You are not very special
.
Don’t forget to purchase the "I did it’ t-shirt when you reach the summit.
Guy dies while waiting in line 2 hrs to descend.
Do you think they each get a minute for photo ops that make it look like no one else is on the mountain before they get moved over for the next person?
Looks like the start of the run at Ironman Texas…
On a positive Everest note, this happened this week too up there:
I love those guys, the selfless guides that make all of this possible for the masses. The real studs of that mountain…
An old highschool friend of mine just reached the summit yesterday, becoming the 27th Canadian on record to do the 7 summits.
He is still descending, but, from what I gathered from his updates, it took them 8 hours to do the final ascent due to traffic, and by the time they got back to camp 3 (I think) they had been climbing for something like 22 hours. They said they had a brief weather window, took it, and it closed pretty fast and hard on a lot of people trying to make that last push.
The guy is a stud athlete (I believe around 1:10 HM), incredibly driven, and decided to do the 7 summits around 8 years ago during a deployment to Afghanistan. On his first leave, him and a buddy climbed kilimanjero on a whim and were hooked.
From what I’ve read of his climb, while not technically hard, Everest is no cake walk, and there is a decent chance you could die.
They’re still pretty special in my book (well, most of them).
An old highschool friend of mine just reached the summit yesterday, becoming the 27th Canadian on record to do the 7 summits.
He is still descending, but, from what I gathered from his updates, it took them 8 hours to do the final ascent due to traffic, and by the time they got back to camp 3 (I think) they had been climbing for something like 22 hours. They said they had a brief weather window, took it, and it closed pretty fast and hard on a lot of people trying to make that last push.
The guy is a stud athlete (I believe around 1:10 HM), incredibly driven, and decided to do the 7 summits around 8 years ago during a deployment to Afghanistan. On his first leave, him and a buddy climbed kilimanjero on a whim and were hooked.
From what I’ve read of his climb, while not technically hard, Everest is no cake walk, and there is a decent chance you could die.
They’re still pretty special in my book (well, most of them).
Have you read into thin air or the climb? Very interesting look into Everest and the tourism industry surrounding it (although dated now).
Have you read into thin air or the climb? Very interesting look into Everest and the tourism industry surrounding it (although dated now).
Two books, and both authors were present on the mountain during a tragedy.
Into Thin Air is interesting, but poorly researched and reasoned like most of the author’s books. He is big on hyperbole and short on reason and research.
The Climb was written as a refutation to the speculative accusations made in Into Thin Air. I think history shows that Boukreev was the better climber, and the better man. Shame about his early demise.
Both books are worth reading. Looking at the photo in the OP shows that people apparently haven’t learned the lessons from what happened back then.
Both books are worth reading. Looking at the photo in the OP shows that people apparently haven’t learned the lessons from what happened back then.
Do they ever when money is involved?
**An old highschool friend of mine just reached the summit yesterday, becoming the 27th Canadian on record to do the 7 summits. **
I only hiked to the base camp and will say climbing Everest is an incredible achievement. The people who dismiss it either haven’t tried anything remotely close or just have no idea.
It seems that the 7 summits attempt is the new Everest as there seem to be more and more doing it. Very impressive to do that.
**An old highschool friend of mine just reached the summit yesterday, becoming the 27th Canadian on record to do the 7 summits. **
I only hiked to the base camp and will say climbing Everest is an incredible achievement. The people who dismiss it either haven’t tried anything remotely close or just have no idea.
It seems that the 7 summits attempt is the new Everest as there seem to be more and more doing it. Very impressive to do that.
It is a huge undertaking. My friend did it in around 10 years. He had to save up a lot for Vinson Massif in Antarctica and Everest.
It’s why I like to list the books together as recommended reading. I think helps create a deeper understanding of what happened on the mountain that season.
It’s fascinating to see how two people can experience the same basic event and have two different experiences. At least, it is to me.
I was being a bit flippant. With my rapidly decreasing VO2 max I don’t think I could do it for sure.
From what I’ve read of his climb, while not technically hard, Everest is no cake walk, and there is a decent chance you could die.
Especially when you’re waiting around for hours above 8000 meters. The margin is already slim and most people are in trouble if their oxygen supply gets too low. The bottleneck puts climbers at more risk of bad weather and possibly descending in the dark.
** The reason Everest gets those big queues is because there’s a very small window in May each year when the weather allows summit attempts. **
Yeah, I think it’s like 350ish people, plus support crews, trying to summit during a roughly two week period.
My friend posted pictures of various camps along the way and it looked quite busy.
One day, I would love to do the hike just to base camp. I hear that in itself is a long, challenging trip.
I agree. I read Into Thin Air when it first came out and a few years later when I first started lurking on ST there was a good debate about it and several people recommended reading The Climb (first of many good book recommendations that I have picked up over the years here). Excellent companion piece that gives both sides of the story.
From what I’ve read of his climb, while not technically hard, Everest is no cake walk, and there is a decent chance you could die.
Especially when you’re waiting around for hours above 8000 meters. The margin is already slim and most people are in trouble if their oxygen supply gets too low. The bottleneck puts climbers at more risk of bad weather and possibly descending in the dark.
** The reason Everest gets those big queues is because there’s a very small window in May each year when the weather allows summit attempts. **
Yeah, I think it’s like 350ish people, plus support crews, trying to summit during a roughly two week period.
My friend posted pictures of various camps along the way and it looked quite busy.
One day, I would love to do the hike just to base camp. I hear that in itself is a long, challenging trip.
My friend just tried to do the trip to base camp. He’s in great shape, but the altitude got to him. Even with drugs and going down for a couple days before trying to go back up, his body wouldn’t let him do it.
Have you read into thin air or the climb? Very interesting look into Everest and the tourism industry surrounding it (although dated now).
Two books, and both authors were present on the mountain during a tragedy.
Into Thin Air is interesting, but poorly researched and reasoned like most of the author’s books. He is big on hyperbole and short on reason and research.
The Climb was written as a refutation to the speculative accusations made in Into Thin Air. I think history shows that Boukreev was the better climber, and the better man. Shame about his early demise.
I disagree on Into Thin Air. Calling a first hand account of a tragedy “poorly researched” is a weird take…he was there and actively involved. There were a couple of factual inaccuracies in early editions, one tragic, but they were caused by the author’s own debilitated state at the time and if you buy the book now there are long introductory sections detailing how they came about and the consequences for the author and the families of the people involved. If anything they enhanced the story for me because they brought home viscerally how f**cked up you can get being up there for an extended period.
Krakauer is a fantastic author IMO. Where Men Win Glory (despite the bombastic title) is a heartbreaking biography and as good a succinct history of the start of Afghanistan War I’ve read. Under the Banner of Heaven is a brutal read but you can’t possibly get through that and doubt his commitment to research.
I do love the Climb. You’re “better man” quote really implies to me you have some animus toward Krakauer but Boukreev does come across very well.
Latest news is that 7 have died this week - 1 from a fall and the rest due to exhaustion on the descent – the back ups are up to 12 hours…
My friend just tried to do the trip to base camp. He’s in great shape, but the altitude got to him. Even with drugs and going down for a couple days before trying to go back up, his body wouldn’t let him do it.
I did the hike to Base Camp a few years ago and it was tough. I was there in October and the nights were very cold, the hike steadily up and the air kept getting thinner. On my last night I woke up suddenly twice gasping for air. I did the hike on my own and was sleeping in pitch darkness in temperatures below zero and I was in a lodge. I also got altitude sickness after making it to the base and walking down was very hard. I would have had to turn around if I had to go further or at a minimum go down a bit and acclimate.
I am planning to go again to do the 3-Peaks hike with a circular route that includes the base camp and has 3 peaks over 5,000 m. I absolutely loved the hike and after doing said there would be no way I ever climbed Everest. They start their hike where I finished.