I have been reading a book about the hartford courant’s “Expedition” to climb Mt. Everest-what a story! Crroked, dishonest guides, sherpas stealing supplies, and other climbers destroying tents, gear, etc.-what has mountain climbing descended to?
The story also concerns a 69 year old Bolivian-American medical doctor, who was left to DIE by his Argentinian “guide”-horrible! What is apparent to me, is that any “gentlemanly” aspect of this activity is long gone-the late Edmund Hillary was horrified to see what has happened on the mountain. I can’t imagine human beings behaving this way-is mountain climbing attracting all kinds of psychopaths these days?
Oh, and the daughet of the man who dies - she went to Everest to find out what happened to her father-and the poor woman was told that her father died-he did not, he was begging for help-and at least 8 people walked right by him.
What I’ve read is that trying to help someone who is pretty far gone can get you killed as well, as you try to get a very sick and weak person, perhaps in a stretcher, down a very dangerous mountain. Still doesn’t excuse their callousness-I at least would give him a sip of the old spirits or a smoke or something.
I’ve heard, more than once, that stopping to “save” a troubled climber (above a certain altitude) is very much risking your life, too. Then you’d have two dead people.
What are you supposed to do? Carry him down?
IIRC, one in six people who climb Everest die. Same odds as russian roulette. I attended a “motivational” speach once by an Everest survivor. His feet were eaten off by frostbite. His hands are permanent mittens formed by amputating his frozen fingers and splitting the palm of his hands between the bones to form a “mitten”. Remember the Sleestack on “Land of the Lost”? Like that.
His motivation speach was how focus and sticking-to-the-task was central for his survival in getting off that mountain. I was motivated to think of how selfish he was, risking his life, and the life his family (former doctor with a wife & young kids) had with him.
Climbing Everest is the height (heh) of egotism, in my opinion.
As I said, the sheer evil of some of the trek companies (that take people up Mt. Everest) amazes me-one guy was refilling the oxygen tanks (climbers pay $450/bottle). the problem was, oxygen gas for climbing has to be moisture free-any small amount of water vapor will freeze-and stop the flow of oxygen! This guy’s (defective) oxygen bottles cost several people their lives!
Plus-climbers stealing other people’s tents/food caches-is there no honor?
When you read the stories from the first Everest expeditions, you get the impression that the climbers viewed each other as brothers, and would help others, even at their own peril. In Col Hunt’s 1953 expedition, every man viewed himself as part of a team, and would step aside to give a better-qualified man a better chance of suummiting.
those values seem gone for good-the people climbing Everest today seem to be the worst type of self absorbed shits!:smack:
I think the really big thing to note here is that a lot of people who take on Everest these days are not veteran or even necessarily experienced mountaineers, but rather people who have paid a buttload of cash to do what climbers do.
There are two kind of climbers and you can always tell them apart. The climbers who are so conscientious they will pack out all of thir garbage including human waste and toilet paper. They are the ones who climb because they love the great outdoors and it is an activity that allows them to really develop a rapport with the nature and the rock. (There is a poster with climbing champ, Lynn Hill, that says “I do not conquer that which is my partner”). They will share if you’re in need.
Then there are the guys who fuck around, leave garbage behind, and generally treat the great outdoors like a disposable commodity, as if they’re in an arcade where they can play all the games and then go home while the janitor sweeps up after them. In my experience, these the guys (and they’re usually guys) who take really stupid risks, that not only annoy other people, but make it generally unsafe for those around them.
Many of the latter are inexperienced gym climbers who treat the outdoors like a climbing gym (so someone will clean up after them, right?) and/or are not experienced outdoorspeople and are unfamiliar with “leave no trace”.
In my experience, this is what it’s like with the first group I mentioned and it represents the majority of climbers. They share the environment and there is almost always a sense of community and kinship even among strangers.
The second group lives more by the creed: “I’m here to have fun. Don’t interfere with my fun. You are responsible for your own fun, so stay out of the way of my fun.” Since their own fun is their priority, they would be the ones who are more likely to keep walking on by after you trip and bust your ankle hiking in. They might stop and ask your partner if he/she needs help splinting your ankle and evacuating you, but really, don’t count on it.
As “rock climbing” is to “Everest”, so is “douchebaggery” to “epic douchebaggery”. Everest is life-or-death on a far greater scale than a climbing day trip, so I’d expect the douchebaggery to be proportional to the stakes.
Wait, there’s also a third kind of climber/mountaineer. The ones who think they are skilled and experienced but really aren’t. They’re the ones who will refill oxygen tanks and kill people not knowing any better. Or the ones you expect to have the skills to save your hide, but then can’t perform the duty when its needed. A buddy of mine almost got killed climbing in Nepal because the “most experienced” guy on their team had lied about his qualifications and they got in a bit of a bind.
I hope to Jeebus, I’m never one of those guys. (I’m too chickenshit, I think.)
Maybe 4 years ago, I went to an illustrated talk given by a high altitude tour guide who had taken several parties up Everest (from the Tibetan side, iirc) and he showed us photos he had taken of the approaches to the summit. One in particular showed the final couple of hundred yards of the route, with several expeditions (i.e. a couple of dozen people at least, it seemed) strung out in a line across the ice patiently waiting their turn to move up for their few minutes of peak-time.
It all seemed rather tawdry and sad, in a way.
What Swallowed My Cellphone said.
My cousin was a professional mountain climber; for several years he worked as a guide but he left it and managed to find an individual sponsor when he realized that dealing with the folks who think that “two hours of tennis once a week and half an hour running every day” plus “a buttload of money” makes them more qualified than their guide who’s in his tenth trip up that same mountain and his fifth 8000.
I just want to say- if anyone happens to have any links to interesting in-depth articles or narratives about mountain climbing accidents, I’d really appreciate it if you could share them with. I’m not out doorsy at all, but for some reason this particular field fascinated me and it’s killing me that I won’t be able to read this book.
even sven, here’s a link to Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
(Everest deals with trespassers harshly: the dead vanish beneath the snows. While the living struggle to explain what happened. And why. A survivor of the mountain’s worst disaster examines the business of Mount Everest and the steep price of ambition.)
It includes the doctor mentioned above, Beck Weathers.
If you read Into Thin Air also read “The Climb” by Boukreev. It tells the same story from another slant. The two make for a much more nuanced picture of the situation.
This is the Fresh Air interview with Krakauer after the accident that made me go out immediately and buy Into Thin Air.
Are you going to have a chance to go to Tibet? Take the train!
Touching the Void is about the craziest story of mountain climbing survival that I’ve seen. It’s beyond unbelievable. It’s also a book.