Do you have some sort of syndrome or something?
He isn’t pitting the kid - he is pitting the reporting - which IS misleading - climbing Everest is usually synonymous with summitting. And he is pitting Daddy - who has made “news” out of an amazing moment (and honestly, getting even as far as Everest Base Camp is pretty amazing as vacations go) that can be had by anyone with sufficient dollars and takes no specialized skill to do. There isn’t any reason why a kid with Down Syndrome couldn’t make the climb up to base camp, as long as his health (particularly his heart, which I understand can be compromised) is in good enough shape.
You’re down with OP’s peeve?
Right.
Here is the NY Daily News repeating the story with even more aggrandizement: ‘An amazing moment’: 15-year-old Oregon boy with Down syndrome scales Mount Everest
Oh and now it was a “death-defying climb” (see article) :rolleyes:
Anything to attract eyeballs and get clicks I guess. :rolleyes:
After he dug him up?
Low muscle tone is one of the defining characteristics of Down Syndrome. Reaching the base camp may well have been a huge accomplishment for this kid.
No one is saying it wasn’t an accomplishment that the kid should be proud of. The pitting is for the outrageously misleading headlines and the Dad for turning this into a media circus.
I tried, it was too hard
darn nerve of some kids , especially disabled ones,being “handed” an opportunity
If i cant afford to go , then dammit, nobody else should be able to, especially disabled kids
:smack:
I agree…it takes all kinds of people I suppose…
I’ve done a couple walk up 14,000 peaks in Colorado. Base to tip for Mt. Bierstadt is about a 2,400 foot gain over 3 miles, and Gray’s peak is just over 3,000 feet over 3.5 miles (my car got me the first 6,000 feet or so between my front door and the trail heads).
Weird shit happens to you at only 14,000 feet that you don’t experience at 11,000. I’d have to agree getting to 17,600 over 70 miles & 10 days would qualify as a “difficult uphill hike” worthy of accolades, especially when done by someone with a disorder that often affects heart function. Fucking awesome this guy did it, nothing but props. Good luck hauling my fat ass around at those altitudes for that long.
But the OP gets a “Mostly True” and my full support for pitting an inappropriately reported story that had good merit in its own right. “Climbed Mt. Everest” means “Stood on the pointy bit with nowhere else to go but down.” Other wise I can say I scuba dived the Marianas Trench because I once used an aqualung in the Pacific Ocean.
[QUOTE=FoxNews]
But there’s more to Eli Reimer’s journey than just that amazing accomplishment. Eli, 15, is believed to be the first person with Down syndrome to reach the base camp of the mountain.
[/QUOTE]
Bolding mine. There are two base camps on Everest.
That said, I was in Puno, Peru and the elevation there is 3830 meters. As a flat-landed Minnesotan, I was definitely not acclimatized for that area and even walking on a flat city street would have me catching my breath. (I was in good shape before getting there, but that climate sickness and acclimatization can hinder anyone.) Now take into account that the Matterhorn is 4478 meters high and that we are sitting at a computer saying “it’s not that hard”. I’d reckon it is still quite hard. The reporting should have been better though.
You know, most people have to work to earn a syndrome. This guy was just handed one.
Nobody counts base camp. This is a matter of bad reporting by media who are incompetent in mountaineering.
If its actually that dangerous, dad has a child endangerment issue.
Kids aren’t permitted to go beyond base camp. There are upper and lower age limits.
I’d say it partly depends on how much you’re pre-acclimatized, at least until you hit 14000. There are places you can stay at in America at around 10,000 feet which should help if you stay there for a week or so. If so, the first two days would be easy, for me at least. i’ve gone from 9000 to 14000 and back in a single day. Once you get up to 17000, that would be hard for most anyone.
I would have more sympathy for the OP if it was better focused on the media reaction, and maybe gave more praise for the kid, who still made it 17,000 feet. IN that regard the OP is a fail for me.
I totally agree. The OPs bitter comments about how the kid was “handed” the opportunity (instead of what? coming up with the money himself? most kids dont pay for their own trips, wth? It comes off as a bitter rant that someone got to do something that some people cant afford as in"if i cant afford it, then dammit, nobody else should get to go"
and the rest,
The way in which the OP wrote it, made it sound more like it was about hating on the kid
Even though he did not get to the very top, for god sake, he has a disability, it was still a big accomplishment
just be happy for him and move on. :rolleyes:
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Yeah, but to be fair, it was second-hand from a sibling; a hand-me-Down('s) syndrome.
You can still die of altitude sickness at base camp. In The Discovery Channel show Beyond The Limit a young Sherpa died from altitude sickness on the way to base camp.
http://press.discovery.com/emea/dsc/programs/everest-beyond-limit-2/
A brief look around the internet found this story of an experienced Sherpa who also died at base camp.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/19/experienced-sherpa-guide-dies-at-everest-base-camp/
That said, the kid did something I’d love to do, but he didn’t scale Mt. Everest.
Kelevra