Last minutes on Everest

[Benny Profane]

http://www.nytimes.com/video/world/a...n-everest.html

[stfu&gbtw]

That was really interesting. Thanks for posting it.

[that dude who did that thing]

Yeah, I saw that this morning, also, and thought it was interesting and well done.

On a related note, I'm liking more and more of what the NYT is doing with their website. They really seem to be trying to explore what multimedia reporting can look like, and trying to come up with stuff that neither traditional papers, nor traditional broadcast media are capable of doing.

[Grape_Ape]

Those two from South Africa and Holland - fucked up priorities. I know you lost tens of thousands of dollars...but what is the price of human life?

Climb the mountain without using pseudo-slave labor to help you. Or just don't climb the mountain. It's a shit show there anyway. I have no inclination to climb Mt. Everest. I can find similar pain and enjoyment from climbing other mountains without relying on others to carry my shit. It's all about EGO.

[Missing Sock]

Those two from South Africa and Holland - fucked up priorities. I know you lost tens of thousands of dollars...but what is the price of human life?

Climb the mountain without using pseudo-slave labor to help you. Or just don't climb the mountain. It's a shit show there anyway. I have no inclination to climb Mt. Everest. I can find similar pain and enjoyment from climbing other mountains without relying on others to carry my shit. It's all about EGO.

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

[Grape_Ape]

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

So it's "tough" to put human life before money? Got it.

[Benny Profane]

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

I think all you have to do is read Into Thin Air and check out the part about that Pittman woman being dragged up the hill. It's over 15 years since, and things are much worse, it seems.

[that dude who did that thing]

Those two from South Africa and Holland - fucked up priorities. I know you lost tens of thousands of dollars...but what is the price of human life?

Climb the mountain without using pseudo-slave labor to help you. Or just don't climb the mountain. It's a shit show there anyway. I have no inclination to climb Mt. Everest. I can find similar pain and enjoyment from climbing other mountains without relying on others to carry my shit. It's all about EGO.

This is dead on. If you can't make the climb on your own, then you are RELYING on others. If those others choose not to help you, then tough shit. You don't have any right to get to the top of that mountain with someone else's help.

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Shut the fuck up, sock. Grape Ape wasn't complaining about "posers, too commerical etc. etc. etc." He was pointing out the human cost, and how human life vastly outweighs the few thousands that some asshat from the developed world has spent thinking he could buy his way to the top of a mountain.

YOU are the one that was waiting for a stereotype and an opportunity to be a dick about it.


I was pretty offended by the S. African climber's complaint that the Sherpas were "using" the "incident" to get better wages and support. He acts as if this should be something other than a job for the Sherpas. Tell you what, asshat, the Sherpas can climb Everest without you, but you apparently can't climb it without them. If you could, you'd be out there doing it right now rather than sitting in a Kathmandu teahouse bitching because people who just lost 15 co-workers, colleagues, friends and family members think it's time to re-evaluate the job, and maybe will decide that they will only guide the easier peaks.

At least the only American climber in the video was reasonable and concerned for human life. I was pleased to see that because I know how many assholes there are in the US climbing community, and how much money is at stake for some of them. Personally, I hope the Sherpas are able to successfully collect a bigger share of the fees than the developed world guides do. U.S. guides are basically finders, they find the client, they organize the trip, but it's the Sherpas who actually guide the clients to the summit. A finder's fee in most industries is 10%-25%, the folks actually doing the work get the bulk of the fee.

[Benny Profane]

Well, he was rich, white, and South African. Old notions die hard.

[DasBlunt]

people generally suck.

Everest shitshow is a perfect example of people showing their suck to the EXTREME.

SHerpas need a way better deal and should formally unionize so the young/new ones coming into the game have direction and rules.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

The best climbers in the world hire porters to lug gear to base camp. This is a logistical necessity. What I don't understand is the appeal of climbing when it is stripped of a need for self sufficiency. Reaching the top of an 8000m peak is no doubt terribly difficult for even for a climber who is essentially a piece of baggage. But is a healthy ego proud of such an accomplishment? Is this not the realm of those who cling to the idea that they can purchase accomplishments? Does clomping up a via ferrata to the clouds make you a badass, even if that via ferrata is dangerous as fuck?

[stfu&gbtw]

As disgusting as it is to see somebody run the "I know your fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, etc. just died... But I paid $100K, so one of you darkies, put on your big girl panties and take me up the mountain" routine, its absolutely par for the course on Everest. This is where dozens of people will trudge by a dying climber, because they paid to summit Everest, not save someone's life. It's the "ultimate challenge" don'tcha know.. No reason to draw the line here. But it's the most telling aspect of that personality, that those people will still take pride in climbing Everest, even as more and more people know what that really means.

[toast2266]

As disgusting as it is to see somebody run the "I know your fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, etc. just died... But I paid $100K, so one of you darkies, put on your big girl panties and take me up the mountain" routine, its absolutely par for the course on Everest.

It's par for the course in a lot of industries. Not really any different than saying "I know your fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, etc. just died in that building collapse, but I want my Air Jordans, so get back to work."

The Sherpas are just in a better position because they're in an industry that is more visible in 1st world media. And more power to them using that visibility to their advantage.

[Rodneyyee]

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

A tough guy? More like somebody who values the lives of the real adventurers on that tourist trap of a Mtn. You would be the douche.
The guy from California summed it up best. Here's to more people like him in the mountains.

[philth]

I wondered how long it would take to get to a tough guy, Everest is for posers, too commercial etc etc etc. Thought we would at least get to post 5. Apparently I underestimated the douchebaggery of some posters.

Thanks for the video

Beat it cockknocker.

[hutash]

Fuck those unions. The next thing you know they are going to want to get rid of child labor, and make the work place safe. How can we make an obscene profit with all that regulation?

[TBS]

As disgusting as it is to see somebody run the "I know your fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, etc. just died... But I paid $100K, so one of you darkies, put on your big girl panties and take me up the mountain" routine, its absolutely par for the course on Everest. This is where dozens of people will trudge by a dying climber, because they paid to summit Everest, not save someone's life. It's the "ultimate challenge" don'tcha know.. No reason to draw the line here. But it's the most telling aspect of that personality, that those people will still take pride in climbing Everest, even as more and more people know what that really means.

You trying to beat das cunt in the idiot Olympics again? Summiters walk past a dying climber because at that place, there is nothing to be done, except maybe pump them full of opiates to make Death a little more friendly.

Back on point. Is their anything preventing the white Bwanas from summitting without the Sherpas? Other than all the hard physical labor involved to DIY...

[BigDaddy]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned The Summit, yet. This is an amazing film of 2008 K2 summit that went bad. Gives you an idea of what it might be like. It's one of the better films on Netflix now:

[stfu&gbtw]

You trying to beat das cunt in the idiot Olympics again? Summiters walk past a dying climber because at that place, there is nothing to be done, except maybe pump them full of opiates to make Death a little more friendly.

Back on point. Is their anything preventing the white Bwanas from summitting without the Sherpas? Other than all the hard physical labor involved to DIY...

That's certainly the preferred myth. There was a time when people didn't simply die of exhaustion on Everest while surrounded by dozens of people too preoccupied to help. People cared about the other people they climbed with - they weren't just other clients. I'm not aware of any other mountains where a conga line of tourists will trudge by a dying climber on their way to the summt. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but Everest is certainly at the forefront for self absorbed ego centric behavior. Therefore, I'm not surprised you buy into that story.

As fas as 'back on point'.... Not sure what the nepalese govt says about permits - doesn't seem like they give a shit what the sherpa think. Reinhold Messner would say those two guys in the video are pussies. Just climb alpine style with no tanks... Duh....

[that dude who did that thing]

You trying to beat das cunt in the idiot Olympics again? Summiters walk past a dying climber because at that place, there is nothing to be done, except maybe pump them full of opiates to make Death a little more friendly.

Actually, that's complete bullshit. Numerous people have been rescued from the top of Everest. It's hard, it's dangerous, and it is not for the weak, which is why such rescues have almost always involved lots of Sherpas. Beck Weathers was rescued from the S. Col when he had essentially no use of his upper body and was effectively blind. Just a few years ago, an American climber, with the help of Sherpas, rescued an Australian climber from the HIllary Step after the climber had been abandoned by his own party the night before. The guy had survived a bivouac at well over 8k meters. In 2012, there were multiple people left for dead, some of whom ended up being rescued by climbers with consciences. People who will pay $60k-100k to do somethign like summit EVerest, might also be people who would put their own desires ahead of basic humanity. Not al lof them, by any means, but the idea that "rescue is impossible" at 27k feet, is a convenient excuse for some.

Back on point. Is their anything preventing the white Bwanas from summitting without the Sherpas? Other than all the hard physical labor involved to DIY...

The skills and the labor, that's pretty much it. Lots of people have summited without Sherpa help, those people are called climbers and mountaineers. Others have done it in partnership with Sherpas, and I think those are also called climbers and mountaineers. Others can only do it if somebody else carries most of their gear and basically holds their hands up the mountain. I think it's time we started calling those folks "sports."

[Benny Profane]

Please tell us, in detail, how many people have been rescued " from the top of Everest". I call bullshit. The only way somebody is getting down from the death zone is under their own power, albeit with assistance from others guiding. Otherwise, they're dead. There is no way somebody can be carried. Lower camps, maybe, but not up there. It is a physical achievement just to walk up there and down. It would be suicide to stop and try to move a body.

[that dude who did that thing]

Please tell us, in detail, how many people have been rescued " from the top of Everest". I call bullshit. The only way somebody is getting down from the death zone is under their own power, albeit with assistance from others guiding. Otherwise, they're dead. There is no way somebody can be carried. Lower camps, maybe, but not up there. It is a physical achievement just to walk up there and down. It would be suicide to stop and try to move a body.

You really aren't very smart, sometimes. Where did I suggest that rescue didn't involve down climbing? People thought to be dead have wlaked off Everest because somebody was willing to help them do so. Google up Lincoln Hall. I couldn't remember the guy's name earlier, now I do.

Beck Weathers, I believe I already mentioned. Aydin Irmak was rescued just 300 meters from thje summit. William Calton.

I don't just write shit because i think it sounds good, if I make an assertion of fact you can be certain I have a factual basis for it.

Also, 1956, K2, a whole team rescued each other. They did lose the man who was most disabled and unable to walk, when an avalanche/rock/icefall took out his anchors and/or ropes, but the rest of them made it down alive, some of them nearly blind. And these are the tip of the iceberg. High altitude rescues are ridiculously difficult, but they happen far more frequently than armchair alipinists think. I think most people have watched some dumb movies that talk about "the death zone" in hushed, awed tones, and say "rescue is impossible." Other people actually read the publications from the American Alpine Club and are quite aware that rescues happen because other clijmbers put off their own summit dreams and instead save the life of a fellow climber.

[Benny Profane]

"They did lose the man who was most disabled and unable to walk"

Right. That's the point. If you can't walk, you're toast. So, if they see a body that isn't responding, sorry, self survival time. It's not called the death zone for nothing. You only have a limited time up there. Putting one foot in front of the other is an achievement, from what I understand. Carrying or dragging two hundred pounds? Not gonna happen.

[that dude who did that thing]

Okay, Benny, change my statment and it's wrong, I'll admit that. I said rescue was possible, and rescues at high altitude are indeed possible, they have been happening for at least the last 60 years. Tell yousrelf otherwise if the myth of "the death zone" gives you that little thrill in the pit of your stomach that armchair adventurers so love.

BTW, Beck Weathers was indeed "carried" down much of the mountain. But don't let the facts get in the way of your chosen mythology.

[spook]

but you do like to listen to yourself talk