Other Resources My Cup of Joe » 4 Dead on Mt. Everest Rss Feed  
Moderators: k9car363, the bear, DerekL, alicefoeller Reply
 
 
of 2
 
 
2012-05-25 11:46 PM
in reply to: #4222893

User image

Elite
6387
50001000100100100252525
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest

So this was on ABC tonight. National Geographic has some climbers on the mountain and sent pics. There was literally a line of a couple hundred people waiting to go up. I'm sorry, I don't get it.

I mean sure, highest peak in the world and all.... But plan for a couple years, to pay a huge sum of money to go on an expedition to summit Everest, and you wait in line on a crowded mountain for days and walk through a trash dump while you do it. Just does not seem right.

And again some presumably highly qualified climber was complaining that half the people up there have no business being there... well apparently they do, they are there. You can buy a lot of bragging rights in all kinds of endeavors and Everest is no different. If you have the money to pay a bunch of people to haul you and your gear up, you are qualified to be there.

I really think they need a lottery system with high fees to pay Sherpas to clean up all their gear when they leave. If you have the money to buy a summit, you have the money to clean up your trip.



2012-05-26 2:02 AM
in reply to: #4222893

User image

Pro
6838
5000100050010010010025
Tejas
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest

They don't even remove the bodies of fallen climbers for the most part, never mind the trash. I think there are around 150 climbers still on the mountain. The odds are around 1 in 15 that you don't make it back alive. Even worse odds that you're going to lose something to frostbite. I guess it makes a great story telling folks where you got the limp from. At 70K a pop... I'll pass.

Not to take away from those that make the climb, it is truly an epic endeavor. That's a pretty small group of people alive today, that have climbed it and come back alive.



Edited by mdg2003 2012-05-26 2:11 AM
2012-05-26 7:41 AM
in reply to: #4230116

User image

Payson, AZ
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
powerman - 2012-05-25 9:46 PM

I really think they need a lottery system with high fees to pay Sherpas to clean up all their gear when they leave. If you have the money to buy a summit, you have the money to clean up your trip.

I don't know that a lottery system is what they need but they do need limits, and IMO a qualifying resume.  You have to prove you can climb it by past experience within a certain time frame of the Everest attempt.  It is not a guarantee you'll make it but more of a guarantee your not just buying your way to the top.  Not sure if they have restrictions or not.  Any popular mountain with a single threaded entry point will get lines.  I use to climb Mt Hood a lot and it was the running joke that I was going to go climbing with me and 200 of my closest friends.  You could sit at the ski resort and see the line of folks waiting to summit on a nice weekend day.  You get one out of shape, unskilled person and you get trouble.  Only takes one who is too stubborn to call it a day to create a line and cause folks to be up there too late and into avalanche risks or increased ice fall.  There was a major incident on the mountain where one person slipped and took out a few other groups.  Mt. Rainer has limits on how many folks can climb a particular route and they have less areas where you get into a single thread like that.  And in the winter you do have to validate that you are experienced enough to climb. 

By the way, there are groups working on cleaning up the mountain.  It is a big challenge but hopefully more people get inspired by them and do their part

2012-05-26 9:49 AM
in reply to: #4230233

User image

Elite
6387
50001000100100100252525
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
bzgl40 - 2012-05-26 6:41 AM
powerman - 2012-05-25 9:46 PM

I really think they need a lottery system with high fees to pay Sherpas to clean up all their gear when they leave. If you have the money to buy a summit, you have the money to clean up your trip.

I don't know that a lottery system is what they need but they do need limits, and IMO a qualifying resume.  You have to prove you can climb it by past experience within a certain time frame of the Everest attempt.  It is not a guarantee you'll make it but more of a guarantee your not just buying your way to the top.  Not sure if they have restrictions or not.  Any popular mountain with a single threaded entry point will get lines.  I use to climb Mt Hood a lot and it was the running joke that I was going to go climbing with me and 200 of my closest friends.  You could sit at the ski resort and see the line of folks waiting to summit on a nice weekend day.  You get one out of shape, unskilled person and you get trouble.  Only takes one who is too stubborn to call it a day to create a line and cause folks to be up there too late and into avalanche risks or increased ice fall.  There was a major incident on the mountain where one person slipped and took out a few other groups.  Mt. Rainer has limits on how many folks can climb a particular route and they have less areas where you get into a single thread like that.  And in the winter you do have to validate that you are experienced enough to climb. 

By the way, there are groups working on cleaning up the mountain.  It is a big challenge but hopefully more people get inspired by them and do their part

I knew there were efforts to clean it up, but ya... big job. Bummer about Hood, but that makes more sense once you explain it.

Pike's Peak is really popular, and an easy 14er to bag. So in the Summer it is always crowded... sort of, but it is n problem to get around. Lots of tourists here and they ride the Cog railway to the top then walk down Barr trail. They look like they just came from a Eddie Bauer store and maybe they have water. It's an easy trail which is why so many do it. Really just a walk... but it goes back o that whole thing... why is is worth it for bragging rights if you need so much help to do it?

Usually when I hear of climbers on Everest, they have a lot of experience. Maybe not life long, but they have been training. Same subject that comes up here... minimal training, getting off the couch, bucket list or true passion... to each his own. I suppose if one has the means to train and pay for a summit then good for you, but I just don't see the point.

2012-05-26 9:58 AM
in reply to: #4230152

User image

Elite
6387
50001000100100100252525
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
mdg2003 - 2012-05-26 1:02 AM

They don't even remove the bodies of fallen climbers for the most part, never mind the trash. I think there are around 150 climbers still on the mountain. The odds are around 1 in 15 that you don't make it back alive. Even worse odds that you're going to lose something to frostbite. I guess it makes a great story telling folks where you got the limp from. At 70K a pop... I'll pass.

Not to take away from those that make the climb, it is truly an epic endeavor. That's a pretty small group of people alive today, that have climbed it and come back alive.

Usually when someone dies, it is not a good day and bringing the body is not the highest priority for the others at the time. It was my understanding that most of the bodies left on the mountain are lost, snowed over, or missing. With all the snow melt, that would be really freaky to think they just walk by dead bodies on the trail. Sad too that nobody cares... they did showcase one climber that abandoned his summit attempt to help another down that was in bad shape. He was med evac'ed off the mountain. That is a act of selflessness as big as a Everest summit. Maybe there was no point in the attempt, but still...

And that's a fact. Same as IM... if you finish, you are an Iron Man. And even if you paid someone to carry you up on their back, you summited Everest. It is a trip. Not the climb, but the oxygen deprivation. Must be a trip... I'm a purist in most things... if you use oxygen, you cheated.I mean it makes it no different than any other 20K climb. Not a lot of folks can claim a Everest summit unaided. That is truly incredible.



Edited by powerman 2012-05-26 10:00 AM
2012-05-26 11:22 AM
in reply to: #4222893

User image

Pro
6838
5000100050010010010025
Tejas
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
Bringing them down is difficult and dangerous. Here's a pretty informative article;http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/24/f-everest-bodies-faq.html .


2012-05-26 1:31 PM
in reply to: #4230398

User image

Elite
6387
50001000100100100252525
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest

mdg2003 - 2012-05-26 10:22 AM Bringing them down is difficult and dangerous. Here's a pretty informative article;http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/24/f-everest-bodies-faq.html .

Thanks for sharing that. I'm exhausted just reading it. Wow.... Ya much harder than it sounds. I live at 6000ft and it always surprises me when I get to 14K that there is no air. It takes me a while to realize why it is so hard to do things. Ya, trying to recover a body with all my gear, and it's, at 20-25K sounds darn near impossible. What a trip.

2012-05-26 1:34 PM
in reply to: #4230505

User image

Payson, AZ
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
powerman - 2012-05-26 11:31 AM

mdg2003 - 2012-05-26 10:22 AM Bringing them down is difficult and dangerous. Here's a pretty informative article;http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/24/f-everest-bodies-faq.html .

Thanks for sharing that. I'm exhausted just reading it. Wow.... Ya much harder than it sounds. I live at 6000ft and it always surprises me when I get to 14K that there is no air. It takes me a while to realize why it is so hard to do things. Ya, trying to recover a body with all my gear, and it's, at 20-25K sounds darn near impossible. What a trip.

I always told my buddy that if he died on the mountain I was just going to mark the location with the GPS and let his wife decided what to do. lol  Of course kidding, we had a no death rule.

2012-05-26 1:47 PM
in reply to: #4230507

User image

Elite
6387
50001000100100100252525
Subject: RE: 4 Dead on Mt. Everest
bzgl40 - 2012-05-26 12:34 PM
powerman - 2012-05-26 11:31 AM

mdg2003 - 2012-05-26 10:22 AM Bringing them down is difficult and dangerous. Here's a pretty informative article;http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/05/24/f-everest-bodies-faq.html .

Thanks for sharing that. I'm exhausted just reading it. Wow.... Ya much harder than it sounds. I live at 6000ft and it always surprises me when I get to 14K that there is no air. It takes me a while to realize why it is so hard to do things. Ya, trying to recover a body with all my gear, and it's, at 20-25K sounds darn near impossible. What a trip.

I always told my buddy that if he died on the mountain I was just going to mark the location with the GPS and let his wife decided what to do. lol  Of course kidding, we had a no death rule.

That's a good rule. Can I go climbing with you.

New Thread
Other Resources My Cup of Joe » 4 Dead on Mt. Everest Rss Feed  
 
 
of 2