Climbing Everest

[Street]

Either way it's boring as sin, especially on the way down when you wish you could just ski down it in about 15 minutes.

This is when I wish I could ski, then I could get into ski mountaineering and save a lot of time on the way back!

 

[Rifte]

what do you estimate gear costs as -
Double boots, 4 season bag+mat, goretex or equivalent w'proofs, rucsac, clothing, probably harness/crampons/axe not needed, £1.5K-2K ? (luxury - satellite phone £600?)

Insurance costs too - what do they run at ?

The first time I did the base camp at Everest I rented most of my stuff because I wasnt sure if it was something that I could do or would enjoy.

Second time I purchased most of it, total cost was about 2k. Some of the guys I went with had spent a lot more, some as much as 5k. If you go up further you need to start to think of oxygen support etc, I didn't need any of that.

Best advise I had (I please bear in mind I am not a serious climber, I am just someone who enjoys the sport, and does as much as he can and his wife allows!), is dont cheap out on your backpack. The first time I rented, it wasnt necessarily comfortable, and when I bought my own I really felt the difference in quality. It was so much easier to carry.

In respect of a satellite phone? Maybe its something that you would consider if you went up higher, but some of the teams at base camp were happy to let me use theirs for a few mins to speak to the missus and let her know I was ok.

 

[Glaucus]

What do you do if you need to poo during the climb?

Into a bag and carry it down. Or for pee into a bottle and pour out on mountain. Seems most do it in their tent due to how cold it is.

Generally in the wilderness you dig a hole at least 6" deep for solids and back fill it. Or just pee. 100m from water sources and trail/camp

 

[Metalface Mark]

Nothing in that link disproves anything.

As i said, most people will acclimatize to 5000m quite readily given time, heck plenty of people in the world are born and live near that altitude. You then have more or less unlimited access to oxygen depending on the packages you are paying for (and if you are not paying for a full guided service with 1:1 your chances of submitting are remote). Sounds like he got very sick and dehydrated which made him suffer which is not uncommon. Everest isn't technically hard, that is just a basic fact. The issue surround altitude and how busy it is.

Relatively few people are born and live at that altitude - theres no permanent residents at Gorak Shep which is just over 5000m in Nepal and the last stop before base camp - even the guys that run the shops at Dingboche which is around 4400m are just there for the seasons then they mostly go back down and live around Lukla. Dont disagree that Everest is not technically difficult, but it is physically difficult and even having 2 litres of oxygen it just reduces it down by a couple of thousand metres, so its still a huge physical effort to reach the top.

 

[Vertigo]

As joking as this is, I do wonder if such a set up would make the gym more bareable.

Hang on, you're asking if making the gym seem more like climbing Everest would make it more bearable?

 

[jpaul]

you can get an altitude simulation mask for the gym; although they may simulate oxygen deficit for physical effort, will they simulate deficit on brain though ?
albeit not really making life or death decisions at the gym like transferring a clip in from one fixed rope to the next say, or important foot placement.
Renting a hyperbaric chamber in the run up maybe a good tactic too (maybe Mo's put his on gumtree)

Oxygen cylinders are lighter than I thought

The oxygen cylinders are made of a thin steel liner with a carbon fibre outer. Each cylinder weighs 2.05 kg when empty and will be about 4 kg when full of oxygen.

 

[Clarkson]

At killy tourists are also dragged up way too quickly though. When people spend a week between 2-4000m getting acclimatized they have no issues going to the summit. But the cheap package trips try and send you up very quickly. The more expensive custom trips have you hiking in the highlands for a few days, go up high, come back down low to sleep and recover and then make a summit push. much more enjoyable.

You also just have to get used to the fact that at altitude there is less oxygen and you have to move slower. Fitness and acclimatization doesn't change this. If you are fitter then you will slow down at the same rate, but your base rate of ascent would be higher to begin with.

Yes...I have been up Kili via the Western Breach, with ascents of Mt Meru and Little Meru beforehand for acclimatisation purposes. I didn't have 'issues' going to the summit, and the only time I felt a bit sick was actually after the first time to ~3800 metres on Little Meru.

I just think its ridiculous to palm Everest off as not very hard (in physical terms not technical terms) when at nearly 3000m less, Kili still proved how debilitating a lack of oxygen is. It is of course advised not to move too quickly, all the way up even, but when near the top it was physically difficult to move much quicker in any case. I imagine it would be similar for any other average joe. Hence, adding another 3000m on top and even less oxygen (even with supplementary tanks), I cannot conceive how it is easy/not too bad/not that hard or any other arrangement of words, except for the rare breed of seemingly physically superior individuals when it comes to altitude.

 

[Rroff]

Altitude sickness type stuff can be a strange one - sometimes can hit you out the blue even when acclimatised, etc.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Altitude sickness type stuff can be a strange one - sometimes can hit you out the blue even when acclimatised, etc.

Made even worse by sudden atmospheric lows.