Mount Everest 2019

mtn said:

Ian F said:

The Onion weighs in...

I swear, it’s getting closer to actual news every day. Remember when they did satire?

Or is actual news getting closer to the onion?

Also, according to this wiki site, with 6 or 7 books so far at least, it looks like there is no shortage of people looking to capitalize on the over-capitalization of climbing Everest by writing books about May 10-11, 1996.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster

But that is some scary crap. I've made some mistakes and put myself where I shouldn't have been a time or two, never quite to the point of fearing for my life. Can't imagine not only trying to survive while fearing for my life, but also doing it for days.

Think of whatever decision-making ability you happen to have while oxygen deprived and colder than you have ever been before. Then add on top suddenly truly fearing for your life. Rationality would be like a pipe dream.

Robbie said:

mtn said:

Ian F said:

The Onion weighs in...

I swear, it’s getting closer to actual news every day. Remember when they did satire?

Or is actual news getting closer to the onion?

borderline terrifying.. 

The thing that stands out about this year's events is not just the large number, but the fact that all of the years with larger death tolls have a single major natural event underlying them (earthquakes, avalanches, blizzards), whereas this year's seem to have just happened due to overcrowding.

I still can't believe someone hasn't started bolting I-beams to the rocks up there to create a rail for hauling stuff up and down. Seriously, 20' at a time, 25 a year, add a new pod at the end each year that can be pressurized and that has a solar powered o2 concentrator running year round. Next year, motor to the top, spend a week putting up track by building off the old one and a new pod, go home. Supplies get trucked up, trash down. 

That does it. I'm not climbing Mt. Everest this year.

Woody said:

That does it. I'm not climbing Mt. Everest this year.

I'm with ya!  I was so gonna do it, but when I heard how crowded it was, I was like "the heck with it!"  I'd like to get away to someplace remote and away from the hustle and bustle.

I don't get the appeal these days, I mean, you are not going to be the first anymore. OK, it' still the highest point, but maybe switch to the lowest point or the widest, or the dryest...

In reply to pinchvalve :

Just put one of those 3D camera globes at the peak then everyone can VR to the top of the world without the lightheadedness.

j_tso said:

In reply to pinchvalve :

Just put one of those 3D camera globes at the peak then everyone can VR to the top of the world without the lightheadedness.

They can smoke a joint while viewing it and get the lightheadedness to go with it. Add in a freezer and you get the full 4D experience. 

And I'm perfectly fine with people dying on the climb. People die in race cars too. It's really OK, we have extras. I don't wish it on them, but I don't lose sleep over it. 

It may just be me, but seeing those people queueing up like at the grocery store makes me not want to go.  Well that and the $65k it takes and the 29k+ feet you have to climb.  

In reply to mtn :

<snort>

I think one of the issues is that it's not 65K anymore, it's a lot cheaper.

If you want the experience, just charter a C130 and open the rear ramp at 28,000 ft.  A lot cheaper, almost as good a view, almost as uncomfortable, much safer, much less effort.

Woody said:

That does it. I'm not climbing Mt. Everest this year.

Is this like my joke on the day of the Chicago marathon I say - shoot, this was the year I was going to run the marathon but I forgot to train so I gotta wait until next year?

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

Forgot to register. I'd win, easy, but I can't set my alarm early enough on registration day.

Dozens of Teenage Bodies Still Litter Nickelodeon’s Aggro Crag

Meanwhile this week is the Isle of man TT race where motorcyclists spend arguably similar money the climbers do to get in a line and then ride as fast as they dare on the course which has claimed a couple hundred lives. At least it's not freezing cold........

aircooled said:

I think one of the issues is that it's not 65K anymore, it's a lot cheaper.

If you want the experience, just charter a C130 and open the rear ramp at 28,000 ft.  A lot cheaper, almost as good a view, almost as uncomfortable, much safer, much less effort.

$45-50k still isn't cheap.

Robbie said:

mtn said:

Ian F said:

The Onion weighs in...

I swear, it’s getting closer to actual news every day. Remember when they did satire?

Or is actual news getting closer to the onion?

 

Kinda like how watching Idiocracy is no longer entertaining with the way the world is going

NOT A TA said:

Meanwhile this week is the Isle of man TT race where motorcyclists spend arguably similar money the climbers do to get in a line and then ride as fast as they dare on the course which has claimed a couple hundred lives. At least it's not freezing cold........

 

Unfortunately we've already lost one racer.

https://www.iomtt.com/news/2019/06/03/daley-mathison

In reply to spitfirebill :

You really don't climb 29k feer since you start at a relatively high altitude.

Of course that doesn't make it any easier.

My go-to cautionary note…

The trail to the top of Everest is littered with the frozen corpses of once highly confident people.

I guess this is sort of the same phenomenon:  Rich people can now visit the Space Station without all the "astronauty" stuff. 

Yeah its a cluster berk. Always has been, but the crowding is making it much worse.

After the Wind is another good read about the 96/97 disaster.