# What makes climbing Everest difficult?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-climbing-everest-difficult/644093>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 15, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-climbing-everest-difficult/644093 "2012-12-15T04:23:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-climbing-everest-difficult/644093/41 "2012-12-16T20:40:15Z")

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> [@ralph124c](#):
>
> I recommend that you read Sir John Hunt’s, or Edmund Hillary’s accounts of the 1954 ascent. These people were real heroes-they would never abandon a dying climber. Something very ugly has crept into mountaineering..and its not something I would want to be around!:mad:

[This book](http://www.amazon.com/Touching-Void-Story-Miraculous-Survival/dp/0060730552/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355690358&sr=1-1&keywords=into+the+void) is an example of what can happen when an assumption is made.

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-climbing-everest-difficult/644093/42 "2012-12-16T21:58:19Z")

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According to this there are about [200](http://sometimes-interesting.com/2011/06/29/over-200-dead-bodies-on-mount-everest/)bodies on everest.

that site also claims of the 1,000 who attempt to climb every year about 15-20 die.

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**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-climbing-everest-difficult/644093/43 "2012-12-16T22:40:12Z")

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I arrived in Nepal with a goal of only getting to the Everest Base Camp area. It was the middle of winter, but there hadn’t been much snow. I was in my 20’s and in good physical condition running 30 minute 5 mile runs without a problem. Plenty of stair work at the nearby stadium as well.

I hiked in from Lamasungu because I wanted to follow the same trail as Hillary. (Most people fly much of the way to the Everest area and start at the airport in Lukla, “only” a 4 or 5 day trek to Base Camp.) I also figured this gradual ascent would help with acclimation. I took 24 hour breaks at 12,000’ and 14,000’ like I was told to in the guide books. Finally I made in to the last hamlet (Loboche) at 16,000’. The next morning I started out for Kala Patar, the famous Everest lookout point (18,000’).

Things went well, but when I got to about 17,500’, around the base of Kala Patar, the altitude really started to kick my ass. After every 3 or 4 steps I’d have to sit down. I only made it to the top because I heard the 2 guys I met in Loboche talking just about 20 feet above me. They had made it to the top. I felt like I had a real bad case of the flu, but it cleared up soon after I started down.

I don’t know how people make it to the top of Everest, but my experience in Nepal gives me a great appreciate of what they have done.

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