# Everest: Just Don't Do It **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 22, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397 "2016-05-22T21:31:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 35
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/681 "2023-06-10T17:02:58Z")
One difference could be if you count the Sherpa, who do all kinds of things to assist the visiting climbers. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/682 "2023-06-10T22:08:56Z")
Yes, I’d count them once. Those who make multiple trips shouldn’t count as separate summitings. And I’d say the same about non-Sherpas who summit multiple times, as well. I also LOL’d about the vegan woman. I felt a teensy bit of shame. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/683 "2023-06-10T22:47:39Z")
I think different, each time the summit is achieved it should be counted. Whether they are Sherpa or not shouldn’t matter in the slightest. Or put another way, both K2 and Everest should adhere to the same standard for counting purposes, at least, for consistency’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/684 "2023-06-10T22:54:27Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > The article I linked earlier says “The differences show up in the stats. Over 4,000 people have climbed Everest.” > > But - Wiki sez: “As of July 2022, there have been **approximately 11,346** summit ascents by 6,098 people.” > > So who really knows for sure. The Himalayan database contains extensive information on names, dates, nationalities, etc. The number in there is around 11,000. > **[The Himalayan Database, The Expedition Archives of Elizabeth Hawley](https://www.himalayandatabase.com/online.html)** > > Himalayan Database, Season Lists, Season Ascent Lists, Season Death Lists, ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2023, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/685 "2023-06-10T23:27:43Z")
Yeah, 4,000 sounded low to me. Everest has long been known as a slog. Technically speaking, not very difficult. With enough money, they will haul yer ass to the top. The photos I’ve seen - with queues of brightly dressed wankers waiting for their turn to stand on the summit for a few moments - a monumental waste of money, for me anyway. Like Yogi said, “It’s too crowded. Nobody goes there any more.” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/686 "2023-06-11T01:19:11Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > I think different, each time the summit is achieved it should be counted. Whether they are Sherpa or not shouldn’t matter in the slightest. I don’t think Sherpas should be consider differently either. But I’m more interested in how many individuals have summited vs. how many successful summits have been done. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/687 "2023-06-11T01:23:56Z")
How can they remove all the trash, including corpses, from the mountain? Is it even possible, or will all of that remain up there until the mountain erodes? Another question - who is the highest corpse up there, and how close to the top? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/688 "2023-06-11T01:26:45Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Another question - who is the highest corpse up there, and how close to the top? Now _there’s_ a distinction for the record books. Subcategories: best-dressed corpse, most well-preserved… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/689 "2023-06-11T14:46:17Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > who is the highest corpse up there, and how close to the top? A little googling produced these interesting charts on that topic, but I’ve not yet ascertained the exact location or name of the highest one. ETA: there are two images here, first is bodies on everest, 2nd is deaths on everest. Not sure why the first image is a link only while the 2nd shows in the post. It seems like there are bodies at high up as at the peak. [https://i.postimg.cc/Vs2ZThWq/bodies-on-everest.jpg](https://i.postimg.cc/Vs2ZThWq/bodies-on-everest.jpg) [![](https://i.postimg.cc/rFWZL9fv/deaths-on-everest.jpg) ](https://i.postimg.cc/rFWZL9fv/deaths-on-everest.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/690 "2023-06-11T16:51:43Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > these interesting charts Non-Sherpas disproportionately dying when their cardiovascular system fails at the highest elevations, but Sherpas tending to be taken out lower down, probably a lot of them in avalanches. Although the distribution of the absolute number of Sherpa deaths might be a bit misleading, the number of Sherpas working between Base camp and Camp 1 is presumably one or two orders of magnitude larger than the elite Sherpas who go high. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/691 "2023-06-11T16:54:52Z")
I’m on my phone so I can’t open that lovely looking graph at this moment, but does it differentiate between people who died on the way up and on the way down? This would be the difference between people who summited and people who got close to summitting. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2023, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/692 "2023-06-11T16:56:16Z")
> [@susan](#): > > does it differentiate between people who died on the way up and on the way down No, but I think if you query deaths in the database it tells you if they summited. Or maybe if you query summits it tells you if they died. I remember seeing that information in some form. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/693 "2023-07-11T18:49:55Z")
> All six people onboard a tourist helicopter in Nepal have been killed after it crashed soon after takeoff in the Everest region. > > The Manang Air flight was heading for the capital, Kathmandu, from near Lukla, a gateway for climbing expeditions to the world’s highest peak, with five Mexican tourists – two men and three women – and a Nepali pilot onboard. > **[Six dead as tourist helicopter crashes in Everest region of Nepal](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/11/tourist-helicopter-crash-everest-region-nepal)** > > Nepali pilot and five Mexican passengers killed after aircraft crashes soon after takeoff near Lukla ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/694 "2023-08-11T20:47:29Z")
There’s controversy about a recent climb of K2, when a famous mountaineer from Norway intent on setting a record passed by a porter who was dangling from a rope near the summit. She says she did everything she could to help him, others say not so much. The porter died on the mountain. With the summit of K2, she set a record for shortest time to scale all 14 peaks over 8000 m, in 3 months and 1 day. Hope it was worth it. > **[Mountaineer denies ignoring dying porter on K2 record-breaking climb | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/mountaineer-k2-porter-death-scli-intl/index.html)** > > A record-breaking Norwegian climber has hit out at what she calls “misinformation and hatred” surrounding claims she and her team climbed over a dying porter on K2 to summit the deadly peak. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/695 "2023-08-11T21:05:05Z")
Here are her comments about what happened: > **[What happened on K2, 27/07/2023 - Kristin Harila](https://kristinharila.com/what-happened-on-k2-27-07-2023/)** > > This is a difficult statement to write. As many people already know, Muhammed Hassan passed away on K2, he was only 27 years old, and he is leaving behind his wife, 3 young boys and his mum. The reason why I have not yet commented on this earlier is... ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/696 "2023-08-11T21:07:24Z")
JFC. Of course I wasn’t there and I don’t know what really happened, but her statement doesn’t help her case much. If I’m reading that right, her opening is to scold everyone for sharing photos and video, then she “explains” that they decided to give up and move on because they didn’t want to create a traffic jam; she just assumed someone coming up behind them would help him? Justify it to yourself all you want, you are a shitty, shitty person, lady. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/697 "2023-08-11T21:14:33Z")
Note that K2 is a much deadlier mountain than Everest: In comparison to Mount Everest’s 1% death rate, **K2 holds a staggering 25% death rate** according to NASA. That means approximately one person dies on the mountain for every four who reach the summit compared to one every hundred climbers on Everest - making it the far more deadly mountain of the two.Jan 23, 2023 > **[There's a mountain on Earth that's much deadlier than Everest with a 25%...](https://www.unilad.com/community/mountain-deadly-everest-death-rate-224121-20230123)** > > The Earth's highest mountain is not as deadly as it once seemed Note that this number doesn’t use the correct denominator–you want the number of attempts not successful climbs. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/698 "2023-08-11T21:15:04Z")
It’s tough to tell. What she says might be the absolute truth, and it might all be justification by someone who wanted to reach the summit and found plenty of reasons why that was the “right” call. I wasn’t impressed by her conclusion that “from what I understood, Hassan was not properly equipped to take on an 8000m summit. What happened is in no way his fault, but it shows the importance of taking all of the possible precautions so that we can help ourselves and others.” I’m not sure that was really necessary. But in fairness, Hassan was probably dead no matter what anyone else did. It’s more a statement about the “every person for themselves” reality in mountain climbing than an indictment of Harila. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/699 "2023-08-11T21:16:12Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Justify it to yourself all you want, you are a shitty, shitty person, lady. Yep. And now her “accomplishment” will forever be tainted with that asterisk. “Yay! Look at me, and ignore that dead man dangling from the rope!” ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397/700 "2023-08-11T21:41:19Z")
It’s hard to tell. Sometimes you render all the aid you can, and still the climber will die. Did she render any aid at all? Or did she simply bypass him or only render a bare amount of aid and say, Screw it, I’m continuing on? We may never know all the pertinent facts. It’s a questionable situation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397.md?page=34) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/everest-just-dont-do-it/755397.md?page=36)