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Everest

24567…71

Comments

  • #32
    PokeHerKing
    Registered Users Posts: 4,206 ✭✭✭PokeHerKing


    Climbing Everest is nothing more than an ego stroke for bored westerners. Impossible to do without a local paving the way for you.

    I feel very sorry for this guys family.


  • #33
    gozunda
    Registered Users Posts: 18,996 ✭✭✭✭gozunda


    beauf wrote: »
    Everest is more like long distance marathon than an adrenaline rush. Climbing Everest which isn't very technically difficult, is more about endurance and strength of will and character. It's a rite of passage. It's about trying to do something extraordinary.
    You are either driven to do these things or you are not. It's part of a person character. Before being critical of another person's choices it would be wise to be informed about it.
    https://irishsevensummits.com/stats-everest/While it's tragic if he has died and our empathy goes to his family and friends. He was doing something extraordinary and difficult. Not because it's was easy or an adrenalin rush but because it was hard and a personal challenge.

    The problem with Everest is that at over 8000 metres, climbing to the top means traversing the area known as the death zone.

    At over 8000 feet the death zone is marked by low oxygen levels, very low atmospheric pressure coupled with etreme weather and unpredictable conditions

    https://www.summitpost.org/high-altitude-what-happens-to-the-human-body-in-the-death-zone/371306

    Climbers can briefly go beyond this limit - but do so with a significant risk of killing or permantly injuring themselves
    Most people should limit their exposure to altitudes such as these to the minimum amount possible, as the human body is slowly going through the process of dying.

    Looks like the Chinese have now started to limit access whilst trying to clean up some of the pollution and remove those who have died on the mountain.

    https://matadornetwork.com/read/china-restricting-access-everest-base/

    My sympathy goes to the climbers family.


  • #34
    Mickeroo
    Administrators, Computer Games Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 32,124 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Mickeroo


    beauf wrote: »
    It's a very interesting book. There was a TV documentary based around it also.

    That film with Jake Gyllenhall called "Everest" from a couple of years back was also based on Into Thin Air.

    Very good book, I never got around to reading the one written by Anatoli Boukreev called The Climb about the same day on the mountain (he was the Russian guide Krakauer was fairly critical of for not using bottled oxygen, his book was meant to be a bit of a counter to Into Thin Air).


  • #35
    Poor Uncle Tom
    Registered Users Posts: 14,542 ✭✭✭✭Poor Uncle Tom


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Raising 25,000 quid for charity on an expedition that would cost about double that? I'm genuinely not having a go at the chap, of others like him, but too many of those who do stuff like this and those that support them have some oddball cognitive dissonance about such "charity" drives that often cost more to do than they raise. It's like a bigger version of middle class college kids spending an expensive week in the third world building houses for the quaint locals cluttering up their social media with pics of how great they are. Teary eyed selfie with a local urchin for the win. They'd be better served spending mammy and daddy's money on directly supporting local charities and local workers in such places.

    Then again too much charity is a bloody scam when you actually break down the figures.

    A lot in here I'd like to thank twice.


  • #36
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,993 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Its an unforgiving place. One slip-up and you are finished.
    You can't just get on your mobile phone and call the mountain rescue. The mountain is already littered with corpses.


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  • #37
    bodice ripper
    Registered Users Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭bodice ripper


    Mickeroo wrote:
    Very good book, I never got around to reading the one written by Anatoli Boukreev called The Climb about the same day on the mountain (he was the Russian guide Krakauer was fairly critical of for not using bottled oxygen, his book was meant to be a bit of a counter to Into Thin Air).


    It's OK. Into Thin Air was better.


  • #38
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭[Deleted User]


    Sherpa is a very good documentary. These lads make multiple trips back and forth - leaving oxygen bottles along the route, going ahead to setup tents, carrying all the bags & ladders etc. At huge risks to themselves. All so lazy foreigners can boast that they 'climbed' Everest.


  • #39
    Hoboo
    Registered Users Posts: 3,515 ✭✭✭Hoboo


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    Sherpa is a very good documentary. These lads make multiple trips back and forth - leaving oxygen bottles along the route, going ahead to setup tents, carrying all the bags & ladders etc. At huge risks to themselves. All so lazy foreigners can boast that they 'climbed' Everest.

    And so they can make a living.


  • #40
    Sugarlumps
    Registered Users Posts: 6,897 ✭✭✭Sugarlumps


    mike_ie wrote: »
    There's a clean-up taking place as we speak. I believe the plan is to remove 11 tons of waste from the mountain this season.

    Wow, 11 tons....incredible.


  • #41
    CardinalJ
    Registered Users Posts: 1,303 ✭✭✭CardinalJ


    A lot of people here making snap judgments about who was paying for their trip. In relation to the fund raising, they had plenty of sponsors so we dont know how much they have or have not raised.

    I dont know Seamus Lawless, but I met him over the winter while out on a climb on Lugnaquila in Wicklow. A really nice interesting guy who was excited to go on this trip.

    It's incredibly sad news for his family and for the team who were with him when this happened. Every now and then there is a miraculous rescue out there so fingers crossed for one here.


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  • #42
    Neyite
    Administrators, Politics Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,947 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Neyite


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Raising 25,000 quid for charity on an expedition that would cost about double that? I'm genuinely not having a go at the chap, of others like him, but too many of those who do stuff like this and those that support them have some oddball cognitive dissonance about such "charity" drives that often cost more to do than they raise. It's like a bigger version of middle class college kids spending an expensive week in the third world building houses for the quaint locals cluttering up their social media with pics of how great they are. Teary eyed selfie with a local urchin for the win. They'd be better served spending mammy and daddy's money on directly supporting local charities and local workers in such places.

    Then again too much charity is a bloody scam when you actually break down the figures.


    Fully agree. I've never understood why Gap-Year Ronan and Darren who have never lifted a brick get the job in developing countries over the local young men who you could teach and train to make a living out of construction for themselves. Surely that would be a better way of helping poor folk?


    Orphanages are another one. In many countries, the reason children are placed in them is because of poverty. Most of them have parents and and extended family outside the institution that could look after them, given the right social supports. Institutions with a fortnightly rotation of volunteers are massively detrimental to child development and welfare. This site explains it better than I could. We can see now from the mother and baby homes here, the lifelong effects of that kind of segregation on a person institutions have. That's happening worldwide.

    Charity is a very noble thing- if done right. These kinds of charity where it's all about personal accolades and the charity bit is a small afterthought to make it more palatable to beg others to fund your lifetime trip are not very noble at all.

    I feel sorry for his wife and child and the rest of his family for what they must be going through.


  • #43
    kowloon
    Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    Sugarlumps wrote: »
    Wow, 11 tons....incredible.

    I believe a large chunk of the fee you pay to even get onto the mountain is devoted to upkeep.


  • #44
    Tokyo
    Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tokyo


    kowloon wrote: »
    I believe a large chunk of the fee you pay to even get onto the mountain is devoted to upkeep.

    Sadly, not even close.

    Climbing rules changed a few years ago though, in that every climber is expected to bring back 8kg of waste (not enforced). This is the first year that the ministry of tourism has offered a cash reward to sherpas who bring back waste from Everest Base Camp onwards.


  • #45
    kowloon
    Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    mike_ie wrote: »
    Sadly, not even close.

    Climbing rules changed a few years ago though, in that every climber is expected to bring back 8kg of waste (not enforced). This is the first year that the ministry of tourism has offered a cash reward to sherpas who bring back waste from Everest Base Camp onwards.

    So the upkeep of the mountain thing is just an excuse to pocket some cash? Colour me surprised if it is.


  • #46
    dealhunter1985
    Registered Users Posts: 523 ✭✭✭dealhunter1985


    Wibbs wrote: »
    Raising 25,000 quid for charity on an expedition that would cost about double that? I'm genuinely not having a go at the chap, of others like him, but too many of those who do stuff like this and those that support them have some oddball cognitive dissonance about such "charity" drives that often cost more to do than they raise. It's like a bigger version of middle class college kids spending an expensive week in the third world building houses for the quaint locals cluttering up their social media with pics of how great they are. Teary eyed selfie with a local urchin for the win. They'd be better served spending mammy and daddy's money on directly supporting local charities and local workers in such places.

    Then again too much charity is a bloody scam when you actually break down the figures.


    I guess its possible they could be funding the cost of the trip themselves and whatever is raised through the donations goes to the charity?


    oh scratch that. I see it says on the twitter page 'hoping to raise money towards the expedition costs'.


  • #47
    98q76e12hrflnk
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭98q76e12hrflnk


    _Brian wrote: »
    It’s coded into human genes to explore, get to the top of the mountain, cross that sea, see what’s round the next corner.

    Without that drive we would never have ventured out of Africa, explored the worlds oceans, gone into space, landed on the moon.

    It’s sad what has happened but likely he does doing what he enjoyed in life.

    LOL what?


  • #48
    Snow Garden
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,126 ✭✭✭Snow Garden


    CardinalJ wrote: »
    A lot of people here making snap judgments about who was paying for their trip. In relation to the fund raising, they had plenty of sponsors so we dont know how much they have or have not raised.

    I dont know Seamus Lawless, but I met him over the winter while out on a climb on Lugnaquila in Wicklow. A really nice interesting guy who was excited to go on this trip.

    It's incredibly sad news for his family and for the team who were with him when this happened. Every now and then there is a miraculous rescue out there so fingers crossed for one here.

    The Beck Weathers miracle story is almost unbelievable. It changed the rules for the Death Zone. So many people before that point had literally been 'left for dead' when there was actually a chance of saving them. It's a tough moral choice when you have summit fever. Weathers went on Hall's expedition covered on the Into Thin Air book.

    https://allthatsinteresting.com/beck-weathers

    I believe Lawless fell which means there is no hope. Finding the body will be an achievement. It's not a mountain anymore, its a graveyard.


  • #49
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    mike_ie wrote: »
    Sadly, not even close.

    Climbing rules changed a few years ago though, in that every climber is expected to bring back 8kg of waste (not enforced). This is the first year that the ministry of tourism has offered a cash reward to sherpas who bring back waste from Everest Base Camp onwards.

    You climbed it out of interest?


  • #50
    Tokyo
    Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tokyo


    batgoat wrote: »
    You climbed it out of interest?

    No, but I live relatively close by, and for that reason, I've climbed in the Himalayas every summer or two for the past ten years. Am here right now as it happens.


  • #51
    CardinalJ
    Registered Users Posts: 1,303 ✭✭✭CardinalJ


    Snow Garden wrote:
    The Beck Weathers miracle story is almost unbelievable. It changeg the rules for the Death Zone. Weathers went on Hall's expedition covered on the In Thin Air book.

    Yea Beck Weathers' story is incredible.

    Where Lawless fell is smooth mountain so Id guess he could have slid very far. There is a small chance he could be alive waiting to be found but its probably getting dark there now.


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  • #52
    Tokyo
    Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tokyo


    Snow Garden wrote: »
    So many people before that point had literally been 'left for dead' when there was actually a chance of saving them. It's a tough moral choice when you have summit fever. Weathers went on Hall's expedition covered on the Into Thin Air book.

    It's not. It's a tough financial choice when you've put your entire savings towards getting to the top. Which is the main issue with commercial high-altitude mountaineering. It forces a situation where money trumps morals for certain people.


  • #53
    batgoat
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,423 ✭✭✭batgoat


    mike_ie wrote: »
    It's not. It's a tough financial choice when you've put your entire savings towards getting to the top. Which is the main issue with commercial high-altitude mountaineering. It forces a situation where money trumps morals for certain people.

    Yep, plus the push to the summit when some people aren't suitable to keep going. One thing from Into Thin Air that I recall was that certain guides took active risks on a regular basis.


  • #54
    Hamsterchops
    Registered Users Posts: 3,133 ✭✭✭Hamsterchops


    Don't know how these people climb mountains like Everest, the sheer scale of it, frought with danger, and the bloody height of the thing!

    Hope he's ok, although it seems doubtful.


  • #55
    Muahahaha
    Registered Users Posts: 19,609 ✭✭✭✭Muahahaha


    The Tetrarch wrote: »
    From a Google search the typical cost of climbing Everest is $45,000.

    yep, plus if you dont make the summit due to bad weather theres no refunds.
    batgoat wrote: »
    Yep, plus the push to the summit when some people aren't suitable to keep going. One thing from Into Thin Air that I recall was that certain guides took active risks on a regular basis.

    A lot of the problem with the 1995 Everest disaster was the American climbing companies competing against each other to get the most 'clients' on to the summit. People who had little climbing experience and no business going up there were paying fortunes to get up there heavily assisted. Which meant that the guides took needless risks to try to enhance their reputation for future business. It was madness looking back.

    Anyway where are you off trekking batgoat, Annapurna?


  • #56
    kowloon
    Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    mike_ie wrote: »
    No, but I live relatively close by, and for that reason, I've climbed in the Himalayas every summer or two for the past ten years. Am here right now as it happens.

    You live near the Himalayas?


  • #57
    Tokyo
    Politics Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 22,655 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tokyo


    kowloon wrote: »
    You live near the Himalayas?

    The equivalent of a ryanair flight away, yes.


  • #58
    Rologyro
    Registered Users Posts: 46 ✭Rologyro


    His wife is pregnant with another child... what was he thinking.


  • #59
    Snow Garden
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,126 ✭✭✭Snow Garden


    mike_ie wrote: »
    The equivalent of a ryanair flight away, yes.

    Some Ryanair flights are nearly 6 hours so you could be in many places in Asia ;)

    I am going to guess India or Dubai.


  • #60
    kowloon
    Registered Users Posts: 13,264 ✭✭✭✭kowloon


    Snow Garden wrote: »
    Some Ryanair flights are nearly 6 hours so you could be in many places in Asia ;)

    I am going to guess India or Dubai.

    I take it to mean short flights from Ireland to UK/Europe
    mike_ie wrote: »
    The equivalent of a ryanair flight away, yes.

    If you get better broadband speeds than I do I'm done with this thread. :D


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  • #61
    Pissartist
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 473 ✭✭Pissartist


    If you want to do something that extreme you have to accept any consequences of that action. Sad but could have been avoided.


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