Everest

Posy · 31-05-2019 5:24pm

greentea is just wrong wrote: »

Anyone know if you can buy a copy of "Ascent Into Hell" in Dublin?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascent-Into-Hell-Fergus-White-ebook/dp/B07763H6D7

I'm afraid I don't know, but I downloaded it for my Kindle on the back of this thread and it's a fantastic read so far. So definitely try and find it!

I read 'Into Thin Air' a few years ago and it was only this week when reading Fergus' book and this thread, about altitude sickness and lack of oxygen etc that the title's double meaning clicked.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 31-05-2019 5:41pm

greentea is just wrong wrote: »

Anyone know if you can buy a copy of "Ascent Into Hell" in Dublin?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ascent-Into-Hell-Fergus-White-ebook/dp/B07763H6D7

It’s less than €2 on Kindle!

nc6000 · 31-05-2019 6:28pm

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote:

It’s less than €2 on Kindle!

Which is great if you have a Kindle or want the Kindle edition.

tuxy · 31-05-2019 6:34pm

And it's about €10 for the paper back edition which is great if you have a debit card and a postal address!

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 31-05-2019 7:05pm

nc6000 wrote: »

Which is great if you have a Kindle or want the Kindle edition.

I thought you could get the app free on any smartphone. I didn’t pay for it anyway. If someone really wanted to read a book, it’s a reasonable option, no?

tuxy wrote: »

And it's about €10 for the paper back edition which is great if you have a debit card and a postal address!

Ha. :pac:

nc6000 · 31-05-2019 10:08pm

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

I thought you could get the app free on any smartphone. I didn’t pay for it anyway. If someone really wanted to read a book, it’s a reasonable option, no?

Yes, I'm only kidding. Some people just don't like e-books though.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 31-05-2019 11:03pm

nc6000 wrote: »

Yes, I'm only kidding. Some people just don't like e-books though.

Indeed. I’m sure it’s in some Irish bookshops if the poster rings around!

Dante7 · 01-06-2019 12:58am

Someone asked me earlier why I wouldn't give it a go. Well, I'm an unhealthy single parent, and I would love to give it a bash. But it would cost €100k and would involve removing myself from from my child for the best part of two years to really do it. The money is not the main impediment. There is just no way I would remove myself from my child for that.

Dante7 · 01-06-2019 1:47am

The Everest - Lhotse traverse is the next big challenge. Steck tried it and died.

https://youtu.be/Us4lW7ElEn8

kowloon · 01-06-2019 3:25am

Wibbs wrote: »

Reinhold Messner, that man is a bloody legend.

Loved his unauthorized biography.

Blaizes · 01-06-2019 5:28pm

Just saw there that four British climbers are missing in the Himalayas summiting Nanda Devi, avalanche I think.

MY BAD · 01-06-2019 6:17pm

Not Everest, but some dizzying gopro footage from a failed attempt on Annapura III in Nepal back in 2016.
https://youtu.be/zp72WjMVhTQ

zoe 3619 · 01-06-2019 8:22pm

Blaizes wrote: »

Just saw there that four British climbers are missing in the Himalayas summiting Nanda Devi, avalanche I think.

8 all together as I understand it.3 americans and an australian as well.4 of the twelve person group made it down ok-the rest have been missing for several days,so not looking great.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 02-06-2019 3:30am

Watched a great youtbe doc on K2 recently .

"The Savage mountain'. You have to trek over 80 miles in Pakistan even to get to its foot.

A brutal climb then awaits, less than 400 have summitted. A British Army expedition in the 1940s stated that it was unclimabable.

The only Irishman ever to summit was Ger McDonnell.

He lost his life in the descent whilst attempting to help striken climbers who encounterd trouble

A Hero.

A plaque with his name stands at the base camp of K2

gctest50 · 02-06-2019 4:21am

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The only Irishman ever to summit was Ger McDonnell.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/k2-climber-jason-black-lost-two-colleagues-on-the-world-s-second-highest-mountain-1.3575453

Noel Hanna climbed it separately

tuxy · 02-06-2019 8:05am

K2 is the more interesting mountain as only people with exceptional skill can make the summit. Just getting to base camp is so much work, crossing glaciers and no villages to stop at along the way like there is with Everest.
It's the only 8000m+ mountain that has not had a winter summit. The Polish have been trying for a few years now and will be trying again next winter. It's 8 degrees North of Everest so gets much harsher winters. A big problem is the snow gets blown off the mountain leaving only treacherous ice to walk on.

Ger McDonnell was the first man from Ireland to summit and Jason Black is the only one to summit and survive. Noel Hanna is counted as a UK climber but of course he is an Irishman.
Ger's death was very tragic, you hear of people walking past others when that high up because if you stop there is a high probability that you will die. Ger refused to leave a group of Korean climbers that were in trouble and managed to help then when it looked impossible only to die to an avalanche shortly after.

Here he is on the summit:

gctest50 · 02-06-2019 8:25am

tuxy wrote: »

.........

Ger McDonnell is the only person to summit from the country of Ireland. ,.........

Jason Black

tuxy · 02-06-2019 8:29am

gctest50 wrote: »

Jason Black

Sorry I hadn't clicked that link yet. So Jason Black is the only man from Ireland it survive a summit.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 02-06-2019 9:36am

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Watched a great youtbe doc on K2 recently .

"The Savage mountain'. You have to trek over 80 miles in Pakistan even to get to its foot.

A brutal climb then awaits, less than 400 have summitted. A British Army expedition in the 1940s stated that it was unclimabable.

The only Irishman ever to summit was Ger McDonnell.

He lost his life in the descent whilst attempting to help striken climbers who encounterd trouble

A Hero.

A plaque with his name stands at the base camp of K2

Aye, what a brave soul. It seems that amongst serious mountaineers, rescuing others come above everything. The better Everest expedition companies seem to be lead by people with a lot of sense who will call off expeditions if they think the lives of their clients might be in danger and who won’t walk past stricken people if they think that they can help.

JustAThought · 02-06-2019 9:58am

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts wrote: »

. It seems that amongst serious mountaineers, rescuing others come above everything. The better Everest expedition companies seem to be lead by people with a lot of sense who will call off expeditions if they think the lives of their clients might be in danger and who won’t walk past stricken people if they think that they can help.

With climbers training and making sacrifices for years to go, snd paying as much ss 60k just to the company let alone the 2-3 months off work its not too surprising. Particularly when others scrimp on training or have little or no appropriate climbing experience,and choose expeditions with meagre or poor resources and casually expect to reap the profits while expecting others to pick up their flack. It's not a normal day out, its a trip that is an adknowledged personal battle for survival in the most hostile environment on the planet and everyone who chooses to undertake it knows that. Sure - a normal human would stop to help someone under normal circumstances but these are neither.

Maybe that is why I think that firefighters, who rush into burning buildings and risk being incinerated or horrifically mutilated daily should be paid a whole lot more than the pittance they are given. And treated a lot better by the state.

SeaFields · 02-06-2019 10:15am

Just as a few few books and documentaries have been mentioned. "Touching the void" is another well worth a read on the subject.

It's an account by Joe Simpson - a climber - who with his friend Simon Yates set out to be the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They get to the top only for Simpson to break his leg on the descent. Yates attempts to lower him bit by bit with ropes. There comes a point where Yates has to decide to cut the rope to save himself or they both die. He cuts it. Simpson somehow survives the fall and has to crawl back to base camp even tho Yates assumes he's dead.

Well worth a read.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts · 02-06-2019 11:29am

JustAThought wrote: »

With climbers training and making sacrifices for years to go, snd paying as much ss 60k just to the company let alone the 2-3 months off work its not too surprising. Particularly when others scrimp on training or have little or no appropriate climbing experience,and choose expeditions with meagre or poor resources and casually expect to reap the profits while expecting others to pick up their flack. It's not a normal day out, its a trip that is an adknowledged personal battle for survival in the most hostile environment on the planet and everyone who chooses to undertake it knows that. Sure - a normal human would stop to help someone under normal circumstances but these are neither.

Maybe that is why I think that firefighters, who rush into burning buildings and risk being incinerated or horrifically mutilated daily should be paid a whole lot more than the pittance they are given. And treated a lot better by the state.

I’m not saying I agree or disagree. I’m just saying that not all mountaineers seem to agree that it’s every man for themselves on these mountains. Maybe they are just being idealistic or maybe they have actually tried to rescue people, I don’t know.

cj maxx · 02-06-2019 12:09pm

kowloon wrote: »

Loved his unauthorized biography.

What’s it called and by whom ?

rossie1977 · 02-06-2019 12:20pm

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Watched a great youtbe doc on K2 recently .

"The Savage mountain'. You have to trek over 80 miles in Pakistan even to get to its foot.

A brutal climb then awaits, less than 400 have summitted. A British Army expedition in the 1940s stated that it was unclimabable.

The only Irishman ever to summit was Ger McDonnell.

He lost his life in the descent whilst attempting to help striken climbers who encounterd trouble

A Hero.

A plaque with his name stands at the base camp of K2

Yeah and most of that 80 miles is trekking on top of a glacier and walking any distance on a glacier is extremely challenging never mind from Athlone to Dublin where one slip and you will turn an ankle or break a leg.

K2 being so inaccessible is a major reason many haven't climbed. In comparison the hike to Everest base camp can be done by pretty much any healthy individual.

pc7 · 02-06-2019 12:37pm

Recorded Everest Rescue on Discovery Channel, not a bad watch.

cj maxx · 02-06-2019 12:40pm

SeaFields wrote: »

Just as a few few books and documentaries have been mentioned. "Touching the void" is another well worth a read on the subject.

It's an account by Joe Simpson - a climber - who with his friend Simon Yates set out to be the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They get to the top only for Simpson to break his leg on the descent. Yates attempts to lower him bit by bit with ropes. There comes a point where Yates has to decide to cut the rope to save himself or they both die. He cuts it. Simpson somehow survives the fall and has to crawl back to base camp even tho Yates assumes he's dead.

Well worth a read.

Seen the doc

cj maxx · 02-06-2019 1:40pm

tuxy wrote: »

K2 is the more interesting mountain as only people with exceptional skill can make the summit. Just getting to base camp is so much work, crossing glaciers and no villages to stop at along the way like there is with Everest.
It's the only 8000m+ mountain that has not had a winter summit. The Polish have been trying for a few years now and will be trying again next winter. It's 8 degrees North of Everest so gets much harsher winters. A big problem is the snow gets blown off the mountain leaving only treacherous ice to walk on.

Ger McDonnell was the first man from Ireland to summit and Jason Black is the only one to summit and survive. Noel Hanna is counted as a UK climber but of course he is an Irishman.
Ger's death was very tragic, you hear of people walking past others when that high up because if you stop there is a high probability that you will die. Ger refused to leave a group of Korean climbers that were in trouble and managed to help then when it looked impossible only to die to an avalanche shortly after.

Here he is on the summit:

I saw the doc ,K2 the killer mountain I think and bought the book by pat falvey The Summit .

tuxy · 02-06-2019 2:24pm

rossie1977 wrote: »

K2 being so inaccessible is a major reason many haven't climbed. In comparison the hike to Everest base camp can be done by pretty much any healthy individual.

Yeah that's part of it, it also has worse weather and the climbing is much more technical. It really shows when the climbers doing k2 are much more experienced than the average person that attempts Everest and k2 still has a much higher fatality rate. Annapurna is even more dangerous again but I don't know much about it all I know is avalanches are very frequent on that mountain.

nc6000 · 02-06-2019 5:27pm

I'd say that was an awkward reunion.

IvoryTower · 02-06-2019 5:58pm

The dawn wall on Netflix is really good

Everest

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