• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join freeLog in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The dead on Mt. Everest

Check out this video:

http://gizmodo.com/5912394/theres-a-ridiculous-traffic-jam-of-people-trying-to-climb-mount-everest

This thing looks like a queue to the space mountain! No wonder people die doing that, i don't see how you can keep so many people safe at the same time.

Not that i ever wanted to climb it, but knowing it is such a "touristic" thing really kills it for me.
The Hillary times are fare gone.

That's crazy! I thought part of the Thrill was getting away from it all.... the whole escape thing.... going back to nature?

Climb all the way up there risk life to stand in line?

WoW....if i want to do that I will go Christmas shopping at the mall...least I have a sweater on and hot cofee while I wait :rollno:
 
Thats why I go camping.

+1 to that.

I reached the point a long time ago where trying anything that might kill me has no allure. Some people are wired differently, and I get that. It's still stupid, IMO, to climb the tallest mountain on Earth just to say you did it. Um, I'd rather live, or at the very least, keep all of my extremities including my nose.

BTW, I have been bungie jumping (above an inflatable pad) and am a certified scuba diver. :D
 
+1 to that.

I reached the point a long time ago where trying anything that might kill me has no allure. Some people are wired differently, and I get that. It's still stupid, IMO, to climb the tallest mountain on Earth just to say you did it. Um, I'd rather live, or at the very least, keep all of my extremities including my nose.

BTW, I have been bungie jumping (above an inflatable pad) and am a certified scuba diver. :D

It's all a question of point of view...

IMO it is a lot stupider to jump from a height with a big rubber band around your feet, than to point at a mountain top and go "i am going to go there, just to see if i can!"

Although i am no mountaineer i have had the urge to climb high things just to see if i was capable of doing it, and completely see the point in doing so.
Jumping from a perfectly working plane or from a bridge on the other hand...
 
According to Wiki (I know), the fatality rate has decreased to 1.4% since 2000. Still, that's 54 fatalities since 2000 (there have been almost 4000 ascents since then).

Yeah, I've never had the desire to try this sort of thing--or bungee jumping!
 
Another book for mountain climbing enthusiats: All 14 Eight-Thousanders by Rheinhold Messner. Messner's arguably the climber's climber of big hills having secured the summits of the world's 8000+ meter peaks without supplemental oxygen

There's a bit in the book where Messner's climb on Everest is disputed because of the speed he & his partner summit & return so, Messner returns to Everest in winter & summits it solo taking a different route.

Helps when you're born & raised at about 15-20k feet.
 
Personally, I think it'd be amazing to climb Everest. The whole experience of being up there, above the clouds and see the surrounding must be amazing.
I totally get that part. But from what I've read, it's a 40-60 day expedition and folks generally get 30 minutes or less at the summit before they have to turn around and get out of the death zone/get to camp before darkness.
 

Latest posts