At what point does climbing Mount Everest becomes "I've got lots of money to blow"?

[Ns1]

Shriya Shah-Klorfine, 33, was one of six people who died on the mountain on the weekend of May 19, 2012.

The Torontonian had long dreamed of reaching the 8,848-metre summit. With no climbing experience, she paid Utmost Adventure Trekking, a company that she learned of through family in Nepal, almost $40,000 to guide her

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/exclu...inexperienced-company-lacked-oxygen-1.1195149

 

[KeithTalent]

My age bracket is like 7 minute miles (IIRC 6:50/mi pace for qualifying). I could probably train to do it...

Yeah I am running a 7:30ish mile right now (give or take depending on the day). Would take a lot of work to get it down to qualification levels particularly at that distance since I am only training for a half at the moment.

KT

 

[Triumph]

Yeah I am running a 7:30ish mile right now (give or take depending on the day). Would take a lot of work to get it down to qualification levels particularly at that distance since I am only training for a half at the moment.

KT

how do you people get to that pace? i've been running all year and i'm still stuck between 9 and 10 minute pace, depending on how long the race is.

 

[KeithTalent]

how do you people get to that pace? i've been running all year and i'm still stuck between 9 and 10 minute pace, depending on how long the race is.

I don't know, just training I guess. I make sure I get out three times per week.

How often do you go out for runs and for what distance?

KT

 

[Mursilis]

how do you people get to that pace? i've been running all year and i'm still stuck between 9 and 10 minute pace, depending on how long the race is.

Maybe you should start a new thread, but you probably need to provide more information. How often are you running? How far? What's your pace? Does it seem hard, or just cruising along? Do you vary your pace? Intervals? Tempo runs? Track workouts?

 

[moonbogg]

My wife did a marathon, and she mostly walked it. I was like, "you didn't run shit woman. Thats like a long day at the mall for you".
Most people who can finish a marathon couldn't run 5 miles.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

no 's' in the become.

 

[Ken g6]

At what point does climbing Mount Everest becomes "I've got lots of money to blow"?

When the "climbing" is done by a vehicle. Such as an aircraft or spacecraft.

 

[AViking]

When the "climbing" is done by a vehicle. Such as an aircraft or spacecraft.

Someone brought up Annapurna earlier and this is the problem there. They were building a road when I was in Pokhara and from what I understand it was completed almost all the way to the top of the pass. That ruins the Annapurna Circuit. There are other treks around there though. Annapurna Base Camp is probably still legit.

If you want to trek in Nepal there are so many places to go and not all of them have to be in the Himalayas. Doing something like a 8 day trek in Bardia National Park would be epic. There are like 35 Tigers there and although I didn't see one others there did and I saw plenty of tracks. Saw Rhinos and a bunch of other stuff so it's a great area to get out in. Just watch out for the bears. They emasculate when threatened.

 

[zinfamous]

I dont even see what the big deal is anyways. Some of those islands in the pacific are taller than Mount Everest from base to peak.

Base camp is a little damp though.

Yeah, I don't get that argument. If you are directly comparing these bases, then Everest is still taller from "base" to peak.

Or, at least, it sits higher than anything. just replace terrain with water in your head.

 

[pmv]

I hope to eventually be wealthy enough that I can pay someone to bring the peak of Everest to me. Whereupon I shall inspect it, stand on it (perhaps by means of a step-ladder), have my picture taken, and then have it carted back from whence it came.

Paying to be carted up there is for peons.

 

[BikeJunkie]

I haven't done Everest because of the O2 garbage and queues but I have done another one of the other Himalayan treks in Nepal. They are no joke. At all. Sure they're well marked trails, have been done untold times, and you can have a porter, guide, etc but despite all that you're at serious altitude, donkeys and yaks will knock you 1000m off a cliff, there are rock slides and avalanches, it's 9 hours up hill per day most of the time, and then as if that's not bad enough it's far harder on the way down. My knees are still pissed off about my time in the Himalayas and I didn't do anything as hard as summiting Everest.

Those of you trying to downplay doing it should give it a whirl. Might sound easy on paper but when you're up there you're basically giving your body the middle finger day in and day out and hoping it doesn't tell you to fuck off and kill you. Nobody is going to carry you to the top. You have to do it yourself.

For those of you who might do it one day definitely invest in having others carry all your gear and take it slow. I went way too fast and that is NOT the way to do anything up there besides when you get to the top or are going over the passes and need to get back down quickly.

These treks are not guaranteed. I don't know what the numbers are but I can imagine that many have to abort. Too many idiots underestimate it and go up there out of shape or smoking weed and then find themselves in a world of hurt.

Bitch please. Your actual real world experience is nothing compared to the unimpeachable conclusions reached by the armchair elitists here who've seen a few pictures and now know all there is to summitting the piece of cake that is Mt. Everest.

 

[Blackjack200]

It's still on my bucket list :shrug:

Just because it's easier now than it was years ago doesn't mean it's trivial or not an experience to behold.

I just don't understand this kind of thing. I mean, yeah, I'm not a climber, so it makes sense that I don't care about climbing Everest, but I do sail, and I have absolutely no interest in crossing the Atlantic, or rounding Cape Horn or any of that nonsense.

I have lots of challenging/rewarding things in my life, from my CFA candidacy to building a real estate business to my desire to start a family and raise children.

I'm sorry, but when I see people spending this kind of time and money to transform what should be an enjoyable and healthy hobby into a deadly, arduous ordeal, I can't help but think that they lack a sense of accomplishment in life, for whatever reason, and are doing this to get it.

My wife did a marathon, and she mostly walked it. I was like, "you didn't run shit woman. Thats like a long day at the mall for you".
Most people who can finish a marathon couldn't run 5 miles.

Yeah, but now she can put one of those "26.2" stickers on her car!

Did she?

 

[BikeJunkie]

I just don't understand this kind of thing. I mean, yeah, I'm not a climber, so it makes sense that I don't care about climbing Everest, but I do sail, and I have absolutely no interest in crossing the Atlantic, or rounding Cape Horn or any of that nonsense.

I have lots of challenging/rewarding things in my life, from my CFA candidacy to building a real estate business to my desire to start a family and raise children.

I'm sorry, but when I see people spending this kind of time and money to transform what should be an enjoyable and healthy hobby into a deadly, arduous ordeal, I can't help but think that they lack a sense of accomplishment in life, for whatever reason, and are doing this to get it.

Yeah, but now she can put one of those "26.2" stickers on her car!

Did she?

Some people like to discover, test, and push their limits. There's also the adrenaline factor. Just because you may not fall into such a category or understand those motivational factors doesn't mean they're invalid. I love riding my bike. Before long, I wanted to ride in a metric century. Then a true century. Then 200 miles. Then 200 miles back-to-back. And so on.

For some people, the pain is the juice. The gain is just the icing on the cake. I hardly even discuss these activities with my friends and family, either. It's not about bragging, either. I just truly enjoy the experience.

 

[iGas]

Last year was my "everest" year, meaning I spent a bunch of time reading books on it and watching whatever I could find. "Into Thin Air" is a great, captivating read about the 1996 storm on Everest that killed 8 people in one evening, including several sherpas and several very experienced climbers. Great book! Even then, the author was complaining about commercialization and over-climbing of the mountain by inexperienced climbers, and the volume of climbers then was something like 1/10th of the number of people attempting the summit in more recent years.

I do think it's stupid to say that it's "easy" since a lot of people with money are doing it successfully. 30,000 people a year run the Boston Marathon, does that mean it's easy?You're still climbing 2 miles above base camp in -30 degree weather with a third of the oxygen that you're used to.



Yes I believe someone did ski down Everest.

With sherpas carries extra oxygen bottle for you.

<-- Has planted trees in high altitude at -20C and sleep in tent (practically an igloo) in damp/wet sleeping bag during a 2 weeks early spring cold snap. Day time temperature was hovering around -11C while putting in 12-14 hours per day with at least 100 lbs of gears and trees on my back. Normally I plant 1200-1400 trees per day, but the ground was rock hard hence I put in 300-400 trees during the cold spell. I also have fight forest fires that is tough work but it wasn't any where as tough as planting trees or brushing.

The worst was I once lost 1.5 day of work, because I had to join over 100 other planters to search and rescue an idiotic solo mountain climber that broke his leg on his climb.

It would make more sense to do some good for society if people go North to work on oil rigs, pipeline, mining, logging, tree planting, and search & rescue if they want to prove something and be useful.

 

[iGas]

Good luck getting a helicopter ride to that altitude.



I've run marathons. They're not that hard, actually. I'd almost call them easy, at least for serious runners. Marathons are only hard if you care about your time. If you just want to avoid the time cut (which is a very generous 7 or 8 hours these days), they're not hard at all.

It is difficult to land on mt. Everest, but it has been done. However it was a controversial event, because the local do not want that to happen. IMHO, the local sherpas afraid that they will lose their only source of income.

French pilot Didier Delsalle touches down on top of the world in a controversial Everest first.

 

[Blackjack200]

Some people like to discover, test, and push their limits. There's also the adrenaline factor. Just because you may not fall into such a category or understand those motivational factors doesn't mean they're invalid. I love riding my bike. Before long, I wanted to ride in a metric century. Then a true century. Then 200 miles. Then 200 miles back-to-back. And so on.

For some people, the pain is the juice. The gain is just the icing on the cake. I hardly even discuss these activities with my friends and family, either. It's not about bragging, either. I just truly enjoy the experience.

Many people discover, test, and push their limits in a safe, enjoyable way. For example, I love playing soccer. I play as hard as I can and always challenge myself to better, faster, stronger, and smarter. I have improved tremendously since I started playing, just as I assume many mountain climbers challenge themselves and improve on technically difficult climbs. But the equivalent of climbing everest would be forcing myself to continue playing soccer for eight hours to see if I could survive it without collapsing.

I think your second paragraph is closer to the truth, and again, I don't understand it, it just seems like ordealism.

 

[BikeJunkie]

Many people discover, test, and push their limits in a safe, enjoyable way. For example, I love playing soccer. I play as hard as I can and always challenge myself to better, faster, stronger, and smarter. I have improved tremendously since I started playing, just as I assume many mountain climbers challenge themselves and improve on technically difficult climbs. But the equivalent of climbing everest would be forcing myself to continue playing soccer for eight hours to see if I could survive it without collapsing.

I think your second paragraph is closer to the truth, and again, I don't understand it, it just seems like ordealism.

I just think everyone has somewhat unique motivations. Some people like to acquire things, others like to have experiences. For a few, in order to make an experience worthwhile, there needs to be an element of risk. I don't actually consider myself one of those people, but I do go through the occasional "adrenaline" phase. It's tough to describe to people who don't get anything positive out of an otherwise risky situation. By the same token, plenty of people don't understand why guys like you and I like to test our fitness. They don't understand the enjoyment we get from the pain.

 

[DougK62]

It is difficult to land on mt. Everest, but it has been done. However it was a controversial event, because the local do not want that to happen. IMHO, the local sherpas afraid that they will lose their only source of income.

French pilot Didier Delsalle touches down on top of the world in a controversial Everest first.

Guiding people to the top of Everest is just a drop in the bucket compared to the money the local people make related to the tourist trekking that occurs at lower elevations.

 

[mugs]

Thats not what the OP is saying. It's still dangerous, sure....but it's nothing more than a glorified handholding trip with sherpas. Have you even seen the pictures of the line to the summit? It's usually packed.

That's a product of the short window to climb Everest and the need to get to the summit and back quickly to avoid death.

 

[Train]

I wonder how many folks on ATOT could "complete" a marathon in under 6 hours. That's not very fast at all but I'll bet less than 25% of the people here could do it. Of course 99% of the people will say it's easy.

And FYI, the original reference to the marathon was to the Boston marathon. Those folks aren't running a 6-6.5 hour pace.

I did a marathon in 4 hours flat. And it hurt like a mofo.

In a field of 30,000 people, that put me in the top 17%. And 4 hours isn't even close to Boston qualifying time.

Unless you grew up on Kenyan mountainside, there is nothing easy about finishing Boston.

 

[nanette1985]

I love reading books about Everest. I also love reading books about solo sailing around the world.

I wouldn't do either of those. But they sure are interesting to read about. And lots cheaper.

 

[Veliko]

Many people discover, test, and push their limits in a safe, enjoyable way. For example, I love playing soccer. I play as hard as I can and always challenge myself to better, faster, stronger, and smarter. I have improved tremendously since I started playing, just as I assume many mountain climbers challenge themselves and improve on technically difficult climbs. But the equivalent of climbing everest would be forcing myself to continue playing soccer for eight hours to see if I could survive it without collapsing.

I think your second paragraph is closer to the truth, and again, I don't understand it, it just seems like ordealism.

You don't understand what, exactly? That people have different interests?

 

[Hugo Drax]

I totally respect the pioneers that did it, when they did it with not much. Now, it's kinda like a very expensive theme park. What's the point anymore? To say you paid a lot of money to get someone to shepherd you up the mountain and then walk up by clinging to a line?

Its primarily a check box item, Lots of Brag points to one up on the joneses at the dinner conversation.

 

[Rakehellion]

Many people discover, test, and push their limits in a safe, enjoyable way.

That's boring.