For some reason I get the image of Niles Crane trying to gently prod Maris to come down off the mountain...

As of 2006, the odds were one-in-six of not making it down alive. Probably it's that deadly because of all the dangerously unqualified idiots packing espresso machines.

/or the unpredictable weather

Wow. Just, wow.

Though I take issue with saying that they're climbing it. "Attempting to climb" is more like it.

Sgygus: As of 2006, the odds were one-in-six of not making it down alive. Probably it's that deadly because of all the dangerously unqualified idiots packing espresso machines.

/or the unpredictable weather

And the fact that helicopter rotors are useless at 29,000 feet. It's great that we, as a species have such a sense of adventure, but just because it's within your financial reach, doesn't mean you should go there. Nature has a way of limiting stray genetic lines before their time.

I want to see the YouTube footage where the Sherpas radio up to the top and say, "Roll down and we'll try to catch you. We're not schlepping up there."

Not quite what the article said.

And, like the article mentioned, phones have been used on Everest for years, just as satellite phones. This is just updating the technology a bit, no?

If you want to read articles about how crowded Everest is with amateurs, they're out there. But this isn't exactly one of them.

Nepal Telcom stole the idea from Paris Hilton.

kellynoel:
Though I take issue with saying that they're climbing it. "Attempting to climb" is more like it.

Came here to say this. Not many of them will make it to the top.

Can you hear me die?

Cubansaltyballs: For some reason I get the image of Niles Crane trying to gently prod Maris to come down off the mountain...

From the headline I got the image of some yuppie schmuck with a bluetooth headset and a cup of Starbucks in one hand complaining that the sherpas had forgotten his manicure travel set.

So many dangerously unqualified idiots are climbing Mount Everest that Nepal Telcom is providing cell phone coverage for the mountain so they can dial 911 when their espresso machines break on the way to the summit to have their stupid, worthless asses rescued.

There, subby. FTFY.

they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em die.

A friend of mine used to guide on Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro until about 10 years ago. He stopped because of the increase of money driven adventurers (big know it alls) as well as the fact that the mountains are getting so trashed out.
On all the routes you find abandoned oxygen tanks, trash, feces, and the occasional body.
Chris said he just could no longer support the trashings.

Wouldn't it be cheaper to just restrict those climbs to scientific reasearch?

Oh wait, think about the tourism dollars!!!!

Won't this just encourage more unqualified people to attempt the climb, thinking they have an easy lifeline out?

Spawn_of_Cthulhu: Won't this just encourage more unqualified people to attempt the climb, thinking they have an easy lifeline out?

"Regis, I think I'm going to phone a Sherpa."

Approves.

/Met him at his book signing after his Everest trip.
//Also at a book signing right before the Everest trip.

Oh great. Now we'll have the race to see who can do the first sexting from the top of the world.

Oh well. There goes the final nail in the coffin of Iridium.

Very depressing story, though. The human race is truly proficient at fouling its own patch. It's only fifty years since the summit was first climbed, and we've already turned the place into a high-altitude landfill. This new development will turn it into a high-altitude Starbucks.

Remember - Hillary Clinton was named after the first man to climb that mountain.

portscanner: Remember - Hillary Clinton was named after the first man to climb that mountain.

Hillary Clinton was named after Tenzing Norgay?

notmtwain: Oh great. Now we'll have the race to see who can do the first sexting from the top of the world.

This is relevant to my interests.

portscanner: they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let 'em die.

DAMN YOU!!!! i came here to type exactly that!

Well done
/surely you earned 3 internets

santadog: A friend of mine used to guide on Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro until about 10 years ago. He stopped because of the increase of money driven adventurers (big know it alls) as well as the fact that the mountains are getting so trashed out.
On all the routes you find abandoned oxygen tanks, trash, feces, and the occasional body.
Chris said he just could no longer support the trashings.

Thinking about all the trash makes me sad. It would be cool if Nat Geo made a 'cleaning up Everest' series, and filmed people climbing and picking up the garbage. Could be interesting, though I'm not sure it would make financial sense to sponsor the people doing it? IDK. But it seems like you could make a story out of it- interview some climbers and some sherpas and intersperse it with shots of people climbing and discovering gross stuff. And if they could manage to drag down a body, you know how much we all love bodies. They could get all CSI explaining how brutally the person died. Then interview the family! Emotional impact!

You should tell him to pitch it!

Keep in mind that the South Base Camp (the one in Nepal) is at an altitude 5,360 metres. The peak of the highest mountain in North America is 6,194 m, and there are only four more mountains in all of North American that get as high as South Base Camp.

Kilimanjaro is only 5,895 meters.

Elbrus, the highest mountain in all of Europe, is only 5,642 meters.

So if you reach Base Camp, congratulations, you've already climbed a damn mountain. You can turn around and go home.

OK poops coming out now, OMG is that a rock sli

ambercat: They could get all CSI explaining how brutally the person died. Then interview the family!

ambercat: santadog: A friend of mine used to guide on Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro until about 10 years ago. He stopped because of the increase of money driven adventurers (big know it alls) as well as the fact that the mountains are getting so trashed out.
On all the routes you find abandoned oxygen tanks, trash, feces, and the occasional body.
Chris said he just could no longer support the trashings.

Thinking about all the trash makes me sad. It would be cool if Nat Geo made a 'cleaning up Everest' series, and filmed people climbing and picking up the garbage. Could be interesting, though I'm not sure it would make financial sense to sponsor the people doing it? IDK. But it seems like you could make a story out of it- interview some climbers and some sherpas and intersperse it with shots of people climbing and discovering gross stuff. And if they could manage to drag down a body, you know how much we all love bodies. They could get all CSI explaining how brutally the person died. Then interview the family! Emotional impact!

You should tell him to pitch it!

That would make for good TV. Offer up a new reality show called "EVEREST". Contestants think they are going to scale the mountain, when in reality, they are there to clean it up. This is not revealed to the contestants until they are at the first Base Camp.

spasemunki: portscanner: Remember - Hillary Clinton was named after the first man to climb that mountain.

Hillary Clinton was named after Tenzing Norgay?

Win! Thread over!

FTFA: It is hoped the facility will also help local people

Average yearly income in Nepal is less than $200 a year (says the internets). A cell phone plan is definitely not in the budget.

dougfm: FTFA: It is hoped the facility will also help local people

Average yearly income in Nepal is less than $200 a year (says the internets). A cell phone plan is definitely not in the budget.

One phone per village. Just like the Amish.

Joce678: kellynoel:
Though I take issue with saying that they're climbing it. "Attempting to climb" is more like it.

Came here to say this. Not many of them will make it to the top.

Much like the difference between 'fishing' and 'catching fish'. Two totally different concepts.

Announcer: The leader of the expedition was Colonel Sir John Cheesy-Weezy Butler, veteran K2, Annapurna, and Vidal. His plan was to ignore the usual route around the south and to make straight for the top.

Cheesy-Weezy: We established Base Salon here, and climbed quite steadily up to Mario's, here. From here, using crampons and cutting ice steps as we went, we moved steadily up the face to the north ridge, establishing Camp Three, where we could get a hot meal, a manicure, and a shampoo and set.

Announcer: Could it work? Could this 18-year old hairdresser from Brixton succeed where others had failed? The situation was complicated by the imminent arrival of the monsoon storms.

For some reason I get the image of Niles Crane trying to gently prod Maris to come down off the mountain...

haha!!! Love it.

Meanwhile, its just a matter of time before base camp is a corporate shopping mall.

Why don't they build a bridge between the two peaks?

I can't believe people still shell out to climb that thing...seems ridiculously irresponsible. You pay 60 grand to climb Everest...you think you're really gonna make rational safety decisions over 20,000 feet with that much money at stake? If I was a climber I might volunteer to hang around base camp and do rescue missions.

GeeksAreMyPeeps: Why don't they build a bridge between the two peaks?

YES! We can say we are "stimulating" the economy and the bridge doesn't go "nowhere."

Hundres of bodies up there or so I hear. The tell the approximate year of death by the clothing the dead wear.

Gret CME course, Mountain Medicine, Big Sky and other places. Google is your friend.

Those Mountain Med people are frikkin crazy. Mountain includes a lot more peeps than docs n nurses.

Stuck in my head....

I THINK I'M GOING TO KATHMANDU
THAT'S REALLY REALLY WHAT I'M GONNA DO

santadog: A friend of mine used to guide on Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro until about 10 years ago. He stopped because of the increase of money driven adventurers (big know it alls) as well as the fact that the mountains are getting so trashed out.
On all the routes you find abandoned oxygen tanks, trash, feces, and the occasional body.
Chris said he just could no longer support the trashings.

Though it sounds mean, there are some things which you just have to exclude the majority of the general public from, or nobody gets to enjoy them at all. Everest should be reserved for the experienced climbers who earned their stripes, not rich snobs who think that having 60K to throw away means they can do anything they want. At the very least, true outdoor types won't trash the place. Glory seekers don't give a crap. I've never understood what kind of person wants to go hiking somewhere and yet at the same time is OK with leaving the place they just enjoyed in ruins.

As for the climb from base camp to summit, there are higher peaks than Everest anyway. You start most of the way up.

That's just sad!

I remember reading about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mt. Everest and the dangers and struggles he faced in 1953. It was a heroic moment when his team reached the top.

Now, 56 years later, every moron who can raise the $65,000 fee schlumps up the mountain.

So many have gone up it that the place is becoming littered with abandoned oxygen tanks and equipment, not to mention quite a few freeze dried bodies.

It's worked out great for the village at the base, where folks are making a good living off the tourists but it's kind of a slap in the face for the early explorers, who, with minimum equipment, did it as a great feat and not as a lark.

Sir Edmund Hillary died last year.

It must have chapped his arse every time there was a documentary on the crowded tourist trade of brightly dressed climbers, packed with modern gear, eating energy bars, cooking up freeze dried meals, filming everything with cameras, trashing the once pristine slopes and making a mockery of his efforts.

Besides, they're idiots. Like the surgeon who went and came back to his family minus most of his fingers and large chunks of his face and some of his toes. There was a predominate socialite who packed luxuries in her gear along with a satellite phone to do a movie about her adventures there who nearly died and whose ineptitude nearly cost the lives of other climbers.

Then I always love the basic jock type who has to test himself on the mountain, apparently having nothing better to do with $65,000 plus the cost of his gear, who charges up there, gets his butt kicked and has to be carried back down.

BTW. These climbers don't pack down their bodily waste either. So, you can just imagine what is lurking under all that snow.

John Buck 41: Joce678: kellynoel:
Not many of them will make it to the top.

Much like the difference between 'fishing' and 'catching fish'. Two totally different concepts.

Both of them are better in stories than reality. Stories about climbing Everest are all, "Oh, yes, we were at camp 2 all ready to go for the summit when the storm hit, and that was it, the climbing season was closed for the year."

The reality is probably two months of sitting in a garbage tip eating shiatty dehydrated food and trying to avoid the aroma of the neighbors poop, followed by a mad attempt at a climb. Half way up you figure out there's more to it than owning $10,000 of fancy clothing. A bit of wind gets up, the guide sends everybody back down again, then it's time to go home.

Rik01

I agree with your rant, missed the part about exploiting brown skinned folks for pennies a day...etc.

We should instead hold in higher esteem Messner's solo with no bottled oxygen, Erhard Loretan and Jean Troillet's 40 hr up and down and Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa for the fastest Mount Everest ascent in 10 hours, 56 minutes and 46 seconds!! Really no reason to be using tactics from the 1920's and such poor style leaving a mess all over the mountain. Not very sporting either, fixed lines and ladders!! to walk up something not much steeper than an easy ski run. Mountaineering has some awesome stories and fascinating history too bad all you hear about is Everest.

CtrlAltDelete: Not quite what the article said.

And, like the article mentioned, phones have been used on Everest for years, just as satellite phones. This is just updating the technology a bit, no?

If you want to read articles about how crowded Everest is with amateurs, they're out there. But this isn't exactly one of them.

Yeah, this

1953 - first people summit Everest, highest mountain on Earth
1961 - first person rockets into orbit around Earth
1969 - first people land on the moon

Of course there were already high altitude flyers before 1953, but my point is that the second and third are much more impressive, and it will be much longer before we have rich idiots shiatting all over and dying on the moon.

Want to kill these bastards off?



Tell them there's a Starbucks at the top of K-2.

Rik01: That's just sad!

I remember reading about Sir Edmund Hillary, the first to climb Mt. Everest and the dangers and struggles he faced in 1953. It was a heroic moment when his team reached the top.

Now, 56 years later, every moron who can raise the $65,000 fee schlumps up the mountain.

So many have gone up it that the place is becoming littered with abandoned oxygen tanks and equipment, not to mention quite a few freeze dried bodies.

It's worked out great for the village at the base, where folks are making a good living off the tourists but it's kind of a slap in the face for the early explorers, who, with minimum equipment, did it as a great feat and not as a lark.

Sir Edmund Hillary died last year.

It must have chapped his arse every time there was a documentary on the crowded tourist trade of brightly dressed climbers, packed with modern gear, eating energy bars, cooking up freeze dried meals, filming everything with cameras, trashing the once pristine slopes and making a mockery of his efforts.

Besides, they're idiots. Like the surgeon who went and came back to his family minus most of his fingers and large chunks of his face and some of his toes. There was a predominate socialite who packed luxuries in her gear along with a satellite phone to do a movie about her adventures there who nearly died and whose ineptitude nearly cost the lives of other climbers.

Then I always love the basic jock type who has to test himself on the mountain, apparently having nothing better to do with $65,000 plus the cost of his gear, who charges up there, gets his butt kicked and has to be carried back down.

BTW. These climbers don't pack down their bodily waste either. So, you can just imagine what is lurking under all that snow.

Further to this, his appreciation of the place and the people only grew from that point on. He certainly didn't cut and run after the climb.

Edmund Hillary dedicated his life to helping the Nepalese by building schools and hospitals for the sherpa people, and it was quite clear that this was considerably more important to him than his achievements in climbing the mountain.

/He's something of a national hero here :)

santadog: A friend of mine used to guide on Everest, Denali, and Kilimanjaro until about 10 years ago. He stopped because of the increase of money driven adventurers (big know it alls) as well as the fact that the mountains are getting so trashed out.
On all the routes you find abandoned oxygen tanks, trash, feces, and the occasional body.
Chris said he just could no longer support the trashings.

I've seen some pictures from the base camp and main route and it is just so sad. People do it because of "OMGz I climbed teh Everast!" when there are better places that aren't so trashed and don't involve waiting in line. The local government should charge a $1,000 fee or something for each person to pay for cleanup of the mountain (not sure if they already have a permit fee or if it is just individual guides charging).

I've done a few smaller mountains (10-14,000ft) but nothing too serious. It is a lot of fun, but even if I was really into it I would never want to climb Everest. I'd rather go someplace that wasn't full of adventure-seeking morans and trash.

Tillmaster: It's only fifty years since the summit was first climbed, and we've already turned the place into a high-altitude landfill. This new development will turn it into a high-altitude Starbucks.

Sadly, I think it was Arthur C. Clarke who predicted that there would be a luxury resort on the top of Everest and that they'd have inclined elevators to take you to the top so you could you were on the mountain.

An idea to clean up trash. Use prisoners. You could divide up Everest into zones and if the prisoners clean up certain area they get more time off their sentence. And if they decided to escape they are not going to make it very far.

List of "eight-thousanders", with mortality rates before and after 1990.

Mount Everest Death Rate, pre-1990: 37%
Post-1990: 4.4%

Ain't what it used to be. Sounds more dangerous to travel through Detroit, honestly.