wrong, but its always good to find out why.

Above 7000mts you die, humans are not made to survive in that environment, even with oxygen, so the physical and mental effort to climb up and back is massive, more than I understand as I have never attempted anything remotely close to that.

I am sure for everyone who has tried, it was a big deal, and those that have done it more than once I bet it was a big deal each time.

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cammd said..
Above 7000mts you die, humans are not made to survive in that environment, even with oxygen, so the physical and mental effort to climb up and back is massive, more than I understand as I have never attempted anything remotely close to that.

I am sure for everyone who has tried, it was a big deal, and those that have done it more than once I bet it was a big deal each time.

I can accept that. I climbed (walked) up this mountain (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volc%C3%A1n_Bar%C3%BA ) and it is only 3475m. I was reasonably fit at the time, but in the last hour or so I had to stop a lot as I just couldn't catch my breath. No doubt you do adjust to it, as there was a guy there from a high altitude place in the US and he had no problems, and a few weeks later I was staying in a city at 2300m and it was no problem. That was at a much lower altitude than Everest.

I imagine that the physical toll to climb Everest is big, as my work colleague found out when he almost died.

I just wonder 'why'. It seems very much like an assisted climb, but still with a high chance of death.

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log man said..

japie said..

log man said..
Isn't it just a symptom of a mind that is obsessed with ego.

The ego is a product of the mind.

Climbing Everest and not telling anyone about it?

it seems to be a very old fashioned idea. the idea that you've "conqueured" some part of the natural world, seems to belong in a time where we saw nature as a force to beat rather than a force to be at one with or understand.

Old fashioned idea what bloody alternative dimension are you living in down there in Fitzroy? It was only summited in 1953!
Of course people ar gonna have a crack that's what people do have a bloody crack at something.

As stayed earlier it's a rich mans corporate game......the below doesn't include flights/food/transit costs/personal equipment/insurance/ etc etc etc............
A lot of places it's actually 70 k just to get a look in, add to this the additional time to aclimatise and associated costs


The typical cost when climbing the Everest with a Western agency is $45,000 and above. With a local Nepali operator it can be between $25,000and $40,000." The cost includes the royalty fee of $11,000 for the peak. Most agencies conduct sherpa-supported climbs

While a Western guide can make about $50,000 per season, Sherpas earn about $2,000 to $5,000 per season, with bonuses if they reach the summit. That's far more than the $48 average monthly salary in Nepal, but the job is also tremendously dangerous.