Everest

[Guest2]

I think you should carry your own gear, taking what you need instead of the Sherpas carrying it as its sort of cheating in my eyes.
It's a mountain so it shouldn't cost almost 10k to climb it, if you want to attempt it then feel free but in the knowing you will probably die if you don't know what you are doing.

Just thought, can you rock up and attempt to climb it for free by yourself? i.e. Make your own way there, take your own food, tent, oxygen etc.

 

[Kenai]

Seems one of the Sherpas working this season has bumped that record to 24 summits.

Looking on the Everest records wiki page, 395 reached the summit on May 16th. That's crazy.

The youngest person to summit was 13!

 

[smallzz]

Although I would never be able to do it and it is an achievement in itself, the unpredictable (even moreso now?) weather and the fact you have to queue makes you wonder why anyone would attempt it given the cirumstances. My boss is an avid climber who is strongly against doing it. It seems to be becoming more of a fashion statement than anything else.

 

[jpaul]

Those two at the top look like they are having a picnic in the sun.

I thought you were being ironic .. re-posting below - read up on this interesting blog ... Hilary staircase etc
http://www.alanarnette.com/blog/201...season-summary-record-weather-record-summits/

...All of these teams had 100% success so maybe you can buy your way to the summit. Charging $110,000, Lukas Furtenbach of Furtenbach Adventures took only 21 days for his team of four “normal” members and one guide to summit Everest from the Tibet side. He believes the use of “pre-acclimatizing” at home with altitude tents is the key. They only made one rotation to the North Col before going to the summit. A high-powered team of mountain guides and pro skiers with Alpenglow using a similar program with Alpenglow summited the 8000-meter peak, Cho Oyu, then Everest in 23 days. Alpenglow charges $80,000 for Everest. Finally, not to be outdone the Nepali guide company Seven Summits Treks put all three of their VVIP members on the summit after they paid $130,000 each. That price included a mid-climb holiday in Kathmandu via their private helicopter.

but, with such historic information from previous years, yes - it's surprising people still see an asthetic, a self-realisation potential, in this highly commercialised trip,
remember fewer people have swum the channel.

 

[Angilion]

Apa Sherpa 22 ascents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apa_Sherpa

That's complete ascents to the summit. Sherpas do partial ascents much more often, including the most dangerous parts. Which part of the snow/ice is safest this year? A sherpa will have been up before to find that out, mark it, place ropes and ladders, etc.

This part, for example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khumbu_Icefall

A sherpa might do that hundreds of times.

I think you should carry your own gear, taking what you need instead of the Sherpas carrying it as its sort of cheating in my eyes.
It's a mountain so it shouldn't cost almost 10k to climb it, if you want to attempt it then feel free but in the knowing you will probably die if you don't know what you are doing.

Just thought, can you rock up and attempt to climb it for free by yourself? i.e. Make your own way there, take your own food, tent, oxygen etc.

No, you can't. Not legally, anyway.

 

["andy"]

The people saying it's not a big deal are forgetting that many of these people pay all this money and don't even manage to summit. Or lose digits. Or die.

it's obviously a big deal to them

 

[Street]

Incidentally, there's a definite correlation between the amount of money spent on climbing Everest and the death rate. The really expensive trips have never had a paying customer die. The people at most risk are the sherpas, since they plan, test and prepare the route and often climb it repeatedly. They don't get a big percentage of the fee, either.

I noticed that the other day. A lot of the deaths seem to be from Indian or Nepalese based expeditions. You never hear of a death from the likes of Jagged Globe or other Western providers.

Just thought, can you rock up and attempt to climb it for free by yourself? i.e. Make your own way there, take your own food, tent, oxygen etc.

You need a permit which is about £8k and they made it law that any foreign climber in Nepal has to hire a local a Sherpa which is another few £k minimum. There are also other fees and logistical costs which bump it up a lot before you've even started.

 

[Guest2]

Does someone actually 'own' the mountain then? If its not private land, how can someone just go charging people to climb it?
Wouldn't it be like the UK government saying, it costs £20 to enter the lake district area?

 

[Kenai]

Someone owns everywhere really, whether it's a private individual or a group, a state, a republic etc. etc.

I'm sure you'd soon find out exactly who if you arrived at base camp with an army and tried to declare it Guest2Land

 

[Street]

Does someone actually 'own' the mountain then? If its not private land, how can someone just go charging people to climb it?
Wouldn't it be like the UK government saying, it costs £20 to enter the lake district area?

They'll have officials at designated places checking permits, no permit and you carry on, they'll arrest you. They've had a similar thing in the alps around the Gouter hut for the last few years to restrict access to only people with hut bookings. The Gendarmes actively turn people around if they can't prove they have a booking and fine people that bivvy in certain areas. Technically as well a lot of the Lake District is owned by the National Trust although it is covered by the CRoW act.

 

[Yas786]

Nepal owns Everest, along with Tibet and China....

 

[Wez1984]

tell em go climb k2 instead

 

[Metalface Mark]

Climbing elbrus with the team that lost a climber the other day on the North Side, will be interesting to hear first hand what's gone on this year with the crowds.

 

[Martynt74]

I know it's not the most technical climb and it's generally regarded as more of an extreme "hike" than a climb but i think it's still a huge achievement to have made the summit.

Just like a marathon isn't overly difficult and anyone could do it, but it still feels good to pass that finish line and Everest i imagine is many multiples harder to do!

 

[dowie]

Just thought, can you rock up and attempt to climb it for free by yourself? i.e. Make your own way there, take your own food, tent, oxygen etc.

In theory, yes. You'd potentially get arrested/fined if caught though. How do you propose to get there though without transportation/guides/vehicles... just get a plane to Kathmandu or Lhasa and then track across one of the respective countries with your backpack before even getting vaguely close to the basecamp?

I mean I (or rather the group I was in) had a permit for basecamp and decided to go a bit further, we didn't get caught, obvs we weren't attempting to reach the summit though.

Does someone actually 'own' the mountain then? If its not private land, how can someone just go charging people to climb it?

Well Nepal and China(Tibet) own it.

Wouldn't it be like the UK government saying, it costs £20 to enter the lake district area?

Lots of the Lake District has public roads, rights of way and private land owned by the national trust etc...

 

[dowie]

Because climbers what to do it as a personal sense of achievement?

It is a tough challenge - It might not be up your street but for a climber it will be one of the ultimate aims. Nothing wrong with that for those who enjoy climbing.

I'm not sure it is really, ?I've done some climbing in the past, though my Dad is super keen and I don't think he's ever been interested in it.

There still exist unclimbed peaks in Central Asia for example, that sort of thing would (IMO) seem to be a nicer achievement than following a big trail of people along fixed lines put in by sherpas etc..

 

[Humpty]

I used to do a lot of rock climbing and Alpine mountaineering and was always rather dismissive of the Everest set and their desire to get to the summit via what is a relatively easy route in the technical sense. I now realise that my opinion was based entirely on my ignorance and bravado. Even with an expert team, modern equipment and massive finances a summit attempt on Everest is still an astonishing feat of physical and mental endurance and the ratio of fatalities to successful summit attempts is terrifying.
Seeing the photo that was linked from the OP makes my blood run cold.

For anyone who is interested, a book that gives a fascinating insight into the realities of an ascent of Everest is Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. A brutal, honest and utterly enthralling read.

There are much harder routes and many other more difficult and dangerous mountains but don't underestimate the achievement of anyone who has made it to the top of Everest.

 

[Martynt74]

For anyone who is interested, a book that gives a fascinating insight into the realities of an ascent of Everest is Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. A brutal, honest and utterly enthralling read.

Yeah, it's a great book. As mentioned above the film is based on the same events and also an excellent watch. I'd have loved to have seen it in the cinema.

 

[jpaul]

you can choose to embark on it with the knowledge of the risks associated with the mountain conditions and personal accident, but at the point where you now have this less predictable risk component of crowding , it becomes a catch 22 scenario, I would have to doubt someones sanity to embark on it...... your life in their hands.

Also, it's the comradeship of having surmounted a summit with a group of friends that's so rewarding, but I don't see how a commercial everest trip delivers that.
(I need to look up the male to female summit ratio , yes there are male/female individuals that like to 'test' themselves too Messener, Hargraves)

 

[Humpty]

Yeah, it's a great book. As mentioned above the film is based on the same events and also an excellent watch. I'd have loved to have seen it in the cinema.

Thanks for letting me know. I was aware of the film but hadn't realised that it was an adaptation of Krakauer's book. I'll see if I can get hold of a copy.