# Climbing Mount Everest **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 9, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968 "2004-12-09T18:45:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SlowMindThinking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@SlowMindThinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlowMindThinking)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/21 "2004-12-10T15:25:54Z")
> [@Fuji Kitakyusho](#): > > You’re raising children, and yet _I’m_ the risk taker?! :dubious: Well, I prepared as best I could. Couldn’t get much experience with the actual raising of them, so I just practiced the siring as much as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/22 "2004-12-10T15:37:47Z")
> [@laina\_f](#): > > [The Man Who Skied Down Everest,](http://www.canamedia.com/show_pages/catalogue_can_docu_everest.html) is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. If you can get your hands on it, see it. It may, however, make you have some second thoughts about climbing Mt. Everest. Ugh, me thinks you have wrong link!! ---
**Author:** ![The\_27th\_Evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ebca7d/32.png) [@The\_27th\_Evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_27th_Evil)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/23 "2004-12-10T15:47:55Z")
You might also look up Touching my Father’s soul by Jamling Norgay, the son of Tenzing Norgay. It’s also about the disatrous 1996 climbing season and he writes quite a compelling book. You get a nice look at it from the Sherpa side of things. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/24 "2004-12-10T16:31:09Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > there’s no way you can climb Everest without heaps and heaps of a) experience, b) time, and c) money. Pick any two. My understanding is that (c) is always essential, and it goes well beyond the considerable cost of travel and equipment. A mountaineer friend told me that the government of Nepal has strict rules than under no circumstances may any unqualified climbers proceed past Base Camp. And in this case, “qualified” is defined as possessing a currently valid Everest climbing permit, issued by Nepal to anyone who forks over the fee of $16,000 (may well be more today). ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/25 "2004-12-10T16:52:58Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Rob Hall’s dead - he was one of the most experienced mountaineers in the world, and he died taking a party up Everest in 1996 {no cites, but a quick Google on “Rob Hall” should turn up all you need to know, including a site for benefit subscriptions for his widow…} That might put your OP in a little perspective. Yes, I’m well aware of that as “a little perspective” is exactly what I was tring to convey to **The Composer**. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/26 "2004-12-10T17:09:00Z")
> [@The Composer](#): > > For those of you who will be up on the mountain at any given time, I wish you luck, good health, and excitement. Luck and good health are always welcomed and appreciated. Excitement, on the other hand, generally only occurs when something goes awry. ---
**Author:** ![WIGGUM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WIGGUM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WIGGUM)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/27 "2004-12-10T17:29:24Z")
I’m sure that reading books about mountaineering is not nearly as exhilarating as actually going out and doing it, but for a while I derived great pleasure in living vicariously through the stories of others. I’ve read most of the suggestions in the other posts, and wanted to suggest a couple more. [Eiger Dreams](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0385488181/qid=1102699139/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_b_2_1/104-6075411-7746363) by Jon Krakauer and [Seven Summits: The Quest to Reach the Highest Point on Every Continent](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0821226762/qid=1102699812/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-6075411-7746363?v=glance&s=books) by Steve Bell They were both extremely exiting. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2004, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968/28 "2004-12-10T18:26:52Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > My understanding is that (c) is always essential, and it goes well beyond the considerable cost of travel and equipment. A mountaineer friend told me that the government of Nepal has strict rules than under no circumstances may any unqualified climbers proceed past Base Camp. And in this case, “qualified” is defined as possessing a currently valid Everest climbing permit, issued by Nepal to anyone who forks over the fee of $16,000 (may well be more today). Last I checked it was $60,000. But you can climb without money by having others pay your way as a guide because you are a) experienced and b) have time to set up all the logisitics. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/climbing-mount-everest/278968.md?page=1)